LITTLE GREEN SPACE ~ BY PENNY BUNTING
- peakadvertiser
- Dec 10, 2025
- 4 min read
Every year in the UK, around 10 million tonnes of food is thrown away. There’s a spike in food waste over the festive season, when many households hold gatherings – often with a focus on eating and drinking – and buy or cook more food than is needed.
For example, millions of mince pies are discarded every year. And hundreds of thousands of turkeys and portions of Christmas pudding are also thrown away each Christmas.
This is bad news for the environment, because when food ends up decomposing in landfill, it contributes to the emission of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas.
Food that’s binned over the festive season is costly too, wasting an average of around £60 per family.
Fortunately, there are solutions to the problem of Christmas food waste. With careful planning and storing (and a little creativity with leftovers) it’s possible to keep it out of the bin altogether – which is better for your purse as well the planet.
Planning and storing
Overbuying is one of the main reasons food gets thrown away – but planning meals for the week ahead can help prevent this.
Writing a shopping list – and sticking to it – helps. But the first step is to check what’s already in the cupboard, fridge or freezer, and which items are close to their use-by dates. Then plan the week’s meals, incorporating ingredients that need using up.
Keep an eye on ‘use-by’ and ‘best-before’ dates. ‘Use by’ is the most important one, as it’s related to food safety. Use-by dates are usually used for meat, fish, dairy and fresh ready-meals – foods that can make you poorly if eaten when spoiled – so it’s important to take these seriously.
Also check labels to make sure food is being stored correctly, and that it’s eaten within the correct time after opening.
Many foods with a use-by date can be frozen before the date shown – just make sure that defrosting instructions on the packet are followed carefully.
Other foods – such as dried, tinned or frozen foods – have a ‘best before’ date. This is more to do with food quality than food safety. The date just indicates when that food is at its best – after this time the food is usually still safe to eat, although it may not taste as fresh. Of course, if any food smells bad or shows signs of mould, it shouldn’t be eaten.
Tasty turkey
There are lots of things you can do with your Christmas feast leftovers to avoid throwing food away.
There are a few safety rules to remember when using leftovers, though: Cooked food should never be reheated more than once, and make sure that when you do reheat food it’s piping hot.
Store cooked turkey in the fridge and eat or freeze within three days. Once defrosted, turkey can’t be refrozen.
Sandwiches are an obvious way to use up leftover turkey, but these needn’t be boring. Try piling cold turkey slices and coleslaw into half a baguette, make turkey and pesto panini, or fill wraps with turkey, shredded iceberg lettuce, avocado and some guacamole.
For a hot, filling dish, it’s hard to beat a turkey pie. Fry leeks and mushrooms and combine with white sauce and chopped cooked turkey – you can also add cooked ham. Use to fill a pastry case, or put into an oven-proof dish, top with mashed potato and bake in the oven at 180ºC for 30 minutes until piping hot.
Cooked turkey can also be added to salads, soups, stir fries, risotto, and curry.
Versatile veggies
Fresh fruit and vegetables make up a large percentage of discarded food. Check the state of your fruit and veg regularly, to see which items are going past their best and need to be eaten first.
Making soup is a great way to use up less than perfect veg. A basic soup recipe involves frying an onion and some garlic. For a spicy flavour, stir in a teaspoon or two of cumin, coriander or curry powder. Then add peeled, cubed vegetables and a litre of vegetable stock. Simmer until soft – around 20 to 30 minutes – then blend until smooth, adding more stock if necessary to achieve the desired consistency.
Root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and potatoes are ideal. But almost any veggies can be added to soup, so it’s a good way to use up leftovers like Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.
Brussels sprouts also form the basis of a classic Boxing Day dish: bubble and squeak. Slice the sprouts (you can also use cooked red cabbage) and fry them with an onion in some butter or olive oil. Mix in mashed potato, and cook until golden brown. Serve with cold turkey or ham and some chutney.
Leftover Brussels sprouts or cabbage are also delicious stir-fried in olive oil with garlic, chilli and finely chopped root ginger. Or toss halved sprouts in melted butter, sprinkle chopped bacon over, and roast for 30 minutes.
Raw red cabbage can be turned into a healthy salad. Combine finely shredded red cabbage with thinly sliced red onions and some grated beetroot. Toss the vegetables in some French dressing, sweetened with a little honey, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
Use your loaf
Bread is another frequently thrown away food – around 25 million slices of bread are thrown out in the UK every day.
If you find yourself with too much bread, there are several handy tricks to use it up. Large loaves can be divided – half to eat now and half to freeze for another day. Any bread that’s about to go stale can be turned into breadcrumbs in a food processor and frozen for future use. Breadcrumbs are useful in stuffings, fishcakes, and nut roasts, or mixed with cheese to make a topping for savoury dishes.
Make French toast by dunking bread slices in egg, then frying in sunflower oil. Or use stale slices to make bread and butter pudding.
Finally, remember that many foods that do need to be discarded can be composted, including fruits and vegetables, eggshells, coffee grounds, and plastic free teabags. These can be placed in a home compost bin, or composted through your council’s waste collection service – and this prevents discarded food from ending up in landfill.
Penny Bunting
