Eating seasonably can not only help support British farmers, keep costs down in the weekly food shop and keep the food waste down in the home; it can also encourage us to eat more healthily by bringing more fruit and veg into our diets. It can be daunting moving away from what you know when it comes to making sure your family get there three meals a day, so we wanted to help YOU by giving you some inspiration to eat seasonably.
Seasonal Vegetables
First of all you need to get clued up on your seasonal vegetables. Whether you want to experiment in the garden or on the allotment, or need to save time and shop in your local grocery store, eating seasonal fruit and vegetables is a lot easier to do then you might first think. There are plenty of sources on the web about seasonal fruit and vegetables, like this brief overview we found on Love British Food.
By following these guides, you can plan what to plant in your vegetable patch each season, or keep informed and know what to look out for in your local grocery store. When buying your fruit and vegetables, to ensure your are buying British produce, always look for the Union Jack on the packaging, or why not hunt out your local farmer’s market?
If you have the time to nurture your very own home grow vegetable patch and you would like some more advice on how to go about planting your crop, then visit our previous post which will give you some tips when growing your own vegetables. However, if you can’t afford an allotment or you don’t have the space in your garden, then why not stick to some simple plants you can pot like strawberries or tomatoes? Or if you have no outside space at all, then growing your own indoor herb garden can still be rewarding and inspirational as they can add that little extra taste to home cooked meals.
Seasonal Recipe Ideas
Now that you have gathered together your seasonal pickings, what to do with them! Steer away from ready made meals and take-aways and get experimental in the kitchen by making up some delicious home grown meals. We have scoured through various recipe guides online to give you some inspiration.
Summer Recipe Ideas
With the warmer weather (and persistent British rain!), understandably, summer is the best time of year for home grown fruit and vegetables. With salad favourites like cucumber, salad leaves, salad onions, peas and tomatoes, making the ultimate salad to go with your barbecue goodies is a must!BBC Good Food have some great recipe ideas, like this English Summer Salad.
Autumn Recipe Ideas
With the weather on the wetter side, during the Autumn months you can still find some salad goodies including beetroot and rocket. As the warm weather starts to die off, you can start enjoying some wholesome soups to keep the cold away. All Recipes is another great place to find easy yet tasty recipes, like this festive Pumpkin Soup, delicious!
Winter Recipe Ideas
With parsnips, potatoes, cabbage, brussel sprouts and suede all being in their prime around this time of year, it is no wonder the Christmas dinner has remained so traditional. However, it doesn’t all need to be about roasts – winter is also the time of year to warm up by enjoying a wholesome casserole or stew. By cooking all in one pot, you can save time washing roasting tins too! We love the look of this Sausage and Root Vegetable Stew from River Cottage on Channel 4, yummy!
Spring Recipe Ideas
With sun starting to hang around more throughout the day, some of our salad favourites come back into season. However, it is also the perfect time to grow and eat asparagus! Asparagus can be enjoyed simply fried in a little butter, but you can also get creative it and make some delicious family meals, like this homemadeAsparagus, Ricotta and Pancetta Pizza onBritish Asparagus.
Additional sources of information:
Eat Seasonably – source of calendars and advice about growing seasonal fruit and vegetables
Eat the Seasons – weekly updates on what to it is in season