1. Get to Know Your Friendly Local Master Butcher

A butcher you know and trust will be able to offer advice, tips and the best meat for your chosen dish...

Lincolnshire butcher Gary Simpson had a long-standing relationship with his Heckington customers, but in 2009, opened a second shop at the farm shops at Sleaford's Four Seasons Garden Centre.

"It's good to have a close relationship with your butcher!" says Gary.

"We can advise on the best cuts to use, offer advice on the best way to prepare them, and of course, there's the added benefit of knowing where your food has been raised, where it's come from."

Gary also took over the farm shop's Welbourne's Bakery, alongside Doherty's Greengrocer and Four Season's Deli, which means customers can now shop for meat, fruit & veg and bread as well as milk, cheese and eggs - all the essentials - in one convenient place with ample, free parking.

"We're now just as convenient and just as competitively priced as any large supermarket." says Gary.

"But we can offer a really friendly, personal service and can offer local produce that supports Lincolnshire's farming community and cuts down on food miles... which is better for the consumer, and better for the environment!"

2. Subscribe to a Boxed Veg Scheme

Fresh vegetables and Lincolnshire food from the field to the doorstep!

What could be better than waking up to find fresh local veg on your doorstep?

For those who enjoy a weekly or fortnightly deliver of veg, sometimes with fruit, meat and local produce like cheese, eggs and milk... very little!

Lincolnshire's boxed veg scheme names include Doddington based Fenella's Garden with veg bags from £3.60 (free delivery for orders over £10), Spilsby's Eden Farms with veg boxes from £7.90 (free delivery over £15),and Kirton's Woodland Organic Farm whose £8 veg boxes include free delivery anywhere in Lincolnshire.

Woodlands's veg boxes are also available with Lincoln Red beef, and lamb. The mixed organic farm totals 1,700 acres with 30 acres of organic market garden and a customer base of over 2,000.

3. Look Out for Local Farmers' Markets

You don't always need to seek out great food, sometimes it come to you instead, or rather to your local farmers' market...

One of the side effects of the supermarket culture is that we all expect to obtain whatever food we want at any time of the year, regardless of whether it is in season; strawberries in the winter, for example.

Farmer's markets encourage us to enjoy foods' seasonality whilst supporting local producers and - as a bonus - provide cheaper food by cutting out the middle-man. FARMA is the body which represents the National Farmers' Retail & Market Association and was formed in June 2002.

The group certifies farmers' market members and defines a farmers' market as; '...a market in which farmers, growers or producers from a defined local area are present in person to sell their own produce, direct to the public. All products sold should have been grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked or processed by the stallholder.'

Nearly all Lincolnshire towns feature a farmers' with the following our pick of local markets:

Boston: Third Wednesday in each month.

Brigg: Fourth Saturday in month.

Grantham: Second Saturday in the month.

Grimsby: Third Friday each month, in St James's Square.

Horncastle: First Saturday each month.

Lincoln: First Friday in the month in City Square.

Louth: Second Friday and last Wednesday of each month.

Sleaford: First Saturday in month.

Stamford: Alternate Fridays, contact TIC for details.

Spalding: First Saturday of each month.

4. Create a Kitchen Garden

'Growing your own' is easier than you think... Just ask Lincolnshire Pride's kitchen gardener...

Getting your growing going is Lorraine Bellis's speciality.

Moving to Lincolnshire in 1987, Lorraine began a kitchen garden in the late 1980s after a series of food scares led her to wonder what her young children were eating.

Lorraine describes herself as a horticulturalist who teaches others how to grow their own food.

Her business, Bellis Perennis, offers anything from initial set-ups to ongoing support, but she aways stresses the importance of starting off slowly.

"I always tell people they have to be pragmatic." says Lorraine. "How much time do you have, how much space do you have... people think they have to be self-sufficient or nothing, but that's not true."

"You can gain an enormous amount of pleasure from growing a few herbs in a tub or a window box, starting off slowly and gaining confidence, perhaps progressing to growing a few tomatoes."

Whilst Lorraine can advise how to be self-sufficient with as little as three or four 2m2 beds, she would rather foster a sustainable, enjoyable long-term relationship.

Her aim, rather than encouraging her clients to become self-sufficient, is to ensure they start off slowly and really take pleasure in their achievements.

Lorraine hosts her Grow a Kitchen Garden in Containers course on Saturday 26th March at Wicked Stepmother's World in Somerby, call 01652 628560 or see www. wickedstepmothersworld.co.uk.

5. Discover How Great Farms Shop Are!

Turn grocery shopping into an opportunity to enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake at your nearest farm shop...

Like many farm shops, Sally Jackson's Pink Pig began life on a tressel table before a large farm shop and 24 seater restaurant opened in November 2011.

"Products at farm shops are better value." says Sally. "Our meat pies, for instance, have 60% meat in them, not 25% which is the average for a supermarket pie. Our chickens are free-range with no water pumped into them so they don't shrink, and our vegetables are grown on the farm so they haven't incurred any food miles."

Sally points out that farm shops are often the same price or cheaper than supermarkets, as there's no middle-man, and also says; "Farm shops also offer high welfare - you know where you  food is coming from and how it was raised."

Our favourite Lincolnshire farm shops include Scunthorpe's Pink Pig Farm Shop at Holme (01724 844466, www.pinkpigfarm.co.uk), Doddington Hall Farm Shop near Lincoln (01522 694308, www.doddington hall.com),

Abbey Parks Farm Shop near Boston (01205 821610), Burgh le Marsh's Tastee Farm Shop near Skegness (01754 890250) and Grantham's Syston Park Farm Shop near Grantham (01400 250000).

Enjoy Lincolnshire Food!