While many people enjoy the tradition of Thanksgiving — with its family gatherings, great food, and warm feelings of gratitude — many homeowners dread this holiday. Why? Because all the extra cooking creates an opportunity for disaster to strike in your kitchen plumbing. It doesn’t matter if you’re making your own traditional turkey or a different meal entirely – there are several things you should never wash down your kitchen sink, including:

1. Turkey Grease and Cooking Oil

Grease from turkey cooking has to be one of the most damaging items you could ever put down your kitchen sink. While it looks like a liquid when it’s hot, once cooled, grease will solidify and attach itself to the inner surfaces of your pipes. As the grease continues to build up over time, it captures more food particles along with it. The grease is able to trap and capture other substances so they don’t allow water to flow freely; and it will continue to accumulate until you can no longer use your sink. What you should do instead: Let grease cool first, then pour it into a disposable container. When the container is full, seal it and discard it in the trash. Don’t rinse grease down your sink!

2. Potato Peels

Although potato peels appear innocuous enough, they pose a significant risk to both your garbage disposal and your kitchen sink. Potato peels are made of very fine fibers that wrap themselves around garbage disposal parts, creating a tangled mess. Potato peels also contain a lot of starches, which turn into a heavy paste when exposed to water.

This combination of entanglement and gumming-up-the-works can severely impede water and food waste movement through your pipes. What you should do instead: Put your potato peels in a compost pile or toss them in the trash. Do not feed excessive amounts of peels into your garbage disposal.

3. Turkey Bones & Carcass Pieces

It’s tempting to scrape every last morsel of turkey off your plate after a big feast, especially considering how much work went into preparing the dish. However, your turkey bones should never be fed into your household garbage disposal.

Your home garbage disposals aren’t designed to deal with anything tougher than soft fruits and vegetables. Turkey bones are extremely difficult to process (and likely to damage) your garbage disposal components; produce loud noises; and contribute significantly to kitchen drain blockages. What you should do instead: Carefully remove turkey bones, skins, and leftover carcasses from your plates before washing them. Dispose of the remnants in the trash or compost them as needed.

4. Stuffing & Bread

Starch-based foods such as stuffing and bread soak up water and swell within your plumbing system. Wetted by water, these foods tend to form a gluey substance that clings to pipe walls.

As these foods mix with grease and other debris, they create major kitchen drain clogs. What you should do instead: Scrape leftover stuffing and bread into the trash before washing your plates. Even small amounts will add up when repeatedly washed down the drain.

5. Mashed Potatoes

The starch contained in mashed potatoes tends to thicken as it is mixed with water. Rather than washing down smoothly, left-over mashed potatoes cling to pipe walls contributing to clogs. Adding butter, cream, and gravy complicates matters further since fats often bond with debris in pipes.

What you should do instead: Scrape mashed potatoes into the trash before washing your dishes. Use a paper towel to wipe excess food and grease off greasy plates before washing them.

6. Egg Shells

Egg shells are yet another frequent kitchen sink blunder. Although egg shells seem tiny and fragile enough to disintegrate upon contact with water, egg shells can collect with other debris in pipes and ultimately lead to clogs. Depending on the model and type of garbage disposal you own, egg shells may even harm your garbage disposal system.

What you should do instead: Discard egg shells in your trash or compost.

7. Coffee Grounds

You might want some coffee after a long day of Thanksgiving cooking. Nonetheless, coffee grounds have no place in your kitchen sink.

Unlike sugar or flour dissolved in water, coffee grounds do not dissolve. Instead of dissolving in water, coffee grounds settle at the bottom of pipes and are capable of combining with grease and other debris to create stubborn clogs.

What you should do instead: Throw coffee grounds into your trash or compost bin.

How To Protect Your Plumbing From Thanksgiving Kitchen Drain Clogs

There are a few good practices you can follow to minimize risks associated with food buildup while preparing for Thanksgiving dinner:

* Always scrape food particles onto a plate or tray before placing dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
* Never pour grease or oil down the sink.
* Run cold water while using your garbage disposal according to manufacturer directions.
* Limit how much food waste is fed into your garbage disposal.
* Clean any pots, pans, utensils, etc., before placing them in the sink for washing.

By implementing these basic habits, you’ll minimize the likelihood of experiencing plumbing problems while enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday.