Fresh5 min read
Seasonal eating without a wall chart
A simple rule of thumb that gets you cheaper, better produce all year round.
Marcus BellFounder & head buyer · 19 Dec 2026
Seasonal charts are lovely things that almost nobody uses. They go up on the fridge in January, get consulted twice, and are hidden behind a takeaway menu by March. You do not need one. A single rule of thumb, applied every time you shop, will steer you towards produce that is cheaper, tastier and at its peak all year round: buy what is plentiful, heavy and priced low for its kind. When a fruit or vegetable is in season, the shop tells you, if you know how to read it.
The rule, and why it works
When a crop is at its natural peak, growers have more of it than they know what to do with. It comes from closer to home, travels a shorter distance and does not need heated glasshouses or long cold storage to exist. All of that shows up in three places you can see without a chart:
- Plenty. The display is full, often spilling into a second crate. Our buyers order more of whatever growers are struggling to keep up with.
- Price. It is noticeably cheaper per kilo than it was a month or two ago, often by a third or more.
- Weight and smell. In-season produce feels heavy for its size, because it is full of water and sugar, and ripe fruit smells of itself from a short distance.
When all three line up, you are almost certainly looking at something in season. When a fruit is expensive, sparse and smells of nothing, it is either early, late or has come a very long way. None of that makes it bad, but it rarely makes it the best buy.
How the rule plays out through the year
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