Eat Local This Fall: 4 Delicious Recipes and the KW Shops That Have The Ingredients You Need

Autumn in KW means crisp air, changing leaves, and a full market of seasonal produce. To help you plan your autumn meals, we’re sharing 4 recipes and where you can source the ingredients locally. This fall, make your dishes fresh, sustainable, and delicious.

How to Make Any Recipe Feel Like Autumn

You don’t always need a brand-new recipe to bring the cozy feeling of fall into your kitchen. Sometimes it’s as simple as swapping in seasonal ingredients or adjusting the flavors you already love. Think about what’s abundant in our local markets right now: squash, apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins. Adding these to familiar dishes, like folding roasted squash into pasta, topping morning oatmeal with cinnamon-spiced apples, or stirring pumpkin into muffin batter, instantly gives them an autumnal twist.

Spices also play a big role in creating that fall feeling. Warming notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom can transform baked goods, while savory dishes benefit from herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme. Even something as simple as roasting root vegetables with maple syrup or finishing a soup with a splash of cream can make a meal taste like the season.

Most of all, autumn cooking is about comfort. It’s the aroma of bread baking on a cool afternoon, the steam from a hearty stew after a long walk, or the crunch of a local apple enjoyed with friends. However you approach it, embracing seasonal ingredients is the easiest way to make any recipe feel like fall.

Ready to get meal planning? Add these 4 recipes to your menu!

1. Sweet Potato & Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

What to shop for locally: sweet potatoes, lentils, root vegetables, herbs.

Find these ingredients in Kitchener-Waterloo:

Full Circle Food. Great for bulk lentils and locally grown produce
Kitchener Farmers’ Market for seasonal root veggies and fresh herbs

2. Fall Vegetable & Chickpea Curry

Recipe: Fall Vegetable & Chickpea Curry

What to shop for locally: chickpeas (or bulk dried peas), seasonal vegetables (squash, carrots), coconut milk or cream, spices.

Find these ingredients in Kitchener-Waterloo:

St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market for seasonal vegetables and dairy
Vincenzo’s for a little bit of everything
Onkar Foods & Spices for spices and produce

3. Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup

What to shop for locally: butternut squash, garlic, onions, stock or broth, cream or alternative milk, herbs/spices.

Find these ingredients in Kitchener-Waterloo:

Herrles Country Farm Market for produce
Eby’s Dairy Market

4. Apple Pie

Recipe: Apple Pie

What to shop for locally: local apples, cinnamon, pie crust ingredients (flour, butter)

Find these ingredients in Kitchener-Waterloo:

Martin’s Family Fruit Farm for fresh apples
Ayres Baking Supplies for flour

Tips for Shopping Local & Eating Well This Fall

Check hours for Farmers’ Markets. Many run fall produce until mid-October or longer, depending on the weather.
Bring your own bags and reusable containers, especially when buying from bulk stores like Full Circle Foods.
Plan meals based on what’s in season to get more flavour and better prices.

Eating local this fall in KW means enjoying fresher flavours, supporting local businesses, and building meals around the beautiful produce this region offers. Happy cooking & happy local shopping!