Decorate, don't carve
Terrifying statistics from 2024:
'It’s estimated that around 13 million pumpkins are carved into jack-o’-lanterns and then tossed straight into household bins, leading to a spine-tingling 18,000 tonnes of pumpkin waste ending up in landfill. As these forgotten pumpkins rot away, they release methane, a greenhouse gas that’s much worse than carbon dioxide for global warming. What’s more, while a pumpkin can decompose in compost in just 8 to 12 weeks, if it’s left whole in landfill, it could linger for over 20 years! - www.placesforpeople.co.uk
A great place to start reducing pumpkin waste is by decorating your pumpkin instead of carving them. Carving your pumpkin means they will only last a few days before they dry out, start to smell and go off - inevitably meaning they will end up going to waste.
Decorating your pumpkin means that not only do you get to enjoy them for decoration for much longer but you can then use them for all types of recipes and natural skincare long after halloween celebrations.
If you know you're not going to be able to use all your pumpkin at once or preparing several recipes at once is overwhelming, chop the remainder of your pumpkin into squares and freeze it.
Pumpkin food ideas
There are so many ways to use pumpkins in recipes. Other than the common pumpkin pie and soup, here are a few I've tried and loved and some that I'm still yet to try (I'll do some this year)!
- Pumpkin / pumpkin katsu humous
- Spiced pumpkin bread
- Pumpkin biscuits, muffins, loaf
- Pumpkin pasta
- Stuffed Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese
- Roasted pumpkin, feta and rocket salad
- Save and roast the seeds for salads and snacking
- and many more recipes here
Pumpkin skincare ideas
- face mask by blending with yoghurt and honey, leaving on for 15 minutes and then washing off
- a scrub mixed with brown sugar using as an exfoliator in the shower
disposing of leftovers
Compost the skin of your pumpkin - even if you don't have a compost bin you can dig small chunks of the pumpkin skin straight into your soil to release nutrients over the winter. Much better than it being thrown in the bin.
