It's a shame.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

During Christmas, so much food is eaten. My wife cooks for the family and I mean the whole 9 yards. (old saying).
We invite people to come over and they do.....they bring MORE food. Other people just drop by to say Merry Christmas, and they bring food.
This morning, Julie and I took inventory.
We have pies, cakes, cookies out the wazoo, candy, Ham, and so many casseroles that people have left......it makes you want to throw up just looking at all this stuff. When they leave, they say.....I'll pick up the dish later.
We tell them to please take the food home. They say......we have to much food at home already from cooking and people bringing it over.
Our freezers (2) are full of Deer, Rabbit, Dove and general stuff like Pizza and vegetables from the summer. We have no room to freeze this extra food.
So many hungry people in the world.....all this food.
There is no one to give it to. Yep.....there are homeless people in town but we don't know where they are.....its freezing outside and they are in shelters and are being fed through the Holidays.
Sooooo........back to square 1.......what do you do? The food eventually has to be thrown away.
To make us feel better......we take the food into the woods for the wildlife.
We know in our heart we have done the best we could without being wasteful.....animals get hungry too this time of year......I know they appreciate it.
We did our best.

[Bill Gaiche]

I and the animals appreciate your efforts. I say for the time being you have done your best. bg

[Texas Ranger]

You seem to be blessed with family and friends, they give freely, you do what you can with it.  What more can you ask of this Season?

[drobertson]

It does seem like a waste to me as well, lots of folks are without, I reckon you can't or should not feel guilty, in your blessings,  david

[Cedarman]

Too late for this year, but you might check around and there may be someplace to go with it next year.  You might check with some churches a few weeks ahead of time and see if they know people that could use some extras.  Just a thought.

[isawlogs]

 That's really sad, the plus side of living in the ''glaciers'' as WDH puts it, we can put all that extra food in coolers , set those outside out of the sun and it will keep till march. one has a long time to deal with the extras.

                      :new_year: :new_year:
   

[Al_Smith]

 I have a furry 4 footed garbage disposal most people refer to as a raccoon .I've been feeding brer coon for maybe a year and a half .He gets fed quite well actually .

He minds his manner ,doesn't get in the garbage can or eat my ripe tomatoes .If I set out any table scraps on his favorite log and he comes and dines .I watch him eat and he watchs me drink beer in the summer .Maybe next summer I'll give him a little nip.

[sandhills]

Poston, I know what you mean, our dogs eat just as good as us this time of year (come to think of it they probably eat better than us the rest of the year anyway).  We have a food pantry in town for those less fortunate and dad always took in all the extra tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. that he raised during the summer, people loved it, then a few years ago he was told they couldn't take them anymore because they weren't inspected or something like that  :.

[WDH]

David,

You apparently are not eating enough. 

[Sixacresand]

Ideally, a family who has enough or too much should adopt a struggling family.   

[pigman]

Ideally, a family who has enough or too much should adopt a struggling family.

I am available. ;)

[Leigh Family Farm]

Besides checking with local churches or shelters, I would look for a local pig farmer. Pigs will eat anything and the farmer might give you some sausage in return later on in the year. Another option, host a Leftovers Dinner the weekend following the holidays. Invite all the members of the Forestry Forum over for leftovers and then you will have no more leftovers, or meat in your freezer, or lumber in your yard, or TP in the bathroom!  :D :D

[thecfarm]

I am jumping up and down and my hand is raised saying, Me Too,Me Too.  ;D
But I know what you mean about the food. We have get togethers in the summer time. Boy there is some food being brought to The Hill. We just had Christmas with the family and we only had the food that we fixed here. Not much food was brought up to The Hill. It was manageable for once.

[pigman]

Besides checking with local churches or shelters, I would look for a local pig farmer.

That will work if the farmer is only raising pigs for their own use, but pork packers will not buy hogs if they have been fed food scraps.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Besides checking with local churches or shelters, I would look for a local pig farmer. Pigs will eat anything and the farmer might give you some sausage in return later on in the year. Another option, host a Leftovers Dinner the weekend following the holidays. Invite all the members of the Forestry Forum over for leftovers and then you will have no more leftovers, or meat in your freezer, or lumber in your yard, or TP in the bathroom!  :D :D

You got to be careful nowdays. A lot of places make it illegal to feed pigs scraps that contain any MEAT! Would hate to see anybody go to jail for slopping the hogs with something that had a little bit of scrap meat...

Herb

[sawguy21]

I felt the same way about leftovers. The women got a 17 lb turkey for five adults and two kids, with all the fixins we hardly put a dent in all the food. Niece's husband and my bil are very picky so ate little, Karen only had mashed potatoes and gravy with a bit of vegetables and the kids heaped their plates took three mouthfuls and went back to their toys. : I ate my share. ;D A big meal is wasted on this lot. We brought the carcass home, I am going to be eating turkey sandwiches and turkey a la king and turkey soup for a while.
I have suggested moderation but the cooks will have none of it, they feel the need to go all out like their mothers and grandmothers did.

[thecfarm]

sawguy,my wife is that way. If 10 are coming she cooks for 20. But she is right. I have been to some places if 10 are coming they cook for 8.    I just don't feel that I can eat.I feel uncomfortable eating. Most times she will ask what pie people want. You get 10 people together and she will cook 6-7 pies.    She is real bad on potatoes. She just has to have a BIG pot of potatoes at a get together. I did get her to cut the usual amount in half this time, Still was a lot leftover.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Dave

I am terrible at portion estimates. Probably one of the reasons I am way overweight. Every time we have a party, BBQ, or family get together, I always buy and cook too much food. The kids and friends ask what they can bring and we tell them don't bring anything. Some listen, some don't.

Begging people to take some food home sounds real familiar. So does the refrigerator and freezer stuffed with left over food.

I finally had to admit that I just stink at trying to estimate how much food to cook up and handed that task over to Mrs. Beaver. I have to admit, she is much better at it than I am. Part of her philosophy is that is os ok to run out of something. People will just eat something else in its place, and her wisdom seams to work pretty well. We had a house full of about 25 for Christmas eve and kept everyone fed from about 2 in the afternoon to midnight and had very little left overs except in the desert categories.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Besides checking with local churches or shelters, I would look for a local pig farmer. Pigs will eat anything and the farmer might give you some sausage in return later on in the year. Another option, host a Leftovers Dinner the weekend following the holidays. Invite all the members of the Forestry Forum over for leftovers and then you will have no more leftovers, or meat in your freezer, or lumber in your yard, or TP in the bathroom!  :D :D

Lilgrosh, you and THECFARM are nuts.  :D :D :D I'd have to chain everything down but I could sell TP by the square.  ;D

[red oaks lumber]

left overs go back home with the person that brought them, that way nothing goes to waste.

[beenthere]

Full agreement with red oaks...  They made it so they most likely like that dish.
Plus... they can clean the dish on their time. ;)

[r.man]

The dish should leave with its owner, empty or not. If it is something popular with someone else then put some in their dish. Leftovers can very often be divided somewhat between the non cookers as well, bachelors, widowers or older people who don't cook as much. I won't throw out food so I am eating turkey every day now. I really like turkey but by the time I get this bird done I won't want any for a while.

[5quarter]

Reminds me of the bi monthly miracle that happens at my church.

    We have a potluck at the church about twice a month. I usually fix a ham and potato casserole or a meatloaf or something. everyone brings a dish. everyone eats. Leftovers get divvied up and everyone take some home. without fail, I wind up taking home more than I brought.  ;)

   David...I bet if you got into your freezers, you would find enough freezer burned or otherwise inedible stuff to toss out that could find room to store all the leftovers. That way when the same thing happens next year, you can get into your freezers and purge all the stuff you made room for this year.  ;)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

   David...I bet if you got into your freezers, you would find enough freezer burned or otherwise inedible stuff to toss out that could find room to store all the leftovers. That way when the same thing happens next year, you can get into your freezers and purge all the stuff you made room for this year.  ;)

5quarter, yep.....you are probably right.  :D  I wish they made a freezer with the door on the front and back. 
It would make it a whole lot easier to take inventory. 

[Holmes]

 I wish they made a freezer with the door on the front and back. 

They do , a walk in freezer. Looks like you need to build one  ;) Lets start a new thread  Davids Forestry Forum food shelter freezer. ;D