Festive menu planning made easy with Nébih’s No Leftovers portion calculator

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 12. 01. 12:15

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The National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih)’s Maradék felül program, with the professional support of the Hungarian Dietitians’ National Association (MDOSZ), is helping with Christmas menu planning this year with a portion calculator. Thanks to the development, it is now easy to calculate how many ingredients will be needed for the planned number of guests on the maradeknelkul.hu website, thus avoiding food waste. The experts will also demonstrate the use of the calculator in a webinar on December 4.

According to a survey by Nébih, a Hungarian family of 4 produces an average of 239 kilograms of household food waste per year, a significant part of which could be prevented. During the Christmas period, the proportion of food that ends up in the trash is usually even higher. At such times, the biggest problem is the waste of food purchased or prepared in large quantities due to over-planning of the menu.

A few simple practices can help prevent food waste. An important step in Christmas preparations is to go through and empty the refrigerator and freezer, which provides enough space for holiday ingredients and leftovers. You can save even more time by using the ingredients in the freezer for the following weeks’ menu – or even for holiday dishes. Certain Christmas pastries, such as bagels or snow buns, can be prepared weeks in advance and stored in the freezer until Christmas.

The portion calculator of the No Leftovers program will now also help you prevent waste. The calculator shows the realistic amount of ingredients according to age groups as a compass. This makes it easier to compile a menu and shopping list, which can avoid unnecessary food shopping and cooking. For example, based on the calculator, it is worth cooking approximately 450 grams of rice for 5 adults and approximately 360 grams for 2 adults and 3 primary school children as a side dish in order to finish it without any leftovers. The MDOSZ also helped with the compilation of the portion calculator database with its advice.

The portion calculator will also be presented by Nébih staff in a webinar on December 4. Participation is free, but registration is required, which can be done on the office’s website. In addition to prevention, webinar guests will also receive practical advice on what to do if more food is prepared than necessary.

To mark the launch of the portion calculator, the Maradék kölkő team is also preparing a festive social media game. Participants can share leftover-free tips and holiday practices with each other, which could even win a gift. Details are on the Maradék kölkő Facebook and Instagram pages.