Raina Genaw

It’s at the center of every holiday celebration you’ll attend this year: food. In America, we waste approximately 382 billion dollars each year of food.¹ In 2024 alone, 23.5 million tons of food were wasted in homes across the US. Of that wasted food, nearly half went to a landfill.² At the root of this issue is overproduction and overpurchasing of food. Avoiding food waste not only keeps good food out of the landfill, but also saves the average American family of four about $1500 annually.³ 

Read on for 5 simple ways to reduce your food waste this holiday season.

1. Shop with a list

Before you go shopping, create a list of food items you need and the amount you need for each item. This will help you avoid overbuying for the holidays, especially with perishable items. If you don’t have a plan on how to use a food item, don’t purchase it in the first place. For help with creating shopping lists, consider using a free meal planning app like Intent.* Intent helps you craft a custom meal plan and auto-creates an accompanying shopping list for you. 

*Note: Green Iowa AmeriCorps is not affiliated with the Intent app

2. Only make as much food as you need

Plan ahead with your cooking, and only make as much food as you and any guests will be able to eat. Once food is prepared, its lifespan shortens significantly, and you should plan to eat any leftovers within four days of cooking. Ensure your food is kept hot or refrigerated within 2 hours to guarantee food safety.

3. Take advantage of leftovers

Don’t like leftovers? Get creative in the kitchen! My grandmother always used to fry leftover mashed potatoes in a pan for us to eat, and they were delicious–even more so than fresh mashed potatoes! If you get sick of eating the same things, spice up your leftovers by frying them in a pan or transforming them into a new dish. 

4. Use your freezer

If you truly can’t finish all of your leftovers before they’ll go bad at the four day mark, consider freezing them. Your freezer is like a magic pause button for food spoilage, so put your leftovers in a container and freeze them to eat another day. Once frozen, your food is safe indefinitely, but you should try to eat it within a year for best quality.

5. Compost wasted food

If, after following all of the steps above, you still have food waste, do your best to make sure it is composted properly. Food makes up over one fifth of landfill waste,² so do your part to keep your scraps out of the waste stream. The added pressure of food in the waste stream leads to landfills filling up prematurely and increased methane emissions, a harmful greenhouse gas. For more information on composting your food scraps, visit the Wastetrac website at https://wastetrac.org/food-waste-composting/

1. https://refed.org/downloads/refed-us-food-waste-report-2025.pdf pg 2

2. https://insights-engine.refed.org/food-waste-monitor?break_by=destination&indicator=tons-surplus&sector=residential&view=detail&year=2024

3. https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/consumers

About The Author

Raina Genaw is serving as an Education and Outreach Coordinator with Green Iowa AmeriCorps at Black Hawk County Public Health and Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission. The Black Hawk County partnership is focused on food and municipal waste reduction through educational initiatives and community projects.

Raina is passionate about the environment and enjoys being in the company of other environmental educators through her volunteer work as the Workshop Coordinator for the Iowa Association of Naturalists. When not at the office, you can find Raina frolicking in the forest, crafting, or hanging out with her pet hedgehog, Gnocchi.