Leftovers are one of our favorite parts of Thanksgiving—but most of us don't want to be stuck with a massive amount of food for days. To avoid throwing away excess amounts of uneaten turkey, stuffing, vegetables or other dishes (according to Natural Resources Defense Council, last year, about 200 million pounds of turkey meat were thrown out over the holiday week), it can be helpful to not overbuy in the first place. To help cut down on food waste, NRDC and the Ad Council created a public-service campaign called
Save The Food. Its most useful tool is the
"Guest-imator," a digital calculator that lets you plug in how many people you're cooking for (and specify if they're small, average or big eaters), what you're planning to serve (everything from turkey to tofu) and if you want leftovers then tells you exactly how much you'll need of everything, from the weight of the turkey to the number of potatoes.
