12 days of christmas: Day 10
Christmas Food and Leftovers
Christmas food
In the UK one of the traditional Christmas meals used to be goose…or in the medieval time..boar! Pig’s head with mustard was all the rage too.
Interestingly enough, in 2020 veggie mains beat beef and lamb as option of choice on the table and in 2021, 1 in 5 Brits will be incorporating vegan dishes and desserts into their Christmas dinner.
Christmas has a bit of a reputation for eating a lot of food in a few days. Christmas eve meal traditions, Christmas Day meal traditions and even Boxing Day traditions may mean different foods / ingredients every day.
There are a few impacts to our pocket and the environment as a result from all this food. Sometimes we cook too much and are not sure about what to make with leftovers.
Brussels sprouts top the list of food items thrown away, but other items such as carrots and gravy are high on the list too. All of these could go into a delicious soup. Most of the leftovers are as a result of not knowing what to do with them afterwards but there are so many sites online that hae a range of ideas, simple and more complex, you can be a whizz in the kitchen with your leftovers in no time!
Sadly food waste is a big deal during this festive period. There are some simple things we can do to reduce that and still have a very merry time.
And now, let’s get stuffed! Welcome to my 12 Days of Christmas, #ecoedition continuing with Day 10! Check out the quiz question at the bottom of the page and stay tuned for the answer tomorrow!
QUIZ ANSWER FROM DAY 9: The Children’s Society produced the largest Christmas stocking made in December 2007. How many presents did it hold? 1000 presents!
Did you know:
Some more interesting facts about food and drink at Christmas:
Around 370 million mince pies are sold in the UK during the festive season
35 million bottles of wine, 250 million pints of lager and beer and 205 million glasses of champagne are consumed over the festive period in the UK alone
On average, we spend £170 on the main meal and about £40 ends up thrown away
In 2014 alone 4.2 million Christmas dinners were thrown away
fun and Eco friendly alternatives
Why not try one or more of the below ideas:
Buy sustainable, organic, free range and plastic free where possible
Make smaller portions - smaller turkeys or less options on the plate
Meal prep - write out what you need based on meals for the day / week for your shopping list and stick to it
Try making your own dishes to reduce food packaging waste
Download a food sharing app and donate the food to someone who wants or needs it vs binning it - check out Olio
Reduce meat consumption - why not try and have a veggie meal instead of all meat during the festive season. Check out some veggie meal ideas HERE
Save the veggie scraps to make homemade vegetable stock
Save the turkey scraps and bones to make a turkey stock
Don’t forget soups and bubble and squeak!
Check out these Food Savvy tips from Hubbub
Use up leftovers. There are some great sites for recipes for example Love Food Hate Waste or BBC Good Food and you can plan for having leftovers when putting your initial list together
Drop off meals on wheel type treats to some elderly neighbours who may be alone this year with a note of cheer (if they want some!)
Host an online cooking event with friends to showcase and vote on the best use of leftovers
Create meal pots and freeze them for later meals
Compost waste and don’t throw it into general waste
FUN QUIZ QUESTION - find out the answer tomorrow!
What is it technically illegal to eat on Christmas Day?
Good luck and happy muching!
Please note, I am not affiliated with any company mentioned in this post.