Top: Photo of Thanksgiving meal courtesy Ben Franske, via Wikimedia Commons, Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, manipulated by BioCycle.
A new analysis by ReFED estimates that across America, 320 million pounds of food will be wasted this Thanksgiving, representing $550 million worth of food thrown away in just a single day. The amount of discarded food is the equivalent of 267 million meals. To answer the question of the “why” behind this waste. ReFED partnered with NielsenIQ (NIQ) to conduct a survey of U.S. households. They found that more than 90% of Thanksgiving hosts intentionally prepare more food than needed for their holiday gathering. “And what does that mean,” asks ReFED? “Leftovers. In fact, every single Thanksgiving host surveyed said that they have leftover food after their meal.”
Because Thanksgiving leftovers are part of the tradition and festivities, many hosts take actions that help make sure they don’t go to waste. For example, almost half send guests home with leftover food to eat (45%). They’re also making other meals with them, such as sandwiches and wraps (46%), breakfast or brunch (32%), or new meals like casseroles or soups (31%). Yet 12% of Thanksgiving hosts — responsible for feeding up to 36 million people — do not plan to manage leftovers in any special way. Making matters worse, nearly half of hosts surveyed said they are not concerned about food waste around the holiday. And that means there’s a good chance those leftovers are destined for disposal. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports wholesale prices for frozen turkeys are 40% higher this year than in 2024, making it likely that what people pay at the grocery store for this Thanksgiving staple will be elevated. “Our analysis indicates that 40% of what gets tossed on Thanksgiving is turkey, equating to a lot of wasted dollars and cents,” explains Minerva Ringland, ReFED’s Senior Manager, Climate & Insights.
Key to minimizing the amount of food wasted over the Thanksgiving holiday is to maximize the use of leftovers. Tips include having to-go containers on hand to send people home with excess food. For those who have a favorite leftover meal, be sure to have the right ingredients to make them.
More broadly, findings from the NIQ and ReFED survey show that wasted food behavior is changing, in part out of necessity. Their analysis found households are increasingly adopting behaviors that save money and reduce waste. “Many Americans are coping with elevated food prices by adopting meal preparation changes like using leftovers more (45%), being more conscious of using up fresh foods before they go bad (40%), and buying more frozen foods and using only what’s needed for a meal (24%),” they report. “In the grocery store, 48% of U.S. consumers are cutting back on non-essential items. Not only do these behaviors help save money — they can also reduce food waste.”
