Once of a day, people only ate food that was locally grown and in season. With advances in technology, science and transport, pretty much all food is available throughout the year from all over the world. However, vegetables are still often cheaper when you buy them locally in the right season and some would argue that they taste much nicer. Do you prefer to use seasonal vegetables or do you find that this limits your cooking?
It always advisable to buy seasonal produce because those vegetables tend to be cheaper. I hardly ever buy vegetables though because I've got a huge garden where I get my vegetables most of the year. When they can't grow [because it's too cold] then I'll have to buy whatever the stores have on sale. As for limiting one's cooking I don't think that should be an issue. There are numerous ways to cook and use vegetables which should make eating the same vegetables all the time, less "boring."
I would rather buy in season and locally for the simple fact that produce grown on a truck is pretty much devoid of nutrients. Once they're picked, they begin to drain of everything I want from them to begin with. As it is, we don't know exactly what's left in our food.. we're going by old numbers when every day our soil depletes. The closer the better, regardless. Anyway, for me, there is no point eating something that doesn't benefit my health. I do have some faves I'll eat year round, but they don't make up the bulk of my diet.
I just go out and buy whatever is available in the supermarkets, whether in season or not. -and I don't like that, because I do know that some of that stuff will have little to no nutritional value. But until I can locate a local farmer's market, I'm stuck with that. I've heard of a nice one that's a little too far out for me and not so easy to get to. So I'll have to hang fire with that until I get a car
I suppose that there are many people like you who are limited in their choice for logistical and location reasons. I am lucky that I live in a semi-rural area. This means that the produce from the local area is sold locally, but urban areas for supermarket shopping are also within easy travelling distance either by car or public transport. This means I have the choice of whether I want to buy local and seasonal or convenient from the bigger stores.
A friend of mine recently told me her trick to buying cheap vegetables and fruit. She visits the grocery store every other day in the evening and looks at their marked down produce. Anything that is slightly overripe, bruised, or marked up is put at a discount. She buys this stuff and eats it or freezes it right away. You can save up to %50 off this way.
These posts are thought-provoking. While I want to support local farmers and eat organic, I don't want to pay the prices that some places charge. On the other hand, I am happier when I have balanced meals but if there are preservatives due to a lack of water (makes for better soil) or additives to make it stretch a season or two, then I may be doing more harm than good to myself.
We avail not only vegetables but also seasonal fruits. It is good to buy those items on season because they are fresh and cheap too. As for the vegetables, we try to create a balanced meal at least for the entire week. And although we are meat eaters, vegetable is a greater part of our menu not to mention fish and some other food items like beans and the like. But in times when vegetable is not available, we just settle for what we could harvest in our backyard garden.
When fruits and vegetables are actually in season, they absolutely taste better than when purchased out of season the rest of the year. I mean, you really can get whatever you want regardless of season, but the taste always seems a little lackluster. The advances in technology are great to make things available year round. However, I think most people can taste the difference, whether they know a given fruit or vegetable is in season or not.
I buy seasonable fruits and veggies from local producers and then freeze or can them! That way I get the good stuff year round, plus it can save a lot of money.
Honestly most of my veggies are of the frozen variety. But when buying fresh, I do try to stick to in-season ones as much as possible. Locally grown too, but that doesn’t always happen. I do have to say though, the seasonal produce is my favorite part of summer.
I think they kind of limit my cooking to be honest. I eat tomatoes year round, and I certainly wouldn't only wait until they were in season to enjoy them. Though I certainly take advantage of them when they are in season, and buy them up too. Some vegetables though such as corn I will sometimes avoid though, since they can be rather bad when they are out of season. I've had some batches out of season that were so sweet they were nearly inedible. Other veggies, such as escarole, are often too wilted in the stores when they are not in season. I wouldn't waste my money on them. Same goes for fresh artichokes, they are often really old looking.
Some fruits like mango, watermelon, cantaloupe and coconut taste so much better in season. These fruits are better bought during summer here. I love mangoes during summer as they taste super sweet especially if they are from provinces like Pampanga or Davao. We tend to buy these only when in season. Other fruits like oranges, apples, papaya and grapes, we usually buy all year round. Most of these are imported so their tastes do not really vary. Papaya is however an all year round fruit that we enjoy. My son loves this so much especially when chilled. We do have a garden for most of the vegetables we need. We just buy seasonal veggies that we need in the market. Vegetables are essential in our everyday meals as we have a son in the house.
I always buy local produce, I find it more fresh and do agree that it is much cheaper if in season. We have a local man who delivers the vegetables and it costs us the same as the supermarket but tastes better!
It can be much cheaper to eat vegetables that are in season, so this is something that I will always try to do whenever I possibly can. I am not all that picky with regards to the types of vegetables that I eat, so therefore I know that whatever happens to be on offer at the time is what I am going to go for. It works out much better, so keep an eye open to what is cheaper rather than just getting the same old things all of the time.
