any advice on meal planing with local seasonal veg?

[KittenCamile]

Hi,

I do a weeks meal plan, list all the ingredients I need to get for those recipes and then do the weeks food shop. We only ever need to top up milk and bread after that.

I would like to make a change and shop as much as possible at the two farm shops near us and (we live near brighton) the ethical food 'super market'. But how do I meal plan when I'm not sure what veg etc the shops will have?

We are veggies but I don't drink milk and we don't have eggs so really we just have veg (no meat substitutes either). I try and make everything from scratch, jam, pesto, sauces but I always stick to the recipe in the book/mag I tend to not make things up.

What do other people do? How do you plan your food and shopping?
Many thanks for your help/tales!

I know this isn't helpful, but I found it impossible to meal plan and use a farm box for vegetables - there was just too much random stuff in the box.

Could you bulk buy your veg at the shop and then freeze so you know what you have? Or batch cook and freeze?

Best case scenario is that you probably have to go from weekly planning to twice a week... but even then you'll have to be in the shop, see what they have and devise the plan there and then.

Or could you speak to them about this problem and see what they suggest? They should know what's coming up for harvest and what will be in the shops a couple of weeks in advance, so maybe they can send you a weekly email of what they expect to have in stock... it could be a money spinner for them!

I plan once I have bought my veggies. The rest of the food shop is based around the vegetables we have in the house.

This might sound mad/ unrealistic but I walk/ jog round the allotments near me and see what they've got coming in, then you know whats in season and will be cheap in supermarket and in seasonal shops.

Can you be broader in your meal plan, eg curry / pasta, and just make the curry or pasta with whatever veggies are available?