According to Unilever figures, over four million Christmas dinners are thrown away every year – that’s equivalent to 263,000 turkeys, 7.5 million mince pies, 740,000 portions of Christmas pudding and 11.3 million roast potatoes. In terms of money, that equates to £64 million wasted on uneaten Christmas food every year. So what can we do to reduce our festive food waste, without turning into the grinch?
Christmas is a time for delicious excess. Champagne corks pop on the hour and belts are loosened while Rennies are crunched; all in an effort to squeeze in just one more roast potato, or that remaining third of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange you ate in lieu of breakfast (well, it is Christmas…). With over-eating practically a seasonal sport, no one wants to be the scrooge who underfills their trolley. But with one in five of us admitting to buying traditional Christmas foods that we don’t even like, maybe it’s time to go cold turkey on the Christmas stockpiling. Food is central to the Christmas festivities, but eating food you hate is hardly a cause for celebration. No wonder so much of it ends up in the bin.
17.2 million Brussels sprouts are chucked every Christmas, which is no great surprise, considering up to half of us confess to loathing them. According to refood.co.uk (Europe’s leading specialist food waste recycling service provider), the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the 172 tonnes of wasted sprouts could power a home for three years. If you don’t like them, you will not be haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past if you decide to serve a different vegetable instead, but if the fear of not conforming has you in too tight a hold, it may be your cooking method that’s making your sprouts so disagreeable. Try giving sprouts the starring role in a more exciting side and you may find yourself a convert.