One of the most important parts of the Thanksgiving holiday is the abundance of good food – and central to being grateful for all that abundance is making sure it’s all put to good use. Follow these four steps and you’ll make the most of all of your Thanksgiving leftovers from this year’s feast.

First, send your guests home with food:

When the meals over, divvy up Thanksgiving leftovers to guests that are hungry for more! It’s an easy way to make sure that you’re not overwhelmed with too many leftovers to eat yourself. Pro tip: stock up in advance on extra Tupperware that you won’t mind parting with.

Then, make leftovers new again!

If you still have lots of leftovers in your fridge, breakfast or brunch tomorrow (and the next day, and the day after that) is the perfect opportunity to give them a hearty new life. Check out this overview of 4 easy ways to transform Thanksgiving dinner into a delicious brunch feast. Hint: adding eggs makes all the difference!

Clean up by turning scraps into stock

Discarded stalks and stems that didn’t make it into the dish such as the leftover ham bones and turkey meat scraps from your roast are the perfect start to an epic homemade stock. Bag them up for now, and make extra flavorful soups and stocks later.

Compost what’s left

Composting is one of our favorite ways to reduce waste because it lets you turn things that even creative cooks don’t normally eat, like avocado skins, lemon peels, and apple cores, into a treasure trove of fertilizer for your garden. Even if you’re composting in a community pile through a city network or neighborhood pickup, there’s still the benefit of much less smelly household garbage. Want to get started? Check out our post all about composting!