AIBU to despair at all of the pumpkins that will be wasted for Instagram door displays?

[MunchyCrunchyy]

Lighthearted - I know I just sound terribly boring and as a nation, we’ve been carving pumpkins for years…

But does anyone else think it’s crazy that so many people on Instagram literally have stacks of pumpkins (not carved) outside their front door?

I have even seen someone that makes labels, selling Halloween labels to stick on pumpkins - what happened to carving them? I sure hope they peel of the stickers and put them in to food waste or cook them!

Don’t even get me started on the door displays people have for every bloody occasion e.g Easter, ‘autumn’??

Yes - stop being so boring, it’s all part of Halloween

No - it is a bit much and no one needs 10 varieties of pumpkin stacked up at the front door covered in stickers saying ‘boo’

Lots are just carving pumpkins aren’t they. Hollow!
But I know what you mean , it’s quite wasteful.

The stickers are a brilliant idea for smaller kids/those you wouldn't trust with a knife.

My life is so boring that I take great joy in my Easter and Halloween door displays. Sorry op

If they're not carved why will they be wasted?. Whole pumpkins will last all winter, that's kind of the point of them.

Labels are good for younger children, or disabled children, or don't they get to join in?
Do you know that the varieties sold for display aren't edible?
Most people are doing more in the absence of going t&t.

I think we’re going to end up with 6 this year. We’ve carved one each already and will be doing some with my cousins. I do feel a bit odd about that many but I do cook with it!

I just hope people will cut them up and put them in the garden, local woods etc for animals, insects and birds to feed on and for them to eventually compost. What I suspect will happen is that millions of them will end up in landfill

Yeah sorry OP you're a bit of a killjoy here. Pumpkins are edible and biodegradable. Do you get cross at Christmas displays too?

Ponoka7

How can they not be edible?

When I was a kid it was a swede that we carved. Then we ate it.

We put ours out for deer/ squirrels. The actual flesh isn't much good for anything else, but you can roast the seeds.

Local farmers pick used pumpkins up after Halloween around here for the animals to eat.

@Needtostopfretting

I just hope people will cut them up and put them in the garden, local woods etc for animals, insects and birds to feed on and for them to eventually compost. What I suspect will happen is that millions of them will end up in landfill

Why wouldnt they eat them?. They keep for months?

What do you mean, the ones sold for display aren't edible?
Every year, we make soup or purée out of ours.
( vaguely worried)

My pumpkins are still whole. They'd be rotten by Halloween if I carved them now. I'll do them on Tuesday.🎃

All the pumpkins sold in supermarkets are edible. We use stickers to decorate ours, then use them to make soup later as DD is too young to carve.

Pumpkins keep for weeks if not cut. Easiest way to cook is to cut into chunks and roast. Then scoop out the flesh and use for soups, stews, chilli etc

The carving ones are edible. They might not be as flavourful as smaller culinary varieties, but we always eat as much of ours as we can.

Well I’m glad that I’m being proved wrong and that IABU - the whole point of the thread! Didn’t think about the stickers making it more inclusive, defo a good thing!

Hopefully I will then see all the pumpkin based foods being posted on Instagram over the next few months too

I too worry about them all going to landfill. In my local area 25% of food in the bins is actually food waste despite a good food waste scheme

@Ulrichamelo, hopefully your joking and not so naive…
I’ll bring mine in the following day and cook it up.
Our wildlife refuge takes them for animal feed.

@Needtostopfretting
They're edible, but not the same as the original eating pumpkins and tend to be more bitter etc.
They are grown for the carving market, so it isn't wasting food, as such.

Quite a lot of hedgehogs are killed off because pumpkin gives them severe diarrhea and they die. If you have hedgehogs about, don't put them out.

Pumpkin is disgusting. That's reason for all that pumpkin spice. But we compost ours and a biodegradable decoration is better than landfill crap. And we roast the seeds.

There's a difference between eating and carving pumpkins. The decorative ones don't have all the wonderful flesh inside. But, more to the point, why do we invest in and grow decorative food? It's a strange idea.

I celebrate the seasons. It's wonderful decorating and welcoming the change of the year. We try to follow the traditional festivals. Keeps us in touch with nature and the beat of life.

None of them should be going to landfill, but that's a separate issue if people in your neighbourhood are putting food waste in the black bins.

Genuine question - what are people meant to do with the tiny pumpkins (tangerine sized) in the shops at the moment, apart from use as decorations?