5 Eco-Friendly Ideas for Thanksgiving Dinner

This Thanksgiving why not include Mother Nature when giving thanks and choose planet-friendly alternatives for your holiday dinner? It's easy – with just a bit of planning – and will make this day of thanks even more special. From buying locally produced, organic foods to setting the table with reusable napkins, there are plenty of eco-friendly ideas for Thanksgiving. Here are five of our favourite ways to green your Thanksgiving table.

Prepping food with natural flat wraps reduces waste and the potential for chemicals leaching into your food.

1. Plastic-free food prep. There’s no talking turkey when it comes to food and plastic. Avoid the use of plastic wrap and you'll be avoiding potentially risky chemicals leaching into your Thanksgiving dinner, not to mention reducing waste heading for the landfill. For reusable, plastic-free food prep and storage, these Flat Wrap Covers for Food tick all the boxes. Natural, non-leaching and compostable, these innovative Canadian-made covers are easily molded to wrap up fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, bowls, platters and even your cooked turkey! They also make a useful and unique hostess gift.

2. Add eco-chic colour to your table. Add a splash of colour to your Thanksgiving table with these stainless steel dishes hand painted by Kashmiri craftspeople. These beautiful cups and bowls are non-leaching and unbreakable – perfect for some festive eco-chic decor and ideal for withstanding any potential damage done at the kids’ table!

3. Nature makes for easy, elegant eco-friendly decor. Decorate your table and beyond with colourful fall leaves, branches and nuts. Go chestnut picking and fill tall vases and glasses with these richly hued autumn gems for seasonal accents on the dining table, mantle and throughout your dining and living room. For warm ambiance, place a candle inside the vase first and chestnuts around and up about a third of the candle's height.  For eco-friendly place cards, write guests' names on leaves or stones with a felt tip pen. A gold metallic pen works well on yellow/green leaves and silver is ideal on dark grey stones. You can even have a few extras on hand and ask guests to write down what they're thankful for, then place these thanking stones on display in the centre of the table.

4. Leftover layaway plan. Plan for leftovers and avoid unnecessary food waste. Storing them in stainless steel is a smart choice, not just for the planet but for you too. Stainless steel is highly durable so any stainless steel food storage containers you use, will probably outlast you. Stainless steel is also non-leaching, so there's never any worry about nasty chemicals leaching into your leftovers, whether wet or dry. This sleek trio of leak proof, square stainless steel nesting containers is long on practicality and short on taking up storage space. For smaller quantities of food, perhaps cranberry sauce, try these round leak proof steel containers and if leakage is less important, the Lunchbots eco food container with a steel lid is ideal.

5. Be sure to use your leftovers. Sometimes the best laid plans... Keeping leftovers doesn't always translate into eating leftovers and trust us, the result can turn out to be something akin to a science experiment. Keep an eye out now for recipes you want to try. With them on hand, you'll be more likely to use your Thanksgiving dinner leftovers post-holiday. For starters, check out this collection of 5 Must-Try Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Recipes.

5 Must-Try Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Recipes

Leftovers were always a mainstay in our family fridge, especially at Thanksgiving. Lattice turkey pie and turkey on toast dowsed in gravy were meals enjoyed almost religiously the week following the big turkey blowout. Food waste was simply not an option in our household of six reared by parents of The Depression. Nor should it be in this era of waste-free living. With a little planning, Thanksgiving leftovers can be a godsend – take them out of their food storage containers and put them to work for a quick answer to a weekday meal or something a little more involved. Here are some of our favourite recipe picks to help you enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey post-holiday.

Turkey croquettes and slow cooker soup are great ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers.

Hot Turkey on Toast
(Serves 2)

1 cup chopped turkey
1 cup gravy
2 slices whole wheat bread
Cranberry sauce (optional)

Place turkey and gravy in a saucepan and simmer until heated through. Toast bread. Place toast on plate and top with turkey/gravy mixture. Spoon cranberry sauce on side or top, as desired. Serve immediately, steaming hot.

Here's a traditional turkey soup recipe adapted for the must-have slow cooker from Canada's trusted cooking authority, Canadian Living: Slow Cooker Smoked Turkey and Noodle Soup.

For something different, try a taste from the South with these Turkey and Mashed Potato Croquettes. Great as a meal or make them slightly smaller to serve as appetizers.

Great for filling wraps, rolls or spreading on crackers is this Festive Fall Turkey Salad recipe.

From Epicurious.com here's a tried and true classic casserole recipe with a curry twist all the way from 1965: Casserole of Turkey with Rice.

Do you have any favourite leftover turkey recipes to share?

Take $5 off Your Thanksgiving Turkey

If you live in Vancouver, Victoria or Calgary, we've got a great way for you to give thanks - the organic way.

We've teamed up with our friends at Spud, the online organic home grocer, so this Thanksgiving you can enjoy an organic free range turkey with all the trimmings and save!

Enjoy the bounty of this season's harvest, including fresh local produce and vegetarian holiday feast ideas, delivered right to your door. Spud! is a local online home grocer specializing in organic local produce and all natural groceries. They've given us this special Thanksgiving offer to pass on to you.

Sign up at spud.ca and use promo code LIME to receive $25 off over your first 4 deliveries. $5 off your first 3 orders, $10 off your 4th. Offer expires Oct 31, 2009.

Looking to green your Thanksgiving table even more than just with vegetables? Browse our collection of stylish and sustainable cork hot pads and place mats from Sweden. For the cook, we have dishwasher-safe bamboo cutting boards and a great selection of chic, made in Canada aprons that any kitchen diva would be proud to wear!

If you have any ideas or thoughts about Thanksgiving, going free range or Spud, please leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!