Key Stage 2 design and technology · Cooking and nutrition

KS2 seasonal food: a guide for parents

Seasonality means that different foods are ready to harvest at different times of the year. In Key Stage 2 design and technology, children learn which foods are in season in the UK, why supermarkets sell almost everything all year round, and how that affects cost, taste and the environment. They then use this knowledge when they plan and cook.

Seasonal food, explained

Most fruit and vegetables grow best in particular weather and are ready to pick at a certain time of year. In the UK, spring brings foods such as rhubarb, spinach, radishes and, later in the season, asparagus and new potatoes. Summer is the season for strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, peas, courgettes and salad leaves. Autumn gives apples, pears, plums, blackberries, pumpkins, squash and sweetcorn. Winter is the time for roots and hardy greens such as leeks, parsnips, swede, kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Dates shift with the weather and the variety, so children learn the broad pattern rather than exact weeks.

If that is true, how can a supermarket sell strawberries in January? Children learn several answers. Food may be imported from countries with a different climate or a warmer season, and travel by lorry, ship or aeroplane. Crops can be grown in glasshouses or polytunnels, sometimes with heating or extra light. Some foods are stored for months, such as apples, potatoes and onions, or are preserved by freezing, tinning, drying or pickling. Seasonal food does not mean food available in only one month. It means food grown naturally at that time of year.

Teachers also ask children to think about the trade-offs. Food in season in the UK is often fresher and cheaper, because it has not travelled far or been grown with extra heat and light, and many people feel it tastes better. But the picture is not simple: tomatoes grown in a warm country and shipped may use less energy overall than tomatoes grown in a heated UK glasshouse in winter, and some foods we enjoy, like bananas and rice, do not grow in the UK at all. The aim is for children to weigh up evidence, not to learn a slogan.

Seasonality also has a place in healthy eating and cooking. A varied diet can include frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, which are often picked at their peak and preserved quickly. Children plan dishes around what is in season, such as a pumpkin soup in October, and explain their choices. This connects with the curriculum’s wider requirement to understand where and how ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed, and to apply the principles of nutrition when cooking.

Schools choose which foods and seasons to focus on. Many use a seasonal calendar, a school garden, a visit to a farm or market, or a cooking project built around the foods of one season. If your child has a garden bed or a window box at school, the patterns are easy to see first-hand.

Words your child will hear

Seasonal: Grown and harvested naturally at that time of year in a particular place.
In season: Ready to be picked and eaten now, at its best.
Import: To bring in food from another country.
Food miles: The distance food travels from where it is grown to where it is eaten.
Harvest: To gather a crop when it is ripe, or the gathering itself.
Glasshouse: A building with glass walls and roof that keeps plants warm so they can grow out of season.
Preserve: To treat food so it keeps for longer, by freezing, drying, tinning, pickling or making jam.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught to understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed
As part of their work with food, pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: planning a January dinner

Your class is planning a warming dinner to cook in January using foods that are in season in the UK. A child asks, “But the shops have strawberries and tomatoes all year. Why can’t we use those?” Plan the meal and answer the question.

Start with the season. January is in the middle of winter in the UK, so very few crops are growing outdoors. List the foods that grow in winter or keep well: leeks, parsnips, swede, cabbage and kale, with carrots, potatoes and onions, which keep well in store.
Choose a dish that uses them. A leek, potato and carrot soup with a side of cabbage or kale is made almost entirely from seasonal and stored British vegetables, and it is warming in cold weather.
Check it against healthy eating. The soup gives several vegetables and starchy potato. Adding lentils or white beans adds protein and fibre, and serving it with wholemeal bread adds a starchy food with more fibre.
Answer the strawberry question. In January, UK strawberries are not growing outdoors. Strawberries on sale have usually been imported from a warmer country or grown in a heated, lit glasshouse. Both take extra energy, and fruit sent a long way is sometimes picked before it is fully ripe so that it survives the journey, which can affect taste.
Keep the answer balanced. Imported food is not always “bad”: it gives variety and some foods cannot be grown here. But the class can choose seasonal foods for most of the meal and save imports for occasional treats.

A leek, potato and carrot soup with beans and wholemeal bread uses winter foods. Strawberries are out of season in the UK in January, so they have to be imported or grown with heat and light, which usually adds to the cost and the energy used.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking food simply comes from the shop

Children see fruit and vegetables on the shelves all year round and assume they are always available.

What helps: Ask where a food was grown and when it is ready to harvest. Check the label for country of origin and compare it with what you can see growing locally at that time of year.

Thinking frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables are always second best

“Fresh” sounds better than “frozen”, so children assume frozen peas or tinned tomatoes have little goodness left in them.

What helps: Explain that freezing and tinning preserve food soon after picking, so these foods are still a good choice out of season. The key is eating a variety.

Believing imported food is always worse for the environment

The idea of “food miles” is easy to remember, so distance becomes the only thing children think about.

What helps: Say that how food is grown, stored and transported all matter. Out-of-season food grown in a heated glasshouse can use more energy than food shipped from a warm country. Look at the whole picture.

Assuming seasonal means the food is only available for a week or two

Children hear “in season” and picture a very narrow window.

What helps: Show that seasons can be several months, and that stored foods like apples, potatoes and onions last well beyond harvest. Use a calendar with bars that stretch across months.

How to help at home

Make a seasonal food calendar. Draw a simple chart of the year and add foods as you spot them in shops or on a market stall. Ask your child to colour in when each food is ready. It becomes a quick reference for family meals.
Read labels and find origins. At the shop, find the country of origin on fruit and vegetables. Locate it on a map or globe and talk about why it is grown there at this time of year.
Grow something small. Salad leaves, herbs or cress can be grown on a windowsill, and radishes or a few potatoes in a pot or garden bed. Watching the timeline from sowing to harvest makes seasons real. Check what suits the time of year.
Cook around the season. Choose one meal a week built on in-season foods, such as a crumble with autumn apples or a spring salad. Let your child decide the main ingredient from what is on offer.
Taste the difference. When a food is at its peak, like summer strawberries or autumn apples, compare it with an out-of-season version. Talk about taste, texture and price, and let your child draw the conclusions.

Builds on

Key Stage 1: Healthy and varied diet
Key Stage 1: Where food comes from

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Nutrition and healthy eating
Key Stage 3: Cooking savoury dishes
Key Stage 3: Kitchen skills and techniques
Key Stage 3: Seasoning and adapting recipes
Key Stage 3: Source, season and ingredient properties