A Parker & Sons survey of 500 homeowners explores Thanksgiving food disposal, cleanup habits and reported plumbing problems.
The turkey is carved, the plates are cleared, and the dishes are piling up. You’re ready for another slice of pie. A clogged sink? That definitely wasn’t on the menu.
But how often does plumbing trouble actually join the Thanksgiving festivities? We surveyed 500 homeowners through SurveyMonkey’s Arizona homeowner panel to find out. Their answers reveal how many households had an unwelcome interruption as well as what went down the drain during holiday cooking and cleanup.
We asked about food scraps in the garbage disposal, where cooking grease ended up, and how people got their homes ready. Our plumbing team also weighs in on what those habits could mean for your pipes.
The questions looked back at each person’s most recent Thanksgiving meal at their current home in 2023, 2024 or 2025. Whether they ate alone, shared dinner with their household or welcomed a houseful of guests, their experiences counted. Here’s what we found.
To understand how often plumbing trouble showed up around Thanksgiving, we asked whether people experienced any problems during their meal or in the three days afterward.
The choices included a slow or clogged kitchen sink, a jammed or nonworking disposal, a clogged or overflowing toilet, other slow or clogged drains, and water or sewage backing up. People could select more than one problem, report another issue, say none happened, or tell us they couldn’t remember.
About one in four (25.4%) of the 402 people included in these results reported at least one problem. Most (72.6%) said none happened, and 2.0% couldn’t remember.
A slow or clogged kitchen sink was the most common specific issue, reported by 10.0%. A clogged or overflowing toilet followed at 8.2%, and a jammed or nonworking disposal at 7.7%. Other slow or clogged sinks, showers or tubs were reported by 7.2%, while 6.2% reported water or sewage backing up.
A busy holiday can bring an existing plumbing problem to the surface—and make it worse. A kitchen drain or toilet line with buildup may still seem to work during everyday use, then struggle when extra cooking, cleanup and bathroom use put it to the test.
That means the last thing put into the sink may not tell the whole story of a backup. Thanksgiving can be when an existing blockage finally makes itself known, even if the buildup started long before the turkey went into the oven.
What might be the culprit putting household plumbing under pressure around Thanksgiving? For a closer look, we also asked Arizonans about their cooking, cleanup and preparation habits. Those answers offer useful context.
First, we looked at the food scraps left after making Thanksgiving dinner: potato peels from the mashed potatoes, celery trimmings from the stuffing, or bits of turkey left on a plate. Which of those ended up in the garbage disposal while people cooked or cleaned up?
We gave people who personally used a disposal a list of nine items our plumbing expert recommends keeping out and asked them to select everything they put in. Along with those familiar Thanksgiving scraps, the choices included eggshells, coffee grounds, rice or pasta, cooking grease, other cooked meat and bones. People could also tell us they used none of those items or couldn’t remember.
Of the 237 people who answered, 43.5% selected potato peels, making them the most common choice. Eggshells came next at 26.6%, followed by celery or other stringy vegetables at 25.3%. Cooked turkey meat without bones was selected by 22.4%.
Altogether, 75.9%, or about three in four disposal users, selected at least one of the nine items. That gives us a picture of what went down the disposal during holiday cooking and cleanup, rather than a measure of how many people clogged their drains.
Other items selected were coffee grounds (17.7%), cooking grease, oil or meat drippings (16.5%), rice or pasta (15.2%), other cooked meat without bones (13.1%) and bones (8.9%). Another 16.5% selected none of the listed items, and 7.6% couldn’t remember. People could choose more than one answer.
The name “garbage disposal” can make it sound like the unit can handle whatever is left after dinner. Our plumbing team recommends thinking of it as a food-scrap disposal instead: something for the small bits left after a plate has been scraped into the trash, rather than a place to empty a bowl of potato peels or other preparation waste.
Grinding food doesn’t make it disappear from your plumbing. Those particles still have to travel through the drain, and material that stays behind can contribute to buildup. That’s why the potato-peel finding catches our attention, especially during a meal that can leave a sizeable pile of scraps.
Our recommendation to keep the listed items out is a cautious approach. What a disposal can handle varies by model, and the amount of food and condition of the drain matter too. Being able to grind something is only part of the story; it also needs to make its way through the plumbing.
After the turkey comes out of the roasting pan, the drippings have to go somewhere. For this question, we asked people who helped cook or clean up how they got rid of cooking grease, oil or meat drippings from that Thanksgiving meal.
The answer choices covered several possibilities: collecting grease in a sealed container for the trash, wiping it up and throwing it away, saving it for recycling or reuse, or pouring it into a sink or toilet. People could select more than one method, since cleanup doesn’t always happen just one way.
Among the 374 people included in these results, 20.1%, or about one in five, said they poured grease into the kitchen sink drain. Some ran water while doing it; others didn’t.
More specifically, 14.7% poured grease into the sink with the water running, while 7.2% did so without running water. Some people selected both, so those two percentages overlap.
The trash was a common destination, too. Nearly half (46.5%) collected grease in a sealed container and threw it away, and 34.8% wiped it up and put it in the trash. Someone could use a trash method and still pour grease into the sink at another point during the same meal’s cleanup.
Grease can disappear from the sink without making it safely through the plumbing. As fats and grease cool, they can collect inside the line and contribute to a blockage farther along. Running the faucet doesn’t remove that concern, which makes the 14.7% who poured grease with the water running a finding worth highlighting.
The trash-disposal answers offer a more encouraging picture. Collecting grease in a container or wiping it up keeps it from entering the drain in the first place. Nearly half of those answering this question reported using a sealed container, showing that this approach was already part of many households’ cleanup routines.
We also asked the 237 people who used a garbage disposal how often they ran water while it was on. They could choose every time, most times, sometimes or never, or say they couldn’t remember.
Most said this was already part of their routine: 78.5% ran water every time, and 13.1% did so most times. Another 7.2% said sometimes, 0.4% never, and 0.8% couldn’t remember.
That’s an encouraging finding alongside the food-waste answers. Water helps the disposal process food scraps and carry the particles through the drain. Keeping water flowing during use and briefly afterward helps move that material along.
Still, running water isn’t a free pass for everything left on the cutting board. What goes into the disposal matters alongside how it’s used, and water doesn’t make grease suitable for the drain.
Before the meal, did anyone think about keeping food waste out of the sink or bathroom waste out of the toilet? We asked people which steps, if any, they took to get their home ready. The list included putting out trash bins, giving reminders, making sure a plunger was available, and having a plumber inspect or service the plumbing.
Among the 404 people included in these results, kitchen trash bins were the most common step: 67.3% said they made them available for food waste. Bathroom trash bins followed at 47.0%.
Reminders were less common. About a third (34.7%) reminded people helping cook or clean up what should stay out of the sink or disposal. And 18.8% reminded household members or guests to flush only toilet paper.
Another 23.0% made sure a plunger was available, and 5.7% had a plumber inspect or service the plumbing before the meal. Some selected none of the listed steps (8.4%) or couldn’t remember (2.7%). Skipping an answer doesn’t necessarily mean something was missing from the home; a plunger, for example, may already have been handy.
A trash bin gives people somewhere to put waste. A quick conversation helps make clear what belongs in it. Our plumbing team recommends discussing those expectations before guests arrive, especially when several people will be helping in the kitchen or sharing bathrooms.
For toilets, that means human waste and toilet paper only. Wipes, tissues and hygiene products belong in the trash, including wipes labeled “flushable.” In the kitchen, the same conversation can cover scraping plates and keeping cooking grease out of the sink.
The survey shows that putting out bins was more common than giving reminders. It doesn’t tell us whether those conversations changed anyone’s behavior, but the difference highlights an everyday part of holiday preparation that can be easy to overlook.
Finally, we asked all 500 people whether a Thanksgiving meal would be prepared or served at their current home in 2026. Even with a quarter of those surveyed saying they had plumbing issues around Thanksgiving, nearly two-thirds (63.6%) said they were going to host again, while 24.6% said no and 11.8% were still unsure.
Whether your table is set for two or the whole family, plumbing trouble is an unwelcome addition to Thanksgiving. About one in four surveyed households reported a problem around their meal, and the wider findings show a mix of holiday habits: Many people kept the water running and had trash bins ready, while potato peels and grease still made their way into the sink. As another Thanksgiving approaches, what happens before and after dinner deserves some attention, too.
Parker & Sons commissioned this online survey through SurveyMonkey Audience. It collected 500 completed responses on October 28–29, 2026, using panel targeting for Arizona residents who own a home. IDX managed survey setup and analysis. Seven unfinished responses in the export were not included.
People answered questions about the most recent Thanksgiving meal prepared or served at their current home in 2023, 2024 or 2025. Meals for one person, household members or visiting guests all counted. Of the 500 people surveyed, 406 identified a meal: 316 selected 2025, 51 selected 2024 and 39 selected 2023. The other 94 reported no such meal or couldn’t remember and skipped the questions about past meals. Everyone was asked about 2026 plans.
People saw questions relevant to their experience. For example, only those who personally used a garbage disposal answered the questions about what they put into it and how often they ran water. This is why the number of answers differs between sections.
For questions allowing several answers, we left out answers that combined “I don’t remember” with a specific activity or problem. This affected six answers about grease, two about preparation and four about plumbing problems. It did not remove those people from the rest of the study. Answers selecting only “I don’t remember” remain included. The resulting groups were 374 for grease, 237 for disposal items and water use, 404 for preparation, 402 for plumbing problems and 500 for future plans. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. When people could choose several answers, percentages may add up to more than 100%.
Arizona residence and homeownership were based on SurveyMonkey’s panel targeting; a separate survey question did not verify that people owned their current Arizona home. The collector included all genders with Census gender balancing. Results are unweighted and describe the people surveyed. They should not be treated as exact estimates for every Arizona homeowner, and a conventional margin of sampling error is not reported.
Two records had regional profile values outside the Mountain region and three had no regional value, despite the Arizona targeting. We retained these records based on the confirmed targeting. Removing the two conflicting records changes each of the three main findings by less than 0.4 percentage points. Answers reflect people’s memories, not observed behavior or a plumber’s diagnosis of what caused a problem. The survey did not establish what caused the reported problems or compare their frequency with an ordinary day.
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