40% of consumers buy pumpkins, but 60% of these people admit to not using them! Here's some handy ideas that can help reduce waste this Halloween:
- Turn your pumpkin into a bird feeder!
By creating holes in your pumpkin and adding some sticks in the side for birds to perch on, you can fill your pumpkin with bird seed to create a natural yummy treat for your garden birds this autumn.
Birds can also eat the pumpkin seeds! Just dry them out first at 180C for 10 minutes.
- Create compost for your garden!
Cut up your leftover pumpkin into chunks and bury them in some soil to feed your garden mini–beasts. The worms will love them and you'll be sequestering carbon, too! Watch out for hedgehogs, though! Too much pumpkin can make them ill.
- Toast the seeds for a healthy snack!
Toast the pumpkin seeds in some cinnamon for a seasonal spiced treat.
- Cook them!
There are plenty of recipes out there to try, such as:
Sausage, pumpkin and sage casserole - it's delicious, we've tried it! If you're vegetarian, just switch to using quorn sausages.
Pumpkin soup
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pasta
- Give to others
Don’t like eating pumpkins? Use a food waste app such as Olio or Too Good To Go to find local people in your community who will happily take them off your hands!
- Keep the seeds to plant ready for next year!