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With the type of supermarkets we shop in nowadays we don’t tend to worry about whether we are eating seasonal fruit and vegetables; freezing and refrigerating have changed the food we have access to all year round. However you may not always realise it but certain fruit and veg may be cheaper at certain times of year when they are in season, especially in supermarkets such as ALDI which have a super 6 offers every week, so it’s worth knowing which types of fruit and veg are in season in different months.

Part 1 of this blog series is autumn, my favourite season! I love the nights drawing in closer and cosy nights in as it starts to get a bit colder and the beginning of frosty mornings with leaves on the ground; I never have been one for hot summers! However other than the typical colours and weather that you see, the season has beautiful foods not available at any other time of year. In this blog I have given you different ideas on how to use certain foods in season right now, with none of these recipes costing a bomb, all perfectly within reach of a student!

Apple: now obviously you can’t have apples and not think of apple pie or apple crumble; the standard comfort food! Many people believe you have to use cooking apples for these well loved desserts however this is just a myth, I use any old apple I have lying about and it’s just as nice for someone like me who isn’t the biggest fan of sharp tasting apples. To make a crumble all you need is apples, sugar, butter, flour and oats, all fairly cheap ingredients. I use oats in the crumble topping firstly to pad out the topping and also it creates a lovely crunch when cooked; this goes lovely with warm custard or runny cream!

Butternut squash: this vegetable is fairly new to me, for years I have seen them in the supermarkets and never picked one up to try it out, then one day someone told me about butternut squash soup and now I’m converted! Butternut squash soup is one of the most comforting and warming foods I can eat by the bucket full in autumn and winter. However this vegetable is also wonderful roasted with cracked black pepper and put into various different vegetarian meals such as curry, lasagne or spaghetti Bolognese.

Cabbage: this vegetable tends to divide the crowd but I love it in a variety of different ways! Personally I prefer cooked cabbage with roast dinner on a Sunday, boiled until only just cooked then mixed with cracked black pepper and a tiny bit of sea salt. However you don’t have to eat cabbage cooked, chopped roughly cabbage goes really well in a salad or homemade coleslaw!

Pear: this is a wonderful fruit which can be eaten in a variety of ways, my personal preference is poached which makes a wonderful dessert! However pear can also be put into pies or crumbles and goes wonderfully with plum which is also in season right now!

Sweetcorn: this is such a handy little vegetable which I put into lots of different meals giving me more ways to get my 5 a day! Fresh sweetcorn is lovely as a side for different meals such as bbq chicken or tuna pasta, however it can also be mixed with various things such as peas, or in sauces so that its hidden and gives you a healthy addition!

I hope this has given you an insight into different foods that are in season in autumn; however there are lots more fruit and veg which have not been mentioned here, so go explore and save some money whilst you’re doing it!

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