Don’t be scared of waste this Halloween

Pumpkins

According to research by the environmental charity Hubbub 8 million squashes (pumpkins are squashes, not gourds – I learnt this recently from the Ologies podcast) are wasted in the UK every year. That’s 18,000 tonnes of edible food heading to the bin, 95% of this over Halloween.

This year I bought a massive pumpkin, and ended up with over 1kg of pumpkin innards that I didn’t want to go to waste. I separated the seeds for roasting and blitzed the flesh into a puree.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Heat olive and seasoning (I tried maple syrup and marmite) in a pan and coat the seeds. Roast on a baking tray for 45 minutes at 190°C – you can cook these at the same time as the scones.

Pumpkin Scones Recipe

• 750g pumpkin puree
• 750g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 90g butter / stork
• 270g cheese
• Beaten egg, milk or soy milk to glaze (optional)

Sift the flour (I used gluten free flour so everyone at work could enjoy them but regular self-raising works just the same), rub together butter or margarine to make breadcrumbs.

Add grated cheese (keeping a little for the top) and pumpkin puree (if you don’t eat cheese then you can add another 200g of pumpkin and an extra 50g of butter) and combine until it binds to make a soft dough – scones are pretty resilient so if it’s too sticky just add more flour!

Roll dough to approx. 3cm, cut out and bake for 20 minutes at 190°C. This makes … approximately enough scones for all of your colleagues.

Costumes

As well as food waste, Hubbub estimates that 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually in the UK from ‘throwaway’ Halloween clothing. This is actually terrifying!

You can help save the planet and your pennies by treating yourself to a costume you can wear for several years, (for growing children this could be handed down to younger friends and neighbours) pick something classic, not topical (I suppose it’s too much to hope for that Brexit is a distant memory by October 2020!).

This skeleton outfit cost me next to nothing, gave me an opportunity to upcycle some clothes I couldn’t wear anyone and it’s much more comfortable than pound shop polyester.
• Old work t-shirt turned inside out £0.00
• Leggings with a hole in them from falling over in the rain £0.00
• Old work shoes partially chewed by the dog £0.00
• Multiple tote bags given away at every conference I’ve ever attended £0.00
• Embroidery thread left over from a previous project £0.00
• Black cotton thread £2.00
• Fabric paint £3.95

These tricks (see what I did there) should help you have a treat of a Halloween – for more zero waste inspiration (and lots of dog photos) follow me on Instagram @grandeurinthisviewoflife

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