Eat Your Pumpkin
The spookiest thing about Halloween? Millions and millions of tasty pumpkins going in the bin. After carving, too many pumpkins are simply thrown away. And their role as a jack o’ lantern casts a spooky shadow over their true purpose – dinner! In fact, here's a treat for you - carving pumpkins are edible, and they're delicious too.
Luckily, we’ve found a trick that gets you double the treats... decorate your pumpkin instead of carving it!
Less mess (no scooping pumpkin guts), less stress (no big knives near little hands), and the whole thing stays fresh till you’re ready to eat it – so you can cook up a pumpkin feast later on.
Are you ready to eat yours?
Let’s scare off food waste this Halloween
Last year millions of pumpkins went in the bin, carved and uneaten. Here are three simple steps to maximise your pumpkin’s potential this Halloween.
1) Small = sweet (and spooky)
Did you know that carving pumpkins are grown for size, not taste? Squash the myth that bigger is better and pick a smaller pumpkin this year, it'll be tastier to eat. Plus, there's a whole load of pumpkin possibilities with colour – think stripey greens, butter yellow and even black. So it’ll look frightfully cute too!
2) Decorate your pumpkin
Carving out quality time with kids this half term? Craft your pumpkin instead. Skip the stress, the mess, and save cutting for cooking. Decorating the outside instead of carving it means the whole thing stays fresh till you’re ready to eat. There’s still loads of room for creativity, spookiness, and something to show off on your windowsill or doorstep. Need some inspo? Here are our 10 favourite ways to decorate ours.
3) Eat your pumpkin
It's simple! Eat your pumpkin - everything but the stalk. Not sure how? Here’s the lowdown.
Or jump straight in with our cauldron full of recipes, from savoury dishes to sweet treats.
Attend an #EatYourPumpkin event near you
- We've funded over 100 events this Autumn
Want to come to a pumpkin party? We’ve funded 110 community events this Autumn, to bring people together for pumpkin cooking workshops, community meals, pumpkin decorating contests, pumpkin parades, and lots more. Check out the map to find an event near you! - Help spread the spooky word
Check out our digital resource pack full of info and social posts to help support the campaign online - Host your own
Fancy hosting your own pumpkin get together? You could do a ‘craft and cook’ for the parents group chat over half term, a big pumpkin Sunday roast for the family, or if you’re thinking of something bigger, our events guide has loads of tips and resources to help with planning a pumpkin event.
Want to promote your #EatYourPumpkin event? Register your event on our community event map here.
#EatYourPumpkin is supported by Starbucks. Since 2018, Starbucks has supported Hubbub’s work reducing food waste, boosting reuse and improving access to nature.
As part of the #EatYourPumpkin campaign, Starbucks stores will be giving away spooky sticker packs from the 25th October to help people decorate and eat their Halloween pumpkins. Simply ask for a sticker pack in-store. Sticker packs will be given on a first come, first serve basis.
Isn't it weird that nearly half of Halloween costumes are thrown away after one wear?
Thankfully there's many ways to get creative and put together a halloween costume that will save you money, time and help the planet.
Isn't it weird that a third of all food produced globally is wasted?
Food waste goes beyond just pumpkins. Enter the Community Fridge Network, cutting food waste and supporting communities across the UK.