How to stop throwing half the buffet away after a party

Sunday morning, the day after the birthday party. Half a bowl of potato salad sits on the counter, next to two baguettes and a tub of crudités nobody got round to. Cooking for twenty, you would rather make too much than too little, and part of it ends up in the bin.

How much food the Dutch throw away

In 2025 Dutch consumers threw away an average of 25.5 kilos of solid food per person at home, according to the Voedingscentrum, the Dutch nutrition centre. That is 7 percent of everything we buy. Bread tops the list at 4.3 kilos, followed by vegetables (3.6 kilos), fruit (3.5 kilos), and potato products and dairy (1.9 kilos each).

That is down from around 36 kilos in 2015, a drop of 29 percent. The Netherlands and the European Union have agreed to halve food waste per person by 2030 compared with 2015. And wasting nothing at all would save around €100 per person a year.

Plan for guests, not serving dishes

Start with the guest list, the Voedingscentrum advises in its tips on saving Christmas leftovers. Think about who is coming, whether they are big or small eaters and what they like. Then adjust your recipes and quantities to match. Twentysomethings after a football match eat differently from grandparents and toddlers at a birthday.

Milieu Centraal, the Dutch environmental information centre, gives guideline amounts per adult for a single meal in its advice on cooking the right amount.

• Potatoes: 250 grams for a big eater, 200 grams for a small eater.
• Rice, uncooked: 100 or 75 grams.
• Pasta, uncooked: 125 or 100 grams.
• Vegetables: 200 grams.
• Meat or a meat substitute: 100 or 85 grams.

Those figures cover one complete meal. At a buffet with six dishes nobody takes a full portion of everything, so think in totals per guest rather than per dish. When in doubt, make a little extra of things that keep well, such as pasta or rice.

Shop with a list

Check the cupboards before you head out. Then write a shopping list with the quantities on it, which curbs impulse buys and leaves you with less food to spare. You can also ask guests to bring something.

The same idea works on the table. Put food out in small amounts and only top up when a dish is nearly empty. Whatever stays in the fridge can be kept or sent home later. More on that in how long can food sit out.

Best before or use by

Dutch packaging carries two kinds of date. Ten minste houdbaar tot, THT for short, is a best before date and is about quality. You will find it on milk, rice and jarred vegetables. After the date, look, smell and taste before you bin anything.

Te gebruiken tot, or TGT, is a use by date and is about safety. It appears on meat, fish and bagged cut vegetables. After that date too many germs can grow, and you cannot see, smell or taste them, so the product goes in the bin. Freeze it in good time instead. Or cook it on or before the date and keep it well covered in the fridge for 2 more days, the Voedingscentrum explains in its guide to the two dates.

Storing leftovers and sending food home

Let leftovers cool and get them into the fridge within 2 hours. A large pan cools faster standing in a bowl of cold water, stirred now and then. Pack the food into lidded containers, write the date on them and keep them at 4°C. Eat them within two days, reheated until piping hot all the way through, according to the Voedingscentrum's leftover safety tips. Never reheat anything a third time.

Sending guests home with a plate is kind, as long as you watch the clock. Wrap it well in a closed box or bag, and make sure it spends no more than 2 hours out of the fridge in total, counting its time on the table and the trip home. At home it goes straight into the fridge and gets eaten within a day. Leave raw fish and raw or undercooked meat out of it, unless it will be cooked thoroughly. The Voedingscentrum also advises against freezing food taken home this way. For more ideas, see party leftovers.

The freezer as a safety net

Almost anything can be frozen, the Voedingscentrum says, including bread, meal leftovers and meat. Leftovers from a cooked meal are good for 3 months. Thaw them in the fridge or in the microwave on the defrost setting.

After a party, be quick. Slice leftover baguette into portions before it goes into the freezer, and freeze that half pan of soup straight away if it will not be eaten within two days.

Having the food made for you starts with the same two questions: how many guests, and big or small eaters? Maximus Catering in Ede and the surrounding area makes grazing boards, warm buffets and desserts exactly the way you want them. The packages page shows what is possible.