Upgrade your kitchen skills and improve your nutrition

In the summer months, we’re blessed with abundant fresh, seasonal produce, which can provide the perfect ingredients for delicious summer dishes that are also super healthy. From asparagus and aubergine to summer squash and watercress, we’re lucky to grow and eat some fantastic fruits and vegetables here in Britain.

Incorporating seasonal fruit and veg into your cooking is an excellent way to feed your family a healthy diet. Getting kids interested in what’s growing near them can be the perfect foundation for building essential kitchen skills. Learning about nutrition together on EE Learn Smart is also a great way to engage with them and grow your bond during the summer holidays, too.

Eating well is so much easier when you have the advice and tools online at your fingertips. From learning how to grow your own and creating shared family shopping lists to streaming your favourite cooking tutorials, we have the tech tips and tricks to take your summer dishes to the next level by upgrading your kitchen skills and getting the whole family hungry for more.

Start from scratch and grow your own

Whether you’re growing a pot of cress on the kitchen windowsill, a window box of sweet tomatoes or a vegetable patch full of delicious summer fruit and veg, there’s an abundance of advice online to help you figure out how to grow and care for your seasonal produce. The RHS Grow app includes 200 years of knowledge from botanists, scientists, fruit and veg experts, and RHS specialist advisors - helping you grow your fruit and veg with confidence. You can add notes and images, identify plants, and even ask for tips from an AI expert.

If you want to get the kids involved, there's no better way than to start them off with their own little pot, plant or patch they are responsible for. Encourage them by downloading one of the dozens of apps available for young gardeners, such as Roo’s Fabulous Edible Garden. It gamifies the concept of seed-to-table while giving your kids recipe ideas for what to make from their harvest.

Following gardening experts on Instagram or YouTube can help even the most absent-minded gardener remember the essential jobs for each month. The UK-based Mediterranean Gardener provides short clips on everything from dealing with slugs and snails to how to get never-ending spring onions!

Find the perfect recipes for summer produce

It’s never been easier to learn new skills online. With EE’s superfast WiFi, you can leverage your technology to grow your culinary talents in the kitchen. From streaming cooking tutorials online to watching your favourite chefs and shows on catch-up, you can get tips from the experts with a smooth, buffer-free experience with crystal-clear quality, fast downloads and the latest reviews and ratings available at the click of a button.

Many online platforms feature celebrity chefs and culinary experts, giving you access to top-tier instructions and advice that might otherwise be out of reach. Plus, you can rewind, pause and repeat as many times as you like ensuring you never miss a vital step.

Watch your favourite cooking shows at any time on EE TV

You can find a huge range of cooking shows now on EE TV. From Masterchef UK to The Great British Bake Off, plus top chefs Jamie Oliver, Nigella and Gordon Ramsay, find your summer cooking show to springboard into new recipes and ideas for dinner, snacks, puddings and more. You'll discover blistering broadband speeds and the best live and on-demand TV, all in one place.

Order your favourite summer fruit and veg, direct to your door

Technology in the palm of our hands has made it easier than ever to track down ingredients and have them delivered on the same day. Do your weekly shopping from your desk… or sun lounger. With EE’s reliable 4G and 5G networks, you can shop for ingredients anytime, anywhere. For adventurous cooks, specialist ingredients and shops have never been easier to track down online. And if you love having a regular cooking routine for your family, you can set up repeat orders weekly or monthly, so you never run out of those essential staples.

Lay the foundations of a healthy lifestyle

With child obesity rising fast, it’s never been more important to model healthy eating to our children. EE Learn Smart can take the strain with fun and educational videos all about healthy eating and mindfulness while you enjoy all the fun aspects of making delicious, nutritious meals and making a right old mess in the kitchen!

Harness your smart home devices to create and share

Connected home devices can make cooking a collaborative family experience. There are loads of family-friendly meal-planning apps that can sync across all your devices, allowing each family member to contribute their ideas and inspiration. Set up real-time shopping lists to help you identify all the ingredients needed, stream tutorials from your Smart fridge, kitchen tablet or TV, and get measurement conversations on demand from your Smart speaker, which is handy when cooking up a storm.

If you have a family of keen cooks, use a shared calendar to divvy up responsibilities, set themed curry or BBQ nights, or even set reminders for little ones, such as setting the table or loading the dishwasher. After all, the clean-up is just as important.

For more information, visit ee.co.uk/home