When talking about health and sustainability, the term “eating seasonally” often gets brought up. But what does that actually mean and why is it important? There are many benefits to eating seasonally, and what exactly falls under that depends on where you live. Texas’ list of in-season fruits and vegetables for fall, for example, differs from Alaska’s or even New York’s!
Eating Seasonally
Usually, when you go to the grocery store you’re able to buy a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Often you’re able to buy strawberries in the winter outside of its typical growing season. However when doing that, it means that the strawberries have traveled very far in order for you to enjoy them outside of the summertime. Somewhere in the world strawberries do grow in winter, but it’s not locally.
This is why eating seasonally also often means eating locally. In order to enjoy season-appropriate produce, it means you’re also enjoying more local produce. On the other hand, there are quite a few fruits and vegetables that DO grow in season. Scroll down to the end of the blog post to read a list of seasonal fruits and vegetables for our state of Texas.
Three Main Benefits of Eating Seasonal Produce
There are three main benefits when eating seasonal produce: it’s better for you and your family’s health, supports your local economy, and it’s better for the environment. Whether you choose your health first, you can benefit from incorporating this simple shopping habit into your life.
Health Benefits
Eating local, seasonal food has many health benefits. For one, you’re getting produce at its prime, when it’s meant to be enjoyed. Often when eating something that isn’t normally available during this time of year, it’s been picked weeks or months prior when it was still not ripe, so it wouldn’t go bad by the time it lands in your shopping cart. Other times, they spoil along the way.
Peak nutritional value happens when produce is ripe when it’s picked. This obviously doesn’t happen when it’s traveling hundreds, or who knows how many miles to the nearest grocery store to you. Generally, the fresher the produce, the better for you and your body! Some nutrients that tend to be higher in seasonal produce are for example vitamin C, antioxidants, folate, and more.
An added bonus: it also tastes much better!
Environmental Benefits
Most likely you’ve heard about how eating local food can benefit the environment. When trucks and shipments don’t have to travel so far away, then there are less emissions. This benefits the environment. Whether your grapefruit is arriving from a farm near you or from halfway around the world, the transportation does make a big difference in the carbon footprint.
Supporting Your Local Economy
When you purchase foods that grow somewhere completely different, a large chunk of the profit isn’t going to the farmers who grew the produce, but to the retailers, the shipping companies, and more. Eating local seasonal produce helps stimulate and support your local economy. That money that you spend on Farmer Joe’s apples is invested into a local business. It’s likely he’ll re-invest it either into his own local business or may use it to support other neighboring farms. Overall, this can have a larger impact by allowing for local businesses to have the profits to take on more help. Your locally purchased produce most likely over the years will lead to another person having a meaningful job. The same is true for your personal chef. When you book a personal chef at Select Chef you know that you are reinvesting in your local economy. Moreover, your purchase also goes towards fighting childhood hunger within local community.
Seasonal Produce in Texas
Fall runs from September 1 through November 30, and there is so much variety to choose from in seasonal local produce for those who live in Texas. If you’d like to print this article or list out to have it ready for your next shopping trip, this one’s for you!
Texas Fall Fruits
- Apples
- Grapefruits
- Oranges
- Citrus fruits overall
- Melons
- Pears
- Pomegranates
Texas Fall Vegetables
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Cucumbers
- Okra
- Peanuts
- Pumpkins
- Tomatoes
- Winter squash
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Celery
- Mushrooms
- Peppers
- Collards
- Turnips
- Other greens
If you’re cooking at home, you won’t be able to solely eat seasonally. You most likely will have to purchase some ingredients that are required in a recipe that aren’t necessarily grown locally in the fall. It’s not about perfection, but it’s about going that extra mile for you and your family’s health.
If you find yourself dreading the cooking and shopping process simply reach out to us at Select Chef to hire your own personal chef to take care of that for you. We’ll make sure to incorporate fresh, organic and seasonal ingredients into meals that you’ll love!
