Beyond socializing with loved ones, a cookout is all about the food. From hot fried catfish to sweet, buttered corn, there’s no shortage of delicious dishes to enjoy with friends and family. However, if you’ve hosted a cookout before, you know that despite your best efforts to prepare a variety of dishes, some food items often go untouched. This can happen for various reasons, from individual preferences to the presentation of the food itself.

Unfortunately, this often results in a lot of wasted food by the end of the night. Not only is it disappointing, but it also means you’ve wasted time and money preparing everything.

There are certain foods you can almost guarantee won’t get eaten. To find out what they are, here are the top five most commonly untouched cookout food items:

Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of the most unpopular yet popular discarded food items to find at a cookout, depending on who made it. Some people add too much mayo, others, too much mustard. Some people like to relish their potato salad, while others like onions. Making potato salad to accommodate a variety of tastes is no easy feat. Plus, mayo-based potato salads can go bad really quickly, especially when left out in the hot sun for too long.

So simply put, no matter how many Black Aunties claim to make it the best potato salad, this dish is just one of those food items that you can expect to see left behind.

*New* Vegan Recipes

When it comes to hosting a cookout, one thing is for certain: meat is king. From BBQ ribs to fried catfish to grilled hotdogs, a cookout isn’t a cookout without grilling, smoking, or frying.

With that in mind, a cookout isn’t the best time to try your new plant-based mac and cheese recipe, no matter how good you swear it is. People come to a cookout for the food, and unfortunately, that means tried and true recipes only.

Of course, if you need to accommodate a specific diet, there isn’t anything wrong with incorporating some plant-based dishes like veggie burgers or vegan banana pudding into the menu. When making a dish for the party, include a smaller, vegan option for your plant-based friends.

Crudités

A crudité is basically a veggie platter but with an elevated name. Most people fill their platters with carrots, celery, cauliflower, or any other grab-and-go veggie, along with some creamy dip to dunk the vegetables in. And while the presentation is usually really nice to look at, that’s about the most action it gets.

Of course, there are people who enjoy a carrot stick or two with their meal. But when that carrot is surrounded by more popular foods like sticky BBQ ribs, deviled eggs, mac and cheese, you can expect many of the veggies to go to waste.

Turkey Anything

Turkey can often be dry and bland compared to juicy, flavorful beef burgers. So unless you’re on a diet, turkey burgers, hot dogs, and wings should be avoided at a cookout.

Unsweetened Iced Tea

No cookout is complete without a diverse drink selection, from beer to lemonade. And while some of the drinks in the cooler tend to go quicker than others, the unsweetened iced tea is rarely, if ever, touched.

Even though some people do like to have a healthier drink option, most people come to a cookout to indulge. So if you’re planning on serving iced tea, make sure to have both sweetened and unsweetened options available.