There Are Better Ways to Carve a Pumpkin Than This Dollar Store Kit.

Last night I started abusing pumpkins. First I bought pumpkins. Then I went to the dollar store to buy a small kit to cut them up. The kit was only 3% of what my three pumpkins cost me, so I was grateful for the deal. Once I got home I got to work sawing off the top of one of my large pumpkins (for carving) and completely tearing the other apart (for baking). Without thinking about it too much, I used a giant kitchen knife to do this. I should have stuck with this approach, because pretty soon the stupid little scoop that came with the kit broke deep inside the pumpkin I wanted to carve, and I couldn’t see well enough into the dark, gut-filled cavern to remove all the bits. This was tragic because I love baking with these bits too, and it meant that last night I spent too much time stressing and rummaging through the stringy guts to make sure no one who ate my cookies accidentally ate the plastic spoon bits.

Don’t buy a small kit. Do this instead.

Option one: big spoon

After my little spoon fell apart, I started looking for something that could help me continue my quest to gut a pumpkin. I found a large metal spoon and got to work – and it went much smoother than with the plastic spoon. In general, I recommend a metal spoon to easily remove stringy bits, seeds, and internal debris from the pumpkin. This is great for carving and baking as I like to use stringy guts in the puree I make from pumpkin skins, even using discarded elements from my pumpkins.

Option two: a larger set

As a loyal dollar store shopper, I didn’t realize you could get larger kits too, but Lifehacker senior health editor Beth Skwarecki told me about it this morning, advising anyone who wants to use one to get one . She says a larger scoop is stronger and more reliable, and larger blades work well, too. She called them “game-changing.” They’re also relatively inexpensive: the kit above is only $4.97, so it’s not much more expensive than using the $1 mini kit.

Option three: mixer

Just like you can use power tools to carve pumpkins , you can use them to dig out pumpkin guts. Attach a paint mixer or even a kitchen mixer to a drill, stick it deep into the pumpkin and let the motor do the work. Below is a video from Ace Hardware showing how it’s done.