If buying seasonal foods from local producers, fewer food miles and lower food bills were among your new year resolutions, you will need to shop carefully. Much of the produce sold in the supermarkets is from abroad at this time of year. Keep an eye on labels to identify UK produce.

To support local businesses, try shopping at farmers’ markets and farm shops in your area. Farm shops tend to be open all through the week while farmers’ markets are likely to be once-a-month events, or in London weekly. Visit www.farmersmarkets.net and www.farmshopping.com for more details.

Box schemes are also an attractive option for people with busy lifestyles. Fresh produce is delivered to your home or workplace, usually with recipe ideas for using the more unconventional produce, such as celeriac (£1.40 to £1.99 a kg), Jerusalem artichokes (about £3 a kg) and kohlrabi, also known as turnip cabbage (about 60p each), which are all at their best now. Box prices start at about £5 a week depending on your supplier and the contents; check that the produce is from UK farms where possible. Many box schemes include some imported fruits at this time of year because of the dearth of home-grown produce.

The sprouts season continues until March and growers would like to see it extend beyond that. They cost about 98p-£1.49 a kg, or a stalk costs about £1, which can yield more than 1kg. If you can’t face them served as vegetables, why not disguise them in a simple soup from Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book. Gently cook one large, chopped onion in a pan with 60g butter, add 375g of quartered sprouts plus 250g of potatoes with celery or celeriac. Cook for a few minutes, then add a litre of water. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, put through a blender and add six tablespoons of cream with chopped parsley before serving (serves 3-4).

Swedes are a sweet-tasting root vegetable (about 59p each or 79p a kg) with an unfair reputation for being boring. Try mashing swede and carrots together with plenty of butter and black pepper, or roast them with parsnips and potatoes.

UK apples are now from cold storage; the supply of Cox’s Orange Pippin will finish next month but they are still very good now at 98p-£1.79 a kg. Find some UK-grown Braeburn in the supermarkets at £1.08-£1.69 a kg. Bramley cooking apples are abundant at £1.38-£1.90 a kg. Fruit should be stored in a cool place but not in the fridge.

Also in season: potatoes, cabbage, red and white turnips, onions, parsnips, carrots, leeks, venison.

RITA EXNER (www.farma.org.uk)

Times recommends

• What took place in 2010...
• Can you really cure a hangover?
• Video: How to do glamorous smoky eyes