How to have a low-waste Christmas dinner
Make simple changes this Christmas to avoid creating waste.
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Try not to go overboard this Christmas and leave any waste. We spoke to Food Waste Expert and Oddbox Co-founder Emilie Vanpoperinghe all about her favourite simple swaps and low-waste tips for this year’s Christmas dinner.
Read more: How to host an eco-friendly Christmas
Shop sustainably
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Dashing to the supermarket for Christmas dinner essentials is tempting, especially if you’re on a tight time schedule. However, there can be a trade off in the form of plastic packaging used for portioning and to extend shelf-life.
Switch it up for 2020 and shop local at your local greengrocers. They’ll be fully stocked with your favourite fruit and veg in anticipation of the Christmas rush, all loose and ready to be hand-selected by yours truly.
Keep the peels
Hosting a Christmas dinner can leave you with lots of vegetables peels, don’t throw them away and instead use them to create a thriving compost! Alternatively, simply pop these peelings into a large saucepan, cover with plenty of water and simmer up over a day to create a delicious, hearty stock. You can always pop it in the freezer to make sure it lasts!
Don’t over cater
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Christmas encourages us all to overindulge and we’ve come to expect mountains of vegetables, free-flowing drinks and a showstopping feast. This can all still be a reality but, with a few calculations, you don’t need to be eating leftovers well into the new year. Why not take a moment to consider the quantities needed for the number of guests you’re catering to? With all the mince pies and canapés floating around throughout the day, you can be certain that no one will be going hungry.
Read more: 5 Christmas recipes you can prepare in advance
Share the spare
Even if you’ve done your calculations you can still end up with spare food. If you’ve been entertaining , tell your guests to come along with a container or two and load them up with a few servings of each dish when they leave. Otherwise, OLIO is a fantastic outlet for any food that you’d rather not see go to waste. List your leftover items on the app with a photo or two and wait for the requests to come flying in.
Yummy leftovers
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Leftovers can be just as delicious as the main event! If you’ve managed to get your serving sizes almost spot on and have just a few portions of roast veg going spare, consider whipping up a batch of ‘Boxing Day soup’. Or, follow family traditions and cook up some delicious bubble and squeak for everyone to enjoy.
Do you have any Christmas eco-friendly tips? Tweet us @goodhomesmag or post a comment on our Facebook page.
