‘Simplify the Holidays’ campaign wants to help you do the holidays differently

Holidays are a time of joy, connection and tradition. Unfortunately, they’re often excessively wasteful. Every year in December, for example, American households generate 23% more tons of waste than in other months. And it’s not just the extra trash that’s a problem. All the fossil fuels, trees and other natural resources that go into producing unnecessary plastic toys, novelty gifts and wrapping paper make the winter holidays dreary for wildlife and the habitat they need to survive. 

The Center for Biological Diversity’s Simplify the Holidays campaign helps to address these issues with information and tips on how you can make your holiday season more sustainable. Now, in 2024, Waste Wise Lane County is helping to spread the campaign mission for the third year.

In addition to sharing information on Facebook and Instagram , Waste Wise Lane County is running its second Leftover Holiday Recipe Contest.

What is the Leftover Holiday Recipe Contest?

Maybe it’s Grandma Lilly’s Thanksgiving Egg Rolls or Uncle Brian’s Savory Bagel Stuffing? How do you use holiday leftovers? Waste Wise Lane County is collecting your leftover recipes and sharing them as part of its Simplify the Holidays campaign, running from Nov. 20 to Jan. 1. Share recipes for your chance to win great prizes and help reduce food waste while saving money. During the first contest in 2023, participants submitted lots of yummy recipes, with three folks claiming great prizes.

Submit Your Recipe

Irish Shephard’s Pie, submitted by Stefani T. (2023)
Thanksgiving Leftover Soup Stock, submitted by Jo Rodgers (2023)
Leftover Stuffing Muffins, submitted by Kathleen Crivello (2023)

A chance to eat well and reduce waste

The holidays are approaching, and soon, the sensational smells of holiday dishes will start filling our homes and those of our family and friends. Special meals are exciting, but what comes after? The reality is that Americans throw away 20% of the food they buy, which is wasteful, harmful to the environment, and costly in this time of rising food costs.

Waste Wise Lane County believes the leftovers can be just as magical as the original meal! We ask you to put your creative minds to work to share your favorite leftover recipes for a chance to win one of many great prizes and bragging rights.

Prizes include:

Why Leftovers?

Planning at least one meal from leftovers each week is a great way to ensure you utilize all the food you buy. Using recipes to build your meal plans helps you avoid pitfalls such as needing completely different ingredients for every recipe. For example, plan to eat broccoli as a side one night and in a casserole the next. Recipes can provide both inspiration and “how-to” instructions.

Now it’s your turn!

We’d love to see your favorite recipes for leftovers! Share those dishes that spring forth from the items in your fridge, freezer, or pantry before they spoil, shrivel, freezer-burn, or become otherwise inedible. It can be as simple as a short narrative of your list of leftovers and other ingredients you combine into a surprisingly delicious meal OR a more traditional-style recipe listing the ingredients and the step-by-step for your unique creation.

Here are a few examples and ideas:

HINT: We’re not looking for recipes from your favorite celebrity chef or America’s Test Kitchen! We prefer YOUR home-tested recipes that are:

(1) Relatively simple
(2) Don’t involve much prep time or specialized appliances.
(3) DO involve using up leftover food items.

So, whether your approach to meal preparation is formal or freestyle, we’re interested in what you come up with. Kid-friendly recipes are encouraged!
Qualified recipe submissions will be entered into a random drawing to win one of three prize packages.

Submit Your Recipe

Here is how to qualify:

Recipes submitted must be appropriately attributed, either solely to you or to its creator (family member, etc.) If your recipe came from a cookbook or website but you’ve made it your own, please tell us where it originated, as we cannot re-publish copyrighted material.

  1. What’s the name of your dish? Is it for vegans, vegetarians, or omnivores? Is it kid-
    friendly?
  2. What was the inspiration for your dish?
  3. Estimate how much $$ you saved by not wasting those leftover items.
  4. Include 1-2 photos of what you made (and a selfie if you like).
  5. Identify the leftovers or Eat First! food items you used from your fridge, freezer, or
    pantry as the primary ingredients in your recipe. Use as many as you can!

Please complete our Waste Wise Lane County: Simplify the Holidays Leftover Recipe Contest Entry Form and submit it by Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. Limit one submission per person. Participants must be residents of Lane County.

Submit Your Recipe

We will randomly draw and announce four winners by Jan. 9, 2025! Remember to follow Waste Wise Lane County on Facebook and Instagram for contest updates and ways to reduce waste and live more sustainably during the season.