8 Ways to Have a Green-and-Affordable Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just a bit over a week away, now is the perfect time to think about how you might add some green to your Thanksgiving celebrations. Making it affordable during these uncertain economic times isn’t such a bad idea either. Here are 8 ways you can accomplish both.

1. Buy local whenever possible
Whether you’re serving turkey or tofurkey next Thursday, you’ll do your local community right if you try to take a locavore approach to Thanksgiving. Visit Local Harvest or Consumer Union’s Eat Well Guide to find still-open farmer’s markets or local farms that sell direct to consumers. When you buy locally, you can feel confident that you’re getting a fresher product that hasn’t burned thousands of oil miles to get to your table. (Too bad they don’t grow clementines in Pennsylvania; I know I’m going to be Jones-ing for them this year.)

2. Choose organics if you can
With the way grocery costs have been going up, making the choice for organics is no longer for the rich and famous only. Sure, you’ll pay a bit more but not so much so that you can’t consider adding a few organic elements into your Thanksgiving-day meal.

3. Purchase in-season produce
“In season root vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts are not only full of cancer-fighting compounds,” says Sophie Uliano of Gorgeously Green, “but are their freshest this time of year.” She’s right about them being in season–the last few weeks of my CSA had my reusable shopping bags filled with all of the veggies mentioned above, plus sweet potatoes. Yum.

4. Have your dinner during daylight
A great way to cut your electric bills during the holiday is try to do most of your celebrating during daylight hours. True, it does get dark earlier now, but if you serve Thanksgiving as lunch, you can probably get away without turning on any lights. And that will for sure be good for your budget.

5. Use reusable everything
I know too many people who like to take the easy way out when serving Thanksgiving, and serve on plates and platters that they can throw away. Considering that Americans’ trash output increases by 25 percent at the holidays, I can’t imagine consciously adding to the extra 25 million tons that adds up to each year. Scary. At the same time store any leftovers in reusable containers that you can put in the dishwasher (not the trash) once they’re empty.

6. Start composting (if you aren’t doing so already)
Speaking of trash a terrific way to cut down on yours is to begin composting your food scraps. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to get started because you’re going to have so much food anyway. Why fill a trash bag when you can fill a compost bin? Check out Freecycle or your local state university’s co-op extension program for free or low-cost composters.

7. Keep the heat on low
If you’re going to be spending the day in the kitchen, you will be warm enough. And if your home is filled with lots of people, everyone will be plenty warm. For these reasons you don’t need to turn the heat up too much, even if it is cold outside. Just like keeping the lights off during Thanksgiving will save you energy (and money), so will keeping the thermostat at a lower number. For example, if you would normally set the heat at 70 degrees, try 68 degrees. Those two degrees can save you two percent on your heating bills.

8. Make it a pot luck
A great way for you, the host, to save money is not to have all of the cooking responsbilities fall on your sole shoulders. Instead of slaving away in the kitchen, make your Thanksgiving a pot luck. Assign people the job of bringing appetizers, sides and dessert, and have your primary job be cooking the main course. Not only will this save you money, but if you only have to use your oven to cook one dish, you’ll use less energy in the long run.

Do you have additional ideas for making your Thanksgiving green and affordable? Let me know.