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7 facts about Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts & BaconLove them or loathe them, Brussels sprouts are a Christmas dinner essential – along with all the other tasty trimmings on the table.

We love them and they are in season right now and are full of important nutrients to keep you healthy over the festive season.

Did you know?

  1. Brussels sprouts belong to the same family as cabbage, kale and broccoli and are packed with nutrients and vitamins.
  2. They are low in fat and calories and are high in fibre, protein, vitamins A and C, calcium and antioxidants – so are great for your health.
  3. Sprouts are cheap way to eat really healthy food.
  4. They are easy to digest thanks to their high enzyme content, so they can help people with digestive or bloating problems. They are also easy to eat so are perfect for younger children and the elderly.
  5. Sprouts are versatile to cook – steamed with bacon bits and butter to go with your Christmas dinner, or try halving them and baking with seasonal vegetables, roasted with pecans work and add a nutty crunch, fruit like apple, raisins and apricots add sweet flavours too or shred them and add to a stir fry with prawns or chicken for a delicious mid-week supper.
  6. Brussels sprouts are thought to be native to what is now Belgium where their cultivation can be traced back to the 13th century.
  7. We traditionally cut a cross in the bottom of sprouts, but we say don’t do this, it can make them soggy! Instead cut them in half for steaming or roasting.

Pick up purple Brussels sprouts seeds in our winter veg kit

To find out more about healthy vegetables each month join the Seed Pantry grow club, visit: Seed Pantry

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We’ve launched the new Seed Pantry grow pod 2!

The Seed Pantry Grow Pod 2 is designed to produce ultra-fresh food indoors with no soil, no mess and hassle free. The Grow Pod 2 now with LED grow light is a smart automated system for growing plants quicker, even in darker spaces, year round.

You don’t need to be a gardener or green fingered, the Seed Pantry grow pod 2 does the work for you! It’s perfect for growing herbs, salads, flowers and fruiting vegetables, like cherry tomatoes or chillies, in your kitchen, on your desktop, anywhere really!

If you love cooking, knowing where your food comes from, the grow pod 2 is essential for having the freshest ingredients ready to pick.

  • Grow ultra-fresh ingredients essential for cooking
  • Automated growing, tells you when to water
  • LED grow light with ON/OFF timer feature
  • Red/Blue light spectrum for strong healthy plants
  • Fast growing hydroponic system
  • Optional ‘get started’ grow pack includes seeds and grow medium
  • Advanced growing medium with nutrients
  • Grow nutritious, pesticide free crops & flowers too

NO SOIL | NO MESS | NO HASSLE

To find out more visit page: Seed Pantry grow pod 2

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7 top facts about Tomatoes

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For the sunny month of May we’re celebrating the tomato and all the wonderful health benefits they come with.

7 Tomato facts about our fruity friends:

  1. The first cultivated tomatoes were yellow and cherry-sized, earning them the name golden apples: pommes d’or in French, pomi d’oro in Italian and goldapfel in German. The Italian for tomatoes today is pomodoro.
  2. A lot of people don’t realise that tomatoes are actually a fruit and not a vegetable. Although classified as a fruit, tomatoes have nutrients found in both vegetables and fruit.
  3. If you cook tomatoes in oil you can help to increase your body’s natural absorption of the nutrients in tomatoes.
  4. Tomatoes are an excellent source of potassium, calcium, and vitamin A and C. All of these are important nutrients needed for optimal health. Lycopene is also contained in tomatoes which may reduce the risk of some cancers.
  5. Pretty much all tomato varieties are red although other colours are possible including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, white, and purple.
  6. Tomatoes are best kept unwashed at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. It is not recommended to refrigerate them as this can harm the flavour. Storing stem down can prolong shelf life too.
  7. Tomatoes are very popular in Mediterranean cuisines such as Italian. They are an important ingredient in pizza and pasta sauces so why not make your own tomato sauce for pizza bases or for pasta dishes – fresh, tasty, organic and fun for all the family!

To find out more about healthy vegetables each month join the Seed Pantry grow club, visit: Seed Pantry

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Seed Pantry’s new Grow Club Discovery Subscription Box

Delivered at the right time to grow, we’ve launched Seed Pantry’s brand new monthly subscription service – the Grow Club Discovery Box, perfect for anyone keen to grow fresh food and flowers at home in any spaces.

Delivered just in time to your door and keeping you up to date with everything to do in the garden, this is really convenient and is mapped out for the year in tune with the seasons.

Designed to inspire growers with beautifully curated monthly boxes and easy to follow grow guides – it’s great value and each month you can make six choices, from 10, of expertly selected food and flower plants to grow.  Discover new to market varieties, heirloom and new, best in show cut flowers, and the best food flavours for super healthy fresh food.

Our new Grow Club Discovery Box keeps you bang up to date with the latest gardening trends, so you get to discover new plants as they become available.

Gifting options are available for 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions and the Grow Club Discovery Box is priced at just £12.99 per month with FREE delivery.

To find out more visit Seed Pantry

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Join Seed Pantry at The Big Feastival!

BFlogo-landscape-dates-venuePreparations are underway for our first time at The Big Feastival – a fantastic weekend of music, food and fun for all the family!

Over the August Bank Holiday, TV chef Jaime Oliver and Blur bassist Alex James will welcome families from all over the UK to enjoy food, music and activities including food and drink stands, cookery classes, arts and craft workshops, a vintage fun fair and live music tents.

Taking place in the idyllic Cotswolds, this year is the event’s fifth anniversary but it’s our first time attending!

We’ll have a stand in the Lifestyle Village where you can come and meet the Seed Pantry team on stand LS03 and find out about growing your own food at home. We’ll be launching some exciting new products and will also be demonstrating our grow pod as well as seed starter kits, all available with special Big Feastival discounts.

We’ll be running seed sowing activities for families each day at 11.30, 1.30 and 3.30 and offering you the chance to win exciting grow your own food kits in our prize draw!

With live music from Mark Ronson, Kaiser Chiefs and Tinie Tempah, cookery demos from Jaime Oliver himself, as well as Raymond Blanc and Gizzi Erskine, the three-day event promises to be a feel good festival for the whole family.

Weekend tickets are already sold out but day passes are still available so book soon to secure your places! Children under 12 go free and there are discounted rates for teens.

The Big Feastival takes place from 26th to 28th August on Alex James’ farm in The Cotswolds. To find out more about and to book tickets, visit http://thebigfeastival.com

Make sure you come to Lifestyle Village and visit the Seed Pantry stand (number LS03) for our seed sowing sessions and to enjoy some home grown veggies and greens!

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Get sowing those seeds during National Gardening Week!

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This year’s National Gardening Week runs from 11th to 17th April and it promises to be the country’s biggest celebration of gardens, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.

This year’s theme is ‘get fit in the garden’, highlighting the ways in which gardens can enhance our mental and physical well-being. The RHS Gardens Wisley will be looking at ways to show how everyday activities such as digging, raking and hoeing can keep you fit, and how the garden can be used for exercise and having fun.

Thousands of people, public gardens, charities, shops and heritage organisations are getting involved and have plenty of events and activities taking place up and down the country. There are beginner’s workshops, walking guides, garden parties, planting groups and grow your own sessions – so there’s something for everyone.

It’s a great opportunity to get out in the garden, embrace the great outdoors and start sowing and planting seeds, flowers, trees, plants, herbs, vegetables and fruits.

With the lovely sunshine predicted to stay for a few weeks, now is a great time to start growing your own so have a look at our product range on the website for planting inspiration. How about planting seeds for peas and sunflowers with the little ones, or tomatoes, beans and peppers for delicious, fresh Spring recipes!

For more information, visit http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk and stay up to date with news and activities via Twitter (https://twitter.com/the_rhs) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/rhshome).

How will you be celebrating National Gardening Week!?

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Our Food Future

2 billion people

In February, the UK Food Standards Agency brought together over 200 leading industry experts to discuss how best to secure the future of our food.

The summit was broadcast live and thousands of people got involved on Twitter using the hash tag #ourfoodfuture, and we did too!

Topics included how we will grow food in the future, whether we will be eating insects, food waste including wonky veg, food safety and pricing, obesity, and what the nation wants from food in the future.

Comments by Seed Pantry and Neil about the event, the social value of food and childhood obesity were featured in the discussion – see link:

https://storify.com/foodgov/our-food-future

The debate also turned to how we have lost our connection with food with the increase in online grocery shopping and processed foods. And how sharing meals with family or friends is becoming a thing of the past.

Growing your own vegetables, leafy greens, herbs and salads at home is a great way to re-connect with food, understand where it comes from and to get the whole family involved with planting, sowing, nurturing and harvesting. It helps to reduce waste and allows you to eat wholesome, fresh, organic foods.

As Spring is just around the corner, now is a great time to start thinking about setting up a vegetable patch in the garden, or if you don’t have the space, our new smart grow pod lets you grow your own food in the kitchen, with no mess, no fuss, just fresh, organic greens, vegetables, herbs and salads in no time!

So this season, take time to think about the future of our food and how you can make some simple changes to ensure a healthy, sustainable and safe food supply for future generations!

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Seed Pantry bring seeds kits and grow pods to Urban Outfitters

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We’re excited to announce that Urban Outfitters are now stocking our new Seed Pantry grow pod and four seed kits, helping their shoppers to grow their own tasty, fresh and organic foods at home or at work.

We have worked with the team at Urban Outfitters and have launched easy grow kits for superfood greens, kitchen herbs, hot chilli peppers and edible flowers. Each one includes two varieties of seeds and compost in a super handy pouch that can be used as the pot by adding water to the compost and adding the seeds.

Easygrowkits4 sThe new co-branded products are now available in all Urban Outfitter stores in the UK and Europe, as well as online. They are perfect for urbanites looking to grow healthy food and their own herbs, leafy greens, chillies and edible flowers.

Seed Pantry grow pod sElizabeth Bailey buyer at  Urban Outfitters says: “We’re really excited to be working  on this project with Seed Pantry as part of our new ‘grow’ range. Our customers are fashion forward with healthy attitudes to food. ‘Grow your own’ is a huge trend for 2016 –  It’s been my focus for the last few months to incorporate this into our lifestyle  brand.  The elegant new kits from Seed Pantry show our customers how easy it is to, grow, harvest  and eat fresh, organic food themselves.

UO sVisit an Urban Outfitters near you to get exclusive Seed Pantry products!

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Could you go vegan for Veganuary?

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Thousands of people around the UK are giving up all animal products for January by taking part in Veganuary!

While some are banishing the booze and others are fighting the flab, others are pledging to go vegan for a month.

The Veganuary campaign encourages people to try and live without meat, fish and other animal-based products such as dairy.

A vegan diet is rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes and good quality fats from nuts and seeds. Going vegan can improve your energy levels, boost your mood and can help you to lose those extra pounds gained over the festive period. It also helps to reduce animal cruelty and provides environmental benefits too.

The Veganuary website offers inspiring recipes, meal ideas, videos, advice on the best places to eat out, as well as words of encouragement from vegan celebrities and sports people such as Samuel L Jackson and Russell Brand.

Here at Seed Pantry, we strongly encourage growing your own vegetables, herbs, salads and as much as possible, as it helps to reduce waste and allows you to eat wholesome, fresh, organic foods. Now is a great time to start thinking about setting up a vegetable patch in the garden, or if you don’t have the space, our great new Grow Pod lets you grow your own from your own kitchen!

As well as being cost-effective and environmentally friendly, growing your own veg, salads and herbs means you can eat completely organic produce, grown and picked by you. So why not make the most of Veganuary by growing your own and enjoying fresh, organic, vegan foods.

Follow Veganuary on Twitter @WeAreVeganuary and on Facebook or visit the website for more information – http://www.veganuary.com.

Click here to find out more about our new Grow Pod:  http://www.seedpantry.co.uk/selected/seed-pantry-grow-pod.html

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Hassle free ultra-fresh ingredients, the new Seed Pantry grow pod is essential for all cooks!

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You don’t need to be a gardener or green fingered, the new Seed Pantry grow pod does the work for you! Growing fresh, nutrient-rich herbs, salads, chillies, cherry tomatoes and leafy greens indoors on window sills, desktops or in schools is now a simple process with no soil, no mess and hassle free.

Seed Pantry grow pod 3_wUsing hydroponics the grow pod produces plants faster than traditional methods using Seed Pantry seeds and advanced growing medium. You can use the automated smart grow pod for fresh seasonal ingredients for home cooking, garnishes, drinks and salads. Hydroponic plants have a growth rate 30 to 50 percent faster than soil grown plants under the same conditions and with a greater yield, giving you more fresh produce in less time.

Grow essential aromatic herbs to bring the best quality flavours into your kitchen that include basil, chives, coriander, parsley, thyme and rosemary. Choose to grow wonderful fresh ingredients for super food salads, from lettuce, chillies, cherry tomatoes, rocket, spring onions, spinach, chard, to mustards, mizuna and pak choi. The grow pods are versatile and can be used to grow flower varieties too, edible flowers or otherwise!

To get started, simply add the medium to the grow pods, followed by your chosen seeds, fill the water reservoir, then once the plants are ready to be eaten, just pick or snip what you need.

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The smart grow pods indicate when the water is low and when you need to add more. With an automated control system, it offers a no mess, no fuss way of producing herbs, salads and fruiting vegetables essential, fresh ingredients, for cooking.

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Seed Pantry grow pods are priced at £35 for a limited period (normally £40), including a grow kit, with x3 starter seed packs, growing medium and fertiliser.

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