Minimal-waste Christmas dinner calculator

Use our Christmas dinner calculator

By following these (rough) guidelines you should end up with a full table and some leftovers but nothing wasted.

Turkey:

500g per person – this will allow plenty on the day as well as lots for sarnies and left-over recipes.

Potatoes:

11⁄2 large potatoes per person will divide into six roasties – which leaves plenty for leftovers such as bubble and squeak.

Vegetables:

400g per person.

Stuffing:

150g per person.

Gravy:

250ml per person.

Don't waste your turkey

Cooking a huge, expensive turkey for a lot of people can be a daunting task. Up to a third of turkeys don’t even make it to the table due to undercooking, and many of the ones that do are so overdone that most of the bird is thrown away after the meal. Avoid disaster by writing and following a strict plan on the day, or use our turkey guide and Christmas time planner to ensure everything is cooked perfectly, on time.

With our quick and easy guide you can cook the perfect turkey this Christmas, plus discover our best turkey recipes here, too...

Only buy what you need for Christmas

It’s easier said than done, but stick to your shopping list! Christmas is a time of excess and supermarkets like to encourage us to buy more than we need with two-for-one and multi-pack deals. It may be better value to buy the 1.5kg bag of carrots, but if you only need three or four then there is far more chance of them going to waste. Panic buying is a real problem over Christmas, but keep calm and think: do I really need this? Where possible, buy loose vegetables from supermarkets, greengrocers or markets so you can buy exactly what you need. It may seem obvious but also look for the longest use-by dates you can find. You’d hate to throw something away that would have been eaten just because it goes out of date on Boxing Day.

Make the most of your freezer over Christmas

Having the freezer stocked with items such as pre-made canapés, bulkers like garlic bread and puddings will mean you can easily whip things out for an easy meal or feed unexpected guests at the last minute. Having these bits frozen will also keep them from going off and save you valuable fridge space. Get in lots of storage containers and reusable freezer bags as well as labels so you know exactly what everything is and when it was frozen. Any food that is fully cooked and cooled properly will keep for up to six months in the freezer (check your freezer capabilities for ideal freezing times) – turkey curry in June, anyone?

Discover our guide to freezing at home here...

Choose your Christmas dinner wisely

Do you actually like sprouts? Or turkey? Cut down on unwanted leftovers by changing traditions you’re less keen on, whether that’s swapping turkey for rib of beef, sprouts for pak choi or carrots for kale.

Make the most of leftovers

For us at olive many of the joys of Christmas come from the leftovers – turkey sarnies and bubble and squeak are almost better than the Christmas feast itself. Discover our huge collection of leftover recipes that will inspire you to use every last morsel of left-over food. As a general rule, any cooked food that has been cooled properly, packaged and chilled within two hours of cooking will then have a further shelf life of three days.

For more leftover inspiration, check out our leftover ham recipes and roast dinner leftover recipes.

More Christmas leftover recipes below

Use up your Christmas leftovers in our quick and easy recipe using up leftover vegetables and vegetable peelings, plus we've got a wholesome way to use up leftover turkey too...

Vegetable crisps with curry salt

Use up all your veggie peelings, as well as any loose left-over veg, and use them to make these epic crisps with an easy curry spice.

Turkey ramen

Use up leftover Christmas turkey in this nutritious and restorative ramen. Make the stock and freeze ahead or use 1.6 litres of ready-made stock.

Cut down on plastic

As well as being known for its excessive food consumption, Christmas is also a period of the year where plastic use surges. Here are some handy tips to keep your waste to a minimum.

• Bring your own bags to the supermarket, butcher or greengrocer to reduce unnecessary plastic use. Where possible, buy loose fruit and vegetables, grains, pulses and household items in refillable, reuseable containers.

• At home, use beeswax paper (see below) to wrap up food instead of clingfilm, or use sealable containers to keep things fresh in the fridge.

• If you’re off to stay with friends or relatives or renting a holiday home over Christmas, have a look online for the local council’s recycling guidelines on what they do or do not recycle and in what condition they need to be received. This way you can try to keep as much as possible from going to the landfill.

• Look out for bio-plastics if you are buying plastic – these are made from renewable biomass sources and under the right conditions are able to completely decompose.