There's no getting around it, our food shopping is costing more than ever before. Waaaay more.

Devastating rain events in our food bowl, labour shortages across the supply chain, increased transport costs...it's all adding up to be a very expensive trip to the shops lately.

In light of this, I wanted to revisit an article I'd written about eating for fertility.

I've previously written about how the Perfect Fertility Diet doesn't exist, and to look at food fundamentals instead. So rather than aiming to weigh and measure and count your way to Perfect Fertility, consider the following basic framework of foods, to nourish your fertility and hormonal balance:

ORGANIC FOODS…WHOLE FOODS…PROTEIN…FATS…FIBRE…EATING THE RAINBOW

When shopping on a budget, these foundational food concepts for fertility, might look like this:

Organic food

Buying organic food (especially meat and chicken) might be the first thing to go when shopping on a budget. Purchasing organic food is only a real choice when you're in the position to source it and afford it. This is hard for many of us at the very best of times.

When buying organic food just doesn't fit in the budget, consider:

✴︎ following the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen, Clean Fifteen - a guide to the most contaminated produce (try to buy these organic), and the least contaminated produce (buy conventionally farmed).

✴︎ keeping an eye on the organic meat/chicken in your supermarket for any specials - they are significantly cheaper when you catch them just before the 'best before' date, so you can buy in bulk and cook some now or freeze some for later

✴︎ shopping at your local grower's market to find cheaper organic meat/chicken/eggs

✴︎ making sure you wash conventionally farmed produce before eating (washing and rubbing under running water assists in removing pesticides). You can also peel fruit or veg (pesticides do penetrate through the skin though, and peeling will remove fibre and antioxidants), or soak them in solutions of vinegar, or salt, or baking soda.

Whole foods

Eating whole foods is actually The Best Way to eat on a budget. It's definitely less expensive to buy foods in their whole state (whole grains, vegetables, pulses, meat) rather than as processed ready-made meals / packets / sauces.

Protein

Eating adequate protein is so important for building and repairing our tissues, for rapidly dividing and growing cells (like an embryo), and for blood sugar stability.

Protein isn't just about expensive choices like meat and chicken. Experiment with a variety of protein sources.

Lentils & legumes

Yup, I'm a sucker for those bulk-food tubs of colourful red lentils, yellow split peas, green split peas, humble chickpeas, red kidney beans, black beans. They are cheap, really filling, have a great 'meaty' texture and are full of fibre.

When buying larger dried legumes, you'll need to soak them before cooking - it's so easy to do this overnight or on the weekend. Soaked & cooked beans will keep in the fridge for a few days and you can also freeze them - see this guide for soaking times.

Life's too short to soak? I get it. Choose tinned options and give them a good rinse. And the humble tin of baked beans can be turned into a mean quesadilla, shakshuka or stuffed sweet potato!

• Enjoy lentils & legumes in warm salads, soups, stews

• Vegetarian tacos or nachos with all the fixings are universally loved

• Falafel roll or salad anyone?

• Bulk out meals with legumes eg. in your mince recipes...I promise, no-one will even notice

Dairy

If you can tolerate it. But not just cows milk, cheese and yoghurt. Try goat and sheeps milk cheeses (in the supermarket as hard and soft options). Or what about paneer, ricotta, haloumi, cream cheese. These are versatile cheeses to use in a variety of dishes like curries, pasta bakes, tarts, burgers.

Nuts & seeds

Remember this nugget about walnuts and male fertility?

Nuts & seeds are a fabulous source of protein, and healthy fats. Nuts can be expensive at the supermarket, so try a bulk-food store. Or...use seeds instead. You can easily substitute sunflower or pumpkin seeds for most nuts in recipes. And also remember chia seeds, flaxseeds and hemp seeds.

Tahini is a protein and calcium rich spread made from sesame seeds and delicious in smoothies, on fruit, on toast, in dressings. And peanut butter, well honestly, it should be in and on everything...

Eggs

Round out any meal with an egg on top! On top of leftovers, on top of a stir-fry, on top of a veg curry, on top of baked beans. Or make a big vegie slice. And nothing says childhood comfort food like a soft boiled egg and soldiers.

Meat

When you’re buying meat on a budget, choose cheaper cuts of meat and chicken. Pork is cheaper than red meat. Whole chicken is cheaper than parts. Buy on special and freeze. Slow-cook some of the tougher cuts of meat into a meltingly soft stew. Or cook a whole chicken or leg/shoulder of lamb/pork/beef - you can usually get a few meals from the meat (or freeze some) and use the bones & bits to make a mean bone broth.

Fats

Dietary fats are a great way for us to influence our hormone balance, our fertility, and to reduce inflammation.

✴︎ Avocados are very affordable at the moment. Buy in bulk and freeze for your smoothies later on.

✴︎ Enjoy your nuts and seeds as outlined above.

✴︎ Tuck into small and cheap oily fish like...sardines! A tin of sardines represents a fabulous dose of omega 3's. Buy tinned or fresh and enjoy.

✴︎ Extra Virgin Olive Oil is an incredibly medicinal oil, rich in Vitamin E and antioxidants, with anti-inflammatory activity, and benefits for our cardiovascular and metabolic health. The good stuff is also pretty exxy...! But, it always goes on special, so buy up then.

Fibre

Dietary fibre is an underrated way to support hormonal balance and fertility.

Eating a wide range of vegetables, whole grains, lentils and legumes, is affordable, and ensures a decent fibre intake. Enjoy a variety of vegies cooked or raw, warm or cooled. Experiment with grains you're not used to cooking eg. polenta, buckwheat, quinoa, brown/red/wild/basmati rice. Embrace those lentils & legumes.

Eating the rainbow

You can still dive into the antioxidant rainbow when on a budget!

So you can see, the fertility food fundamentals - organic food, whole food, protein, fats, fibre, colourful plant foods - might get tweaked a little bit on a budget, but are entirely achievable.

See my companion articles: Perfectionism & the ‘‘Perfect Fertility Diet and 10 tips for healthy eating on a budget

Check out the Apothe-shop for recipe inspo ebooks

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