Delicious ways to reduce food waste this Thanksgiving » Yale Climate Connections

On Thanksgiving, many people’s dining tables overflow with food. And so do their trash cans, with peels and rinds, stems, and bones.

But Alejandra Schrader, author of “The Low Carbon Cookbook,” says many of these food scraps could be put to better use.

Schrader: “Like sweet potato skins – you can put them in the oven, roast them, and you make chips that you can dip into your hummus or whatever your favorite dipping sauce is.”

Or, she says, instead of throwing out a thick stalk of broccoli, you can slice it up thin and cook it like scalloped potatoes.

Schrader: “And I sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and a little bit of mozzarella on the top so that it gets bubbly.”

As for your turkey bones and meat scraps, you can use them to make a delicious soup broth.

Minimizing food waste is not just creative and thrifty. It’s also good for the climate.

Food rotting in the landfill emits climate-warming methane, so cutting back on food waste reduces that pollution.

And it reduces the amount of food overall that needs to be grown, packaged, and transported – cutting down on carbon pollution at all steps of the supply chain.

Schrader: “I love to upcycle … and create beautiful, delicious, colorful plates, especially for the holidays.”

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media