News

Thanksgiving Food Waste

Schyler Holt and Ella Nemirow • November 24, 2025

A table full of a typical thanksgiving feast. (Schyler Holt)
X Axis- how people rated how much food they have leftover on a scale of 0 to 5. Y Axis- the amount of people who responded. The percentage shows the percent of all responders who rated their leftovers to be that level.

Thanksgiving meals generate food waste all over America because people making these meals get caught up in the tradition of making a feast. Conversely, there are many people in America who are in need of Thanksgiving meals and would benefit from the donations of other families who waste their food. Overall, planning better and donating will help to solve both ends of this issue.
A survey question asking what people do with their leftover food. The results show 87% of responders save them and eat them throughout the week.

The graph pictured on the right shows that 87% of responders said that they save their leftovers and eat them throughout the week. However, we found that even people that say they save their leftovers, end up wasting food in the long run. Molly Grove who eats a grand thanksgiving meal each year cooked by her family said, “some of it gets eaten like turkey sandwiches the next day, but a lot ends up getting thrown away. After a few days people get sick of eating the same thing and the food just sits there until my mom throws it away.”
Illustrating the issue, the Office of Sustainability at the University of Minnesota says “...an estimated 305 million pounds of food are wasted from Thanksgiving dinner alone.” Food waste happens year round, and is amplified around the holidays. This is detrimental to the environment because food waste in turn is a waste of energy from packaging and transporting food. In addition, when food is thrown in a landfill and begins to rot, it releases methane. To combat these negative impacts of food waste, Thanksgiving meal cooks can plan better by making lists, making sure that dishes don’t overlap with guests who are bringing dishes, and knowing how much each of their family members eat. If there is leftover food, it is best to refrigerate or freeze it instead of throwing it out. Finding new recipes is also helpful because it will ensure that the leftovers will get eaten later, despite people being tired of eating the same thing over and over again. Lastly, donating leftover food is always a great option and will help families who are food insecure.
Storage of leftover food in a fridge in an effort to avoid food waste. (Ella Nemirow)

According to “How to Have a Sustainable Thanksgiving,” an article from the University of Minnesota, “about 10% of all US households are food insecure, which will only be worsened by inflation and supply chain issues that are currently happening.” This reality has been reflected in our own town of West Hartford. Maura Nemirow, a food pantry volunteer for Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford said, “this year there’s so many more people who seem to need help that we hope that more turkeys will be donated.” They are hoping for around 400 Turkey donations this year.
Works Cited

"Thanksgiving Food Waste." Sustainability at UMN, 9 Nov. 2022, sustainable.umn.edu/thanksgiving. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.

"Rethink the Feast: How to Reduce Food Waste on Thanksgiving." Sustainable

Westport, 2025, www.sustainablewestport.org/news/rethink-the-feast-how-to-reduce-food-waste-on-thanksgiving/. Accessed 5

Nov. 2025.

Wurtaman, Judith J. “Why Is There So Much Food on Thanksgiving?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-antidepressant-diet/202111/why-is-there-so-much-food-on-thanksgiving. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.

“Thanksgiving: Feast More, Waste Less.” World Centric, www.worldcentric.com/thanksgiving/. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.

Hall Record

Thanksgiving Food Waste

Hall Record

Comments (0)