Many of us may have got stuffed this Thanksgiving, but the holiday season is also the peak time for food waste in the U.S.
Nationwide, waste jumps by about 25% from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, sending billions of pounds of food in the trash.
And it’s happening while more Americans are dealing with food insecurity, food pantries across the county even having to turn people away.
If you're looking to get rid of leftovers, feeding San Diego takes non-perishables.
But if your leftovers are already cooked, Chef Troy Williams at Miss B's Coconut club says it’s time to get creative.
“I think everybody's creative, um, it's whether you lean towards it or not. Leaning toward it to me is just letting your mind be free,” Troy says.
At Miss B’s Coconut Club in Mission Beach, Troy says leftovers are simply the beginning of a brand-new dish.
"We've got a pre-cut [leftover] corn bread square, you can just mash it up and turn it into a cupcake," Troy says. "I'll put a filling in there, maybe cream cheese or with the cranberry sauce, I'll turn the cranberry into some kind of a jelly.”
Cooking like this is personal for him, because growing up, there was no such thing as leftovers.
"I grew up poor, so we didn't waste anything," Troy says. "That's why I kind of lean towards being creative”.
With his passion for food, he sees possibility in every plate and hopes more people jump into that same habit.
“Why waste food if you don't have to?" Troy says.
And if you still want the same dish exactly the way it tasted on day one? You can always freeze it!
