My friend and Allume roommate Rachel, who blogs at Occasional Boredom, is wonderful about finding poorganic recipes and strategies. She LOVES pumpkin and is constantly posting recipes featuring pumpkin puree that DOESN’T come from a can. Since we didn’t carve our pumpkins this year, but rather used “tatoos,” I had three pumpkins with which to make some puree. Here’s Rachel’s instructions on how to make 6 cans worth of puree for only $3.49, using a pumpkin from ALDI.
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It’s that time of year when Halloween is over and we have all these BIG pumpkins sitting around! I realize most pumpkin puree recipes call for those cute little pie pumpkins, but I like a challenge! And I’ve really found these to be more of a cost savings then pie pumpkins.
Pumpkins sold as “pie pumpkins” often cost up to $2.00 per pound. (Comment by Katrina: WHAT!?!? The pumpkin patch I worked at sold pumpkins for .59 cents a lb.) I knew that wouldn’t impress my Poorganic friend Katrina. No, she needs to see serious savings before she puts her Poorganic stamp on it!
So here’s my Poorganic Pumpkin Puree!
Aldi Pumpkins cost around $3.49, and in some places it was as low as $2.49 for a 12lb average size pumpkin! With a pumpkin of this size, you can make 91.5oz of puree. That’s equal to 6 cans of pumpkin!! Check out this easy step by step recipe.
Start by scrubbing your dirty cheap pumpkin with your favorite veggie cleaner, I use a vinegar scrub.
Next cut your pumpkin in half, scrape out all the pulp and seeds (I find a grapefruit spoon works great), place on two separate cookie sheets face down and cook at 350 degrees in oven for one hour. It should look like this when done.
I let it rest for 30 – 45 minutes because it’s steaming hot and to tip a pumpkin of this size over, you almost have to touch the skin and while a pot holder can be handy, it’s just better to let it all cool down! Below is how much juice is left after letting it sit.
Next I puree in small batches because I have a very small food processor (Christmas present hint!).
After each batch, I drop the puree into a container where it can drain.
This is how much liquid drained in the time it took to puree the entire pumpkin (about 1 hour).
Drain overnight and the amount of juice will double! It’s really important to do this step so your puree is nice and thick. Your recipes will thank you.
And if you’re feeling extra thrifty, there are recipes for Pumpkin Juice! My husband has big plans of this.
Good luck and let me know how your pumpkin puree’s turn out!!
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Thanks Rachel! Check out Occasional Boredom to read a fun smattering of her stories about a working mom’s journey to balance faith, work, travel, and family. It’s a hoot. (Beware feeling slightly inferior to her awesomeness though. I promise you, she’s actually not Superwoman.) 🙂
What’s your favorite thing to make using pumpkin puree?
You sweet dear friend, you flatter me so!!
Rachel M recently posted…Random Tuesday ~ Texas
I would LOVE to know what you are planning to make with the pumpkin juice. I have cooked several pumpkins and have LOTS of juice that I would love to use. I am having a hard time finding recipes that actually use the juice other than making a Harry Potter drink. Thanks!!
I’ve let Rachel know that we are all awaiting a recipe that calls for pumpkin juice. 🙂 I’ll keep you posted.
We’ve been getting pie pumpkins from Kroger for $1.50 for the whole pumpkin. You can get about 3.5 cans worth out of them (50+ ounces). That is cheaper than what you report above. And I don’t need to drain any juice, and our puree has still been plenty thick. So don’t ditch the pie pumpkins!
Andrea recently posted…Money Saver–Ways to cut 4 monthly bills
Andrea, I agree. I think the moral of the story is ROAST all the pumpkins and use them! 🙂 I think draining is primarily for the larger pumpkins. Rachel, who wrote this post, lives in FL so I think pumpkins might be pricier there.
Andrea, I’m in Texas for two weeks and I found two gorgeous pie pumpkins that have had an astonishing amount of pumpkin puree! It turns out the walls are seriously quadruple the size of the pie pumpkins I was getting in Florida! From one pie pumpkin I’ve been able to make 3 dozen muffins, 2 loaves of pumpkin bread and 1 set of pumpkin pancakes! And I’ve also found that pie pumpkins do not yield much juice, I got about 6 ounces and that’s hardly worth the effort. It’s the big pumpkins that are super juicy.
Rachel M recently posted…Wordless Wednesday