Food is our first medicine, and what we eat is fundamental to our overall health.

However, when food today is costing a lot more than a year ago (or even six months ago), we might need to be a bit more mindful of how we're spending our grocery budget. But that doesn't mean it's harder to eat well!

Here are 10 tips to get the most out of your weekly shop, with the express aim to nourish your hormonal balance and fertility, while sticking to a budget.

1.

Eat seasonally

When produce is in season, it usually means it's in abundance and at a cheaper price. It's usually grown more locally to you as well, cutting down on transport costs, as well as the labour- and resource-intensive farming that goes into growing foods out of season (think tomatoes in winter).

Also, when we embrace what's in season, it means we're enjoying the benefits of a varied diet - produce with different colours and phyto-chemicals and antioxidants and fibre and energy and texture...not just the same old three veg every day.

It also means we're having an awareness of, and eating in harmony with, Nature...which feels good too.

Have a look at this resource to eat seasonally, or visit your local grower's market.

2.

Organise your fridge & pantry

This is not just me being a control-freak (although I admit I can be). When your fridge or pantry is jammed with bottles & containers stuffed everywhere and anywhere, it's impossible to see what you actually have and need. You end up with 5 jars of out-of-date mustard, 3 bottles of sumac, 500g expired mince and a deep dread of opening the fridge, let alone cooking. I don’t even remember using the Sumac!

This represents a big waste of $$.

Set aside a few hours. You might like to tackle the fridge on one day and the pantry on another. Put your Cleaning Playlist on and sing loudly.

Take everything out of the fridge/pantry.
Throw out anything that's expired.
Wipe down your shelves.
Repack in an orderly way - spices together, legumes together, dairy together etc
Step back and admire your work. Oh the blissful order! Now you can really see what you have, what's running low, and what you don't have.

You might like to invest in some clear-containers to store things in. Get online and check out #fridgegoals and #pantryorganization for some seriously good inspiration

3.

Meal plan

Honestly, meal planning is game-changing. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to eat well, once you start meal-planning. I know it's not for everyone, but for the rest of us it's bloody brilliant.

Meal-planning takes the chaos out of shopping, reduces the likelihood of impulse buying, and reduces food waste.
Pull out a couple of your favourite cookbooks or online recipe sites and compile a few recipes for the week. This is a nice way to actually use your gorgeous cookbooks! Choose a different couple of books / sites each week.
Cook the meals with the most perishable items first.
Think ahead about your weekly commitments - if you work late every Wednesday, put something in the slow cooker that morning so it's ready when you finish. Or cook extra the night before so you can enjoy leftovers.

Prior to Covid, when I was juggling an office-based practice and weekly interstate travel for teaching, I created a three-week rotation of seasonal meal plans. This meant we only ate the same meal once every three weeks - definitely not soon enough to get bored! It made life E.A.S.Y (well, easier!).

Now I'm really enjoying the Well Nourished Family plan - a new seasonal plan is up online each week, with breakfasts + dinner + snacks, and loads of variations for gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian etc that I use all the time.

Once you've mastered a meal plan for your evening meals, add in breakfast, lunch and snacks.

4.

Use your freezer

Your freezer is a legit money-saving ally. It's a tool to save leftovers, to save special-buys close to their best-before date, and to reduce reliance on expensive takeaway or convenience meals

Freeze in single-serve portion sizes so it's easier to thaw/reheat, and easier to grab a meal when you're eating alone.
Freeze your leftovers. Mostly everything can be frozen. Leftover dinner. Leftover roast meats.
Got some bananas or avocados about to turn? Freeze them to use in smoothies.
Take advantage of batch-cooking. You're already cooking dinner, may as well double the quantity and freeze half for another night! Timesaving and $$ saving.
Freezer bonus...a full freezer runs more efficiently and uses less electricity than an empty one - another $$ save.

5.

Do a weekly fridge / pantry audit

This is actually fun and extremely satisfying. I make it like a game.

Just when you think you're ready to do your next shop, re-check the fridge, pantry and freezer. What's left hiding in there?

Challenge yourself to make something from nothing! My favourite bottom-of-the-fridge meals are frittata/vegie slice, omelette, fried rice, veg curry, dahl curry, risotto, or roast veg pasta sauce (throw all your leftover veg onto an oven tray, add some garlic cloves, slather in olive oil, season and roast up. Once roasted, blend together and voila, you have a roasted veg sauce to use as a pasta topping or stirred through for a pasta bake!).

Use the wilty bits and the wrinkly bits of your fruit and veg. Finish the dregs of hummus, or the 100ml coconut milk you'd been keeping in the fridge. Grate up the last of the cheese.

@cornersmith have brilliant Waste-hack-Wednesday suggestions to inspire you!

Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar: Simplicious kickstarted the low-waste-kitchen flow in me...

6.

Shop weekly & take a list

Going to the shops everyday is a guaranteed way to spend more money on groceries, and on impulse buys.

Get in the habit of making a weekly list and stick to it. And seeing as you've already meal-planned, making your list should be easy. Shopping from a list also reduces waste. Plus, less trips to the shops means less $$ on transport costs and more time up your sleeve for cooking, meal-planning, yoga, walking, reading, conception attempts...

Sign up to supermarket emails to get a heads-up on weekly specials.

7.

Get comfy with substitutes & frozen vegies

Check frozen veg labels and you'll find Australian-grown produce snap-frozen at the peak of its season. I'm talking peas, beans, corn, broccoli...

The texture of frozen veg isn't the same as fresh, but they work incredibly well in soups, stews, to add colour or bulk to a meal, or on the side.

And they're cheap.

Here are some recipes taking advantage of frozen veg.

Matt Preston’s Yummy, Easy, Quick has a whole chapter devoted to 'Frozen Stuff'.

Be ok with substitutes. Think of the recipe as a guide only! If the recipe calls for eggplant, but it's super expensive, substitute with zucchini! If cauliflower is crazy-town expensive, sub with broccoli!

I've learned lots about veg/grain swaps in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Much More Veg recipes

Or have a look at this guide.

8.

Reduce takeaway

It goes without saying that eating out or getting takeaway is most likely going to be more expensive and less nutritious than anything you make at home.

Try to reduce the number of times you buy your lunch. Instead, enjoy leftovers, or take advantage of your single-portion freezer meals to have at lunchtime. I love making a huge veg-laden soup once a week, and freezing it in single serves for my lunches. Or how about this noodle-soup idea?

Keep that freezer full of leftovers to reduce your reliance on takeaway.

Or try your own homestyle version of takeout-type meals - vegie nachos plonked in the middle of the table for everyone to enjoy. Or keep some pizza bases on hand for some impressive topping experimentation (I recently did broccolini, beetroot, roasted capsicum and bocconcini...colourful and pretty tasty, if I do say so myself! ).

9.

Eat less meat

Meat is expensive. Buy cheaper cuts where you can.

Or go one better, and eat less meat - it's always been better for your health, but now it's better for your budget too (and the planet).

Meat-free Monday is mainstream in many households. So try increasing the number of vegetarian meals you're enjoying through the week.

Online plant-based inspiration can be found at Green Kitchen Stories, Deliciously Ella, My New Roots, Cook Republic and Well Nourished. Or any cookbook from superhero Yottam Ottolenghi, or the fabulous Hetty McKinnon.

10.

Buy from a bulk-food store

Bulk-food suppliers are able to achieve volume discounts. You, the shopper, can take advantage of that! Bulk wholefood shops are a great place to buy your lentils, legumes, grains, spices, flours, pastas and more (mine also has a variety of chai's, personal-care basics, dark chocolate...it's quite a blissful place actually! ), at prices much reduced compared to the supermarket.

11. Extra tip…!

If you're the sort of person buying Smith's chips when you spy them in the aisle on a 2 for 1 deal (um, who isn’t this person!), you might save money, stick to your healthy eating plan, and avoid impulse buying, if you shop online instead of in-person...

If you put some (or all!) of these tips into practice, you'll definitely notice you're getting more out of your weekly grocery spend.

Check out my companion article Eating for your hormones & fertility...on a budget

Check out the Apothe-shop for ebook recipe inspo

If you have any questions about your diet and hormonal balance or fertility, please make an appointment with Jacintha to discuss.

10 tips for healthy eating on a budget