Feasts are important aspect of holiday and festival celebration. A lot of people organize parties during the holidays and festivals. You would be cooking a lot of food, however, not all food people will be consumed. For example, you cooked food for 20 people but there were only 15 people. There will be surplus food. How do you manage that. Well, preserving food in the fridge and eating it over the days can be a good idea, however, what if there is a lot of food?
It's quite customary in our place to provide take out food to guests specially when the party is held in a house and not in a restaurant venue where food servings are almost fixed. We also pack some foods for subdivision guards and the neighborhood store owners that we frequently communicate with. Hence, you can imagine that there will be little leftover after a feast but the food can at least be enjoyed by people who did not attend the party. Whatever is left after the take out is usually kept in the fridge for consumption or "recycling".
I think Jamille's idea is great. Giving you guests food to take home is an excellent way to reduce waste and giving food to any other person is truly kind. I usually give away food to my family, I call them and tell them to come to the house and eat it there if they want to while we catch up or to take out so they can save time of cooking. Other idea might be to throw another party so the food doesn´t go bad!
During holidays and festivities, my family just cook what's enough for us to consume and a little bit for some people or relatives who might visit unexpectedly. Cause you see, almost all the household and the neighborhood prepares stuff and cooks foods for the holidays especially during special ones like Christmas so it's really hard to find someone that isn't. So the norm is just you exchange stuff including gifts and foods.
It's a festival celebrations and definitely food and drinks are bound to be wasted as it's what such event holds. Personally, I really don't care much about the food that might appear to have been wasted, hell it's even fun to invite friends and neighbors over to come eat and drink if there is excess. Why hoard the food and drinks when the festival celebrations only comes once in year? It's not appropriate to me because one doesn't really know when he or she is leaving this crazy world, so it's better to live and enjoy it with people around you, not going to store the food in the refrigerator. I wonder if it has turned to money?
We have been doing that for years what @Jamille has mentioned in her post. I remember the time when we had left with lots of unused food items. We simply packed them according to taste of the guests and gave it to them. We returned the leftover to the restaurant we had bought it from. Most of these restaurants send leftover to places where it's needed most.
That's the best way to go for extra food, letting everyone take home food. That's a very good idea giving to the neighborhood people too and what a grand and kind gesture to give food to the neighbors too. We do that here in our little apt. home. When the spirit hits we do it all year too. Tis the season to be jolly and kind! Just wish they had locally sugar free fruit cake and rum cake, lol!
That's a really good way to use leftover food. When a lot of food is left after the fest, I always ask my guest to take away food, I also distribute foods to the neighbors who did not participate in the feast. I also store food in the fridge and eat over the days.
Well there are a lot of measures and actions to take in order to make use of wasted food but the best is to buy what you need.
I think that's something you can see we can't really avoid. Food is going to be wasted be in and out of holidays. And you have to deal with that part. I have seen lot of kids waste food. So that's some parenting stuff to get things right. Another thing is that wasting food is not good idea for the people who are not much into food and serving them high amount of food. That's the part I have learned as time goes on.
I have been to lots of events where the waste has been terrible. Even at my mother's funeral there was so much left over because we did too much thinking people would eat more. We took some home and offered it to people to take home although many people did not want to. I also waste food at home when I buy stuff that we forget about or do not have time to eat. In many ways shopping in small amounts when you run out is better than doing one big shop when you have to envisage how much you are going to need for the week or month.. The cost of the small shops may be higher but at least you are using everything you buy.
Wasting food is something that is definitely not part of my life, nor the life of my family. We always enjoy / use everything that is possible and we end up creating new recipes, haha.
While cooking during the festival season there will always be some wastage in food which we cannot control like you said if we cook for 20 people, only 15 people might eat which will lead to a surplus amount of food as leftovers. What we usually do is we share it with our neighbours. Some of our close friends and relatives will take some to their homes for eating later for supper. So as far as possible we will give it to neighbours avoid wastage.
This is not to brag but we can manage the volume of food that we prepare by knowing in advance not only the number of people but the kind of people as well. How many are big eaters and how many children will be coming. But speaking of children, the wastage are mostly fruits. They will bite on an apple or peel an orange then leave more than half not eaten. With sofa, it's the same issue, getting a glassful but leaves it after a sip.
During the holidays when we cook a large amount of food, we do not waste anything. Whatever is left, me and my family take home to have the next day. There is usually enough to have for dinner the next day. There is no real reason to throw away good food, especially if you might be on a budget.
I use the leftovers as ingredients for future meals. Leftover turkey can be used as toppings for Pizza, frittata and salads. Leftover cakes can be used for making milk shakes. Other leftover dishes can easily be heated at the microwave. That is how I avoid wasting food after holidays.
It does happen sometimes that food prepared in large quantities during festivals is not used up all at a time and lot of it is left over. At such times, I freeze some food to be eaten later and give away the remaining food on the same day to some poor family so their kids can eat it before it goes waste. There are a couple of families who live close by, they work as watchmen during the night and do odd jobs for families around at other times. So my food generally never has to be thrown out.
When this happens it has become a tradition to have family come over again to the house to eat what was left over the next morning. It is fun as we get to spend more family time and for some reason the food tastes better reheated. I love this and I am glad this happens every year the entire family gets together in one place.
Leftover food can be eaten the following day. What is needed is just reboiling. The other which can be preserved in the fridge, let it be preserved. It will be consumed at later . waste food can also be used to feed pets at home for example, dogs. Instead of again preparing for a dog its separate meal, it can consume on the leftovers. Al these steps are to prevent wastage of the leftovers.
I think leftover foods during occasions is normal. I am at ease if I have lots of food to offer than having a food shortage and only a few of variety foods left on the table. Since I was used in preparing food yearly, I can already estimate how many foods to cook and to prepare. That's why I don't have much left over foods. There is one time, during my son's birthday, I prepared food for 50 persons but only have 20 visitors came due to bad weather. I was really worried because my refrigerator is small and it cannot cater volume of foods for stocking. I decided to invite all the children and their parents in my neighborhood and my son's birthday was so memorable. He was so happy meeting new friends and the happiness of the children that I invited is priceless.Guess what? I was run out of food that time so I order additional food in the restaurant.
