I know I'm in the minority, here

As I walk around our neighborhood, I see all of these beautiful pumpkins on front porches. They look so cheery. The day after Halloween, however, many will end up in the garbage. I can't help but think these are food! I know I'm in the minority with this thought, but they can be cooked for people food, or cut up and fed to wildlife or pets. It just makes me sad to think this food won't be eaten.

To use as food

The flavor of carving pumpkins is not the same as pie pumpkins. Carving pumpkins tend to be bland. They also tend to be stringy. But I've found that running the cooked flesh through the food processor takes care of stringiness. As for flavor, I use the pureed pumpkin spiced in many applications, such as quick bread, cookies, smoothies, pie and cakes. Carving pumpkins tend to have less natural sugar than pie pumpkins, which actually makes the former more suitable for broths or neutral soup bases for vegetable soups, or for pasta sauce along with the addition of sage and Italian sausage, or in pumpkin curries.

Feeding wildlife

As for feeding carving pumpkins to wildlife, so long as it isn't contaminated with something like paint or candle wax, fresh pumpkin is safe for animals to eat. Birds and squirrels love the seeds. Squirrels will happily nibble on small chunks of raw pumpkin. Dispose of any remaining pumpkin pieces after a few days, as rotting or fermenting pumpkin could be harmful. The major issue with feeding wildlife pumpkin for a prolonged period is it could encourage the presence of undesirable rodents.

For your pets

Cut into small chunks and steamed until soft, some dogs enjoy cooked pumpkin, according to petmd. But consult with your veterinarian before messing with your pet's diet. Backyard chickens enjoy pecking at pieces of pumpkin, not as a substitute for their regular food, but as an addition. 

A last thought

If you just can't bring yourself to eat a Jack o' lantern pumpkin and you don't want to feed it to critters, wild or domesticated, pumpkin can also be used to "feed" your compost pile. Depending on what else is in your pile, chunks of fresh pumpkin could speed up the decomposition with the addition of moisture and nitrogen in the fresh pumpkin. 

Although I grow some pumpkins in my little patch, I also buy a couple of carving pumpkins each October. At 38 cents per pound, carving pumpkins are a super cheap vegetable. In fact, this year, I bought 2 pumpkins earlier this month, and then today I went back to WinCo and bought 1 more. I won't carve them. Instead, in the first week of November I'll begin cooking, pureeing, and freezing these pumpkins to use throughout the next year. I know, I'm in the minority here when it comes to buying Jack o' lanterns for people food.