Stay food savvy by turning your carved Halloween pumpkins into a nutritious treat for all the family.

East Anglian Daily Times: Use every part of the pumpkin to decrease food waste. Picture: UNDLEY PUMPKIN PATCH AND MAIZE MAZEUse every part of the pumpkin to decrease food waste. Picture: UNDLEY PUMPKIN PATCH AND MAIZE MAZE (Image: Archant)

Do you usually throw away your pumpkins on the first day of November after a late night of trick or treating and think nothing of it?

Every year over a quarter of all Halloween pumpkins end up being thrown away – that’s a huge 18,000 tonnes of food waste.

Suffolk and Norfolk Councils have joined forces with environmental charity Hubbub, urging pumpkin carvers to join the biggest #PumpkinRescue yet. This comes as a part of their new food waste reduction campaign #FoodSavvy – which hopes to tackle the problem of food waste in East Anglia.

Councillor David Bowman, chairman of the Suffolk Waste Partnership, said: “Food waste is a serious issue in Suffolk with the average family throwing away £810 of potentially good food every year.”

East Anglian Daily Times: A new campaign to combat the issue of food waste in East Anglia has launched Picture: HUBBUBA new campaign to combat the issue of food waste in East Anglia has launched Picture: HUBBUB (Image: HUBBUB)

Have you considered turning your spooky pumpkin into a scrumptious soup or a tasty puree?

Our food and drink editor, Charlotte Smith-Jarvis, gives you four quick and easy ways to reuse every part of your pumpkin.

Pumkin pastries

Mix 1cm pieces of chopped raw pumpkin with rosemary, crushed garlic, chopped walnuts and blue cheese to make a yummy filling for a savoury pumpkin pasty.

East Anglian Daily Times: A pumpkin carved for Halloween. Picture: EDMUND CROSTHWAITEA pumpkin carved for Halloween. Picture: EDMUND CROSTHWAITE (Image: Archant)

Spooky soup

Fry one onion until soft, then add two cloves of crushed garlic and 1-2tbsps of curry paste (depending on how hot you like it) and the flesh of a medium pumpkin. Add 300ml of vegetable stock and a tin of coconut milk – cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Blitz in a food processor or blender for a warming tasty pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin puree

Roast one leek and slices of one small to medium pumpkin with one peeled, halved red onion and a little bit of oil at 190 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes (until very soft). Blitz in a food processor with half a stock cube and a splash of cream to loosen slightly. Serve as a scrumptious pumpkin puree alongside your Sunday roast – it’s great with chicken and beef (or nut roast).

East Anglian Daily Times: Pumpkin seeds can be used in recipes or roasted for a quick snack. Picture: DGOLBAYPumpkin seeds can be used in recipes or roasted for a quick snack. Picture: DGOLBAY (Image: DGolbay)

Roasted pumpkin seeds

Don’t throw away the seeds when you’re carving your Jack-o’-lanterns as they can serve as a nutritious snack. Remove all the pumpkin flesh and wash and dry the seeds before coating them in vegetable oil, vanilla extract and a generous dusting of icing sugar. Then roast on a tray in the oven until dried out and serve them as a side.

If you enjoyed these recipes but want to discover more ways to make the most out of your pumpkins, go along to an interactive event on Wednesday, October 24 between 10am and 4pm in Bury St Edmunds Market Square, where people from Suffolk Waste Partnership will be dishing out food saving tips and teaching families to cook with their carvings.