Cooking From the Market, One Week at a Time
Shopping without a fixed list sounds chaotic, but it is the simplest way to eat better and waste less. A practical method for cooking with the seasons.
2 min read
Most of us shop the wrong way round. We decide what to cook, write a list and go looking for the ingredients, whether or not they are any good that week. Market cooking flips the order: you buy what looks best, then decide what to make with it.
It sounds less organised. In practice, it is calmer, cheaper and far more delicious.
Go with a shape, not a list
Instead of specific ingredients, I go to the market with a rough shape for the week. Something to roast, something to eat raw, a soup or stew, a few things for the fridge door. That framework is enough to keep me from buying six kinds of fruit and no vegetables, while leaving room for whatever is at its peak.
Learn three methods, not thirty recipes
Seasonal cooking gets much easier when you rely on techniques rather than recipes. Almost any vegetable can go through one of these:
Roast it hot with olive oil and salt until the edges catch and caramelise.
Shave or slice it thinly and dress it with lemon, oil and something salty, like cheese or anchovy.
Simmer it into a soup with an onion, stock and a handful of beans or lentils.
The best recipe is usually an ingredient at its peak and someone willing to leave it alone.
Cook the fragile things first
Plan the week around how long things last. Herbs, salad leaves and soft fruit go first, early in the week. Root vegetables, squash, cabbages and citrus can wait until the weekend. Anything that starts to tire goes into a soup, a frittata or a quick pickle.
Follow that rhythm for a month and you will notice two things: you throw away far less food, and you start looking forward to the market the way you used to look forward to eating out.
