Thanksgiving is all about tradition: familiar recipes, full tables, and people we love gathered in one place. It’s also a holiday with a big environmental footprint—from energy-intensive turkey production to food waste, travel emissions, and the shopping frenzy that follows. 

At Veerless, we’re not here to cancel Grandma’s stuffing or your favorite pie. We’re all about blending tradition with sustainability and stewardship through small, realistic shifts that still feel like Thanksgiving. This week’s 5 Faves highlights simple ways to make the holiday more sustainable while keeping its heart intact. 

1. Build a More Sustainable Meal 

Incorporate more plant-based dishes. 
You don’t need a fully vegan table to make a difference. Adding a few plant-forward dishes (roasted vegetables, stuffed squash, lentil mains, hearty grain salads) can reduce the footprint of the meal without touching beloved recipes. If you’re curious about meat alternatives, this might be the year a Tofurky or other plant-based roast joins the menu. 

If you’re serving turkey, choose more thoughtfully. 
For households where turkey is non-negotiable, the way it’s sourced can still make an impact. Organic birds are raised on feed produced without synthetic pesticides and herbicides, and without antibiotics. Free-range and heritage breeds often align with more natural living environments and better animal welfare. While these options cost more, treating turkey as a conscious splurge can turn it into a meaningful centerpiece instead of a default. 

Cook from scratch and buy in-season. 
Whenever it’s realistic, swap packaged rolls, boxed desserts, and processed sides for homemade versions. You’ll cut down on packaging and gain built-in bonding time in the kitchen. Buying local and in-season (think pumpkins, winter squash, apples, and hardy greens) supports nearby farms and typically comes with a lower transport footprint than out-of-season imports. 

Honor the land and food traditions. 
Thanksgiving sits on a long and complicated history. The meal we celebrate today happens on Indigenous lands and draws on foodways that long predate the holiday. A simple acknowledgment of the Indigenous peoples whose land you’re on, or learning from and supporting Indigenous-led food organizations, connects sustainability to history and justice in a grounded way.  

2. Minimize Food Waste (Before and After the Meal) 

Start with realistic portions. 
We may joke about overdoing it on Thanksgiving, but the amount of wasted food is no small thing. Each year, Americans throw away hundreds of millions of pounds of food over the holiday week, and globally, food waste is responsible for a notable share of greenhouse gas emissions. Planning the right amount of food is a simple but powerful shift. Tools like SaveTheFood.com’s Guest-Imator help you right-size your menu, planning for both light eaters and reasonable leftovers instead of a second Thanksgiving’s worth of food. 

Make leftovers intentional. 
Instead of leaving the host with an overstuffed fridge, ask guests to bring containers and divide leftovers before people head home. Freeze what you know you won’t eat within a few days and earmark it for soups, pot pies, and casseroles later on. You can even make a tradition out of a “leftovers Friendsgiving,” and tap SaveTheFood.com’s leftover-featured recipes for ideas. 

Right-size tradition dishes and compost the rest. 
Most families have at least one “obligatory” dish that shows up every year more out of habit than enthusiasm. If Mom makes a huge Jell-O salad that mostly migrates from table to trash, this may be the year to suggest a smaller version. And if both Grandma and Aunt Beatrice arrive with canned cranberry sauce, consider donating unopened extras to a local food pantry. For scraps that truly can’t be saved—peels, stems, eggshells—composting keeps organic matter out of landfills, where it would otherwise generate methane. If you don’t have home composting set up, check for community drop-off sites, municipal programs, or even a neighbor with a bin who’s open to sharing. It’s a simple way to close the loop on what can’t be eaten. 

Choose better containers. 
Thoughtful storage helps too. Compostable, reheatable bamboo containers from brands like Stealth Health can go home with guests and eventually into the compost, while reusable options like S’well bento boxes and canisters cut down on reliance on single-use plastic. 

3. Rethink Décor and Dishes 

Decorate with natural elements. 
A beautiful table doesn’t require bins of themed décor. Natural materials like pinecones, acorns, branches, pumpkins, gourds, and fall leaves can be combined into simple centerpieces and place settings that feel seasonal and go back to the yard or compost when you’re done. For candles, consider clean-burning soy or vegetable wax or wax melts to reduce soot and smoke indoors. 

Use reusable dishes when you can. 
Dish duty isn’t glamorous, but real plates, glasses, and utensils significantly cut down on waste. Building “everyone helps a little” into your gathering can make cleanup feel more like teamwork than a chore. 

Choose better single-use options when you need them. 
If dishwashing capacity is limited, look for compostable plates made from palm leaf, sugar cane bagasse, bamboo, or sturdy cardboard instead of foam or plastic. You might take a hybrid approach as well, such as compostable plates paired with reusable utensils and serving dishes. Brands like B Corp–certified Bambu offer compostable dinnerware made from abundant, fast-growing bamboo, which can be especially helpful when you’re hosting and need to balance ease with impact. 

4. Travel More Responsibly 

Carpool and time your travel. 
Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, which means a spike in transportation emissions as people crisscross the country to see family and friends. If multiple relatives or friends live near each other and are heading to the same destination, carpooling instead of driving separately lowers the per-person impact and often makes the drive more fun. Traveling at less congested times—like Thursday morning instead of Wednesday evening—can reduce time spent idling in traffic. 

Bundle trips and consider alternatives. 
If you’re juggling airport runs, grocery stops, and pickups, combining errands into a single route can help cut extra miles. Where it’s feasible, options like trains or buses may carry a lower footprint than flying or driving solo. When flying is the only realistic choice, nonstop routes and economy seats are typically more efficient per passenger than more fragmented or extra-spacious options. 

The goal isn’t to stay home when you’d rather be with loved ones. It’s simply to notice where you have room to make small choices—like carpooling with siblings or shifting your departure time—that shift your travel slightly in a more sustainable direction. 

5. Shop Black Friday (and Beyond) More Intentionally 

Focus on quality and experiences. 
Thanksgiving doesn’t end on Thursday. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season bring their own environmental and social impacts. In 2024, Americans spent over $10.8 billion online during Black Friday alone—an enormous amount of potential packaging, shipping emissions, and impulse purchases. Focus on prioritizing quality over quantity, choosing fewer, better-made gifts that are genuinely useful, repairable, or meaningful. Experiences like tickets, classes, or memberships are another way to give something meaningful without adding to the pile of stuff. 

Lighten the impact of how you shop. 
If you’re in stores, reusable bags are an easy default. Online, consider retailers that minimize packaging or use recyclable or compostable materials, and when possible, choose standard or bundled shipping over rush delivery. Slower shipping allows companies to consolidate packages and plan more efficient routes. In-store pickup, when available, can eliminate shipping emissions entirely. 

Support small and values-led businesses. 
Small Business Saturday is a great excuse to explore local shops, craft fairs, and markets. Locally made gifts can feel uniquely tied to your region and support the businesses that make up your community. For brands and retailers, it’s increasingly important to back up sustainability claims with substance. When you’re shopping, look for certifications like 1% for the Planet, B Corp, and Fair Trade as starting points,  then take a moment to research a company’s materials, labor practices, and community commitments. Resources like The Good Trade, which publishes “The Best Black Friday Sales From Sustainable Brands” and updates them throughout the season, can make it easier to find companies whose values align with yours.  

A Thanksgiving with a Little More Intention 

A more sustainable Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be a dramatic overhaul, and it definitely doesn’t mean abandoning the traditions that make the day feel like yours. Small, accessible shifts—adding one more plant-based dish, decorating with what nature already offers, carpooling to dinner, or choosing to shop small and values-aligned businesses—can add up over time. 

If one idea here feels doable this year, start there and see how it feels. The rest can grow with you. 

From our Veerless family to yours, we’re wishing you a joyful, delicious, and thoughtfully sustainable Thanksgiving.