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    Get my newsletters + access to a library full of printables!

    Home » Blog » Whole Food Recipes » Cooking Tips

    June 30, 2021 | By Jami

    Seasonal Cooking For July: What's In Season, Recipes & Meal Plan Printable

    Tips for seasonal cooking for July including lists of in-season produce, any preserves to use up, and favorite recipes for easy meal planning.

    Plus grab your free printable seasonal menu planning page to help you focus on cooking through the seasons - and build up your own custom seasonal eating plan!

    Seasonal Cooking-July

    This article is part of a year-long series on how to cook seasonal foods for each month as a resource for meal planning, saving money, and helping the environment.

    Each month of the seasonal cooking series includes:

    • What's in season for that month.
    • What you may have in your freezer and pantry to use up if you preserve food.
    • Favorite recipes using seasonal produce from An Oregon Cottage to help you plan to eat seasonally.
    • A free printable weekly menu planner for the month with areas to record what's in season for you and what you have to use up!

    You can find all the months of this seasonal eating series here.

    Welcome to the July installment of our monthly series that aims to help you cook more seasonally (read the first section of this month for answers to the questions, "What is seasonal cooking," "Why is easting seasonal important" - and a big caution we need to take into account for eating "seasonally.").

    Tips for eating seasonally and using this resource page with the printable meal planner:

    1. Use the lists and recipes you find here for July to make a menu according to what you are harvesting/buying.
    2. Harvest from your own garden or visit farmer's markets for the produce you need.
    3. OR use the shopping lists when super market shopping, noting the sales in the produce aisle.
    4. Try new things that are in season!
    5. Add any new recipes you like and keep them in a binder to cycle through the following season.

    With so much produce available for most of the year, it’s easy to lose track of its seasonality, which is where this page and the free printable weekly menu planning page will help:

    July meal planning page opt-in

    Download the menu page, print it out, and use it to write down the seasonal foods you need to use and buy, as well as the recipes you'll make that week.

    Pro Tip: Keep all of these through a year and you'll have a custom seasonal menu binder you can refer to year after year!

    Note: If you're already a subscriber, you can find this in the VIP library!

    Seasonal Eating for July

    Preserving Blueberries

    July is a month in the Northern Hemisphere where seasonal foods really come into their own. It's an abundance that keeps giving all the way through September.

    Some things, like nectarines and apricots, are only in season for a couple of months, so if you want them during the rest of the year you'll need to freeze, can, or dry them now while they are at their lowest price and peak flavor.

    Which in fact is what I like to do with most of the delicious fruits and veggies that are producing this month to have that flavor at the best price.

    I will be drying blueberries, freezing other berries, making lots of easy sauerkraut, freezing the last of the peas, and pickling cucumbers and cauliflower with carrots and green beans.

    Seasonal Produce for July

    Fruits that are in season:

    • Apricots
    • Blackberries
    • Blueberries
    • Cherries (only for a few more weeks)
    • Nectarines
    • Peaches
    • Raspberries
    • Strawberries (on their way out...)

    Vegetables that are in season:

    • Beets (Don't think you like beets? Try them this way and you might change your mind!)
    • Broccoli
    • Cabbage
    • Carrots
    • Cauliflower
    • Cucumber
    • Garlic (Early to mid-month here is when the tops turn brown and we can harvest.)
    • Green beans
    • Lettuce (Lots of it, if you garden!)
    • Onions
    • Peas
    • Potatoes
    • Radishes
    • Zucchini and other summer squash
    • Tomatoes (Towards the end of the month here, if we're lucky!)

    Preserved seasonal food you may have to use up:

    Pro Tip: Use the planning page to record how many of these you have left and use them up asap to make room for the new season's produce.

    Freezer

    It's time to use up the (hopefully) few random vegetables and sauces to make room for this year's bounty.

    Plus, from now until October, it's all about eating the fresh vegetables and fruits that we grow or can buy locally!

    Pantry

    Tomato products are the biggest since tomatoes aren't really ripe around here until August, so July is a time to use up last year's tomatoes.

    • salsa
    • tomato sauce
    • canned tomatoes

    Seasonal Eating Recipes for July

    Caesar Slaw with Bacon

    Caesar Slaw with Bacon

    This is probably the recipe that made my kids finally try - and like - coleslaw. Using a caesar dressing on cabbage, carrots, and onions is amazing and should be on everyone's menu (um, do you think this is a favorite recipe?).

    Chicken-Lime lettuce wraps

    10-Minute Chicken Lime Lettuce Wraps

    Use up some of that garden lettuce with quick and easy lettuce wraps! They are such a fun dinner option, and the bonus with this recipe is NO cooking, making it great for those hot July days.

    stuffed zucchini above in white pan

    Sausage and Corn Stuffed Zucchini

    I love to make this stuffed zucchini recipe with the first of July's zucchini - it's so tender and fresh. The sausage-corn combo is SO good, even my kids ate this!

    Oh, and while corn may not be in season yet, it's easy to make this with frozen corn - maybe to help use up some in the freezer from last year?

    Spicy Cumin Lime Slaw close

    Cumin Lime Coleslaw

    I love slaws in the summer - I can make them early in the day and they will be perfect at dinnertime. Serve this with grilled Chipotle Rubbed Chicken Thighs and some tortillas for a quick Mexican themed meal.

    Three pea salad

    Three (or Two!) Pea Salad with Feta & Walnuts

    Highlight the last of the season's peas with this simple and oh, so, flavorful salad tossed with a quick vinaigrette. The English peas can be frozen and if you only have one other type of pea, that's fine!

    Easy Grilled potato planks

    Easy Grilled Potato "Planks" (No Pre-Boiling Needed)

    For the evenings when you'd like to throw a couple burgers or sausages on the grill, slice a few potatoes to make grilled potato planks at the same time. Quick to make and cook, they're like an easy-to-grill french fry - we eat them with our fingers most of the time. (Idea - serve Caesar Slaw as a salad with this - yum.)

    Fruit-berry parfaits on tray

    Simple Berry Parfaits with Honey Sweetened Cream

    This dessert not only showcases the month's delicious berries, it also shows that you don't need a fancy dessert to wow people - I can't believe how easy, delicious, or how fabulous this looks!

    And just three ingredients - berries, whipping cream, and honey. Real food tastes SO good.

    No Bake Blueberry pie piece on plate

    No Bake Low Sugar Blueberry Pie

    Just what the hot July days ordered - a no bake pie full of the season's blueberries, but NOT full of sugar. Love.

    What are some of your favorite dishes to make this month using what's in season around your house? Share in the comments below!

    Don't forget to download and print out your free seasonal meal planning page:

    July meal planning page opt-in

    Originally published in July of 2011, this article has been completely updated to be more relevant and useful - enjoy!

    About Jami

    Since 2009 Jami Boys has been helping readers live a simple homemade life through whole food recipes, doable gardening, and easy DIY projects on An Oregon Cottage. From baking bread, to creating a floor from paper, to growing and preserving food, Jami shares the easiest ways to get things done. She's been featured in Cottages and Bungalows, Old House Journal, and First for Women magazines as well as numerous sites like Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and Apartment Therapy.

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      Recipe Rating




    1. See Jamie blog says

      July 07, 2011 at 2:46 pm

      These recipes all look so yummy!

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Jami and I'm so glad you're here! My desire is to help you live a simple homemade life through delicious whole food recipes, easy organic gardening and preserving your harvest.

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