Eating seasonably, this is, ingredients that are ready to pick in each month, is a great way of eating sustainably. Growing fruit and veg in season requires lower levels of artificial inputs like heating, lighting, pesticides and fertilisers than at other times of the year.
It is also cheaper, as lower production costs and more abundant crops helps to keep the price down. A basket of fruit and veg bought in season can be as much as a third cheaper than the same basket bought out of season!
Lastly it tastes better! Ask any chef and they’ll tell you that fruit and veg are at their freshest and tastiest when they’ve just been picked, so why settle for sickly looking strawberries in Winter or unappetising asparagus in Autumn?
Explore cooking seasonably together at home by creating together a recipe with ingredients that are in season now. Follow these steps:
- Print our Worksheets below, take care NOT to print two-sided!
- Print out this seasonal produce calendar. Have a look at the rows for October, November and December. Have a chat as a family about what seasons are and what “in season” food means.
- Cut up all ingredients and steps of cooking from Worksheet A and B.
- Place each ingredient over one of the seasons in Worksheet C, according to when they are “in season”. Use the calendar to find out which veggies or fruit are in season when or just use the names on the sheet.
- Select the ones you want for your recipe from the ones you have placed under the current season. You can start from zero or think of an existing recipe and swap ingredients for in-season alternatives. For example, our favourite soup, or a chicken pie, or look into a cook book for ideas.
- Option A – older kids:
- Paste them in the “Ingredients” section of your Recipe in Worksheet D
- Would you like to add some spices? Salt? Any other ingredients such as milk, eggs, meat, rice, pasta? Add their names to the “Ingredients” section
- Write down the steps for cooking your recipe
- Draw the resulting dish in Worksheet D. You are done!!!
- Option B – younger kids:
- Fill out the steps of your recipe by pasting the selected ingredients and the required steps (Boil, Chop etc.) in Worksheet E. Draw arrows, be creative! Would you like to add some spices? Salt? Any other ingredients such as milk, eggs, meat, rice, pasta? Draw them out and you are done!!!
- Fancy trying to cook that together? Go to the supermarket and have a look at the veggies there. Select the ones in your recipe. Why are there things that are not in season on the shelves? Buy, cook together and enjoy!!
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