10 ways to support health during rising inflation

The price of food is increasing and it hasn’t exactly been subtle.  

Here I’ve constructed a list of ways you can maintain a nourishing diet without overspending! 

Buy the best quality you can.
Whether it’s organic, from the supermarket, from a fruit and veg store, canned or frozen, simply buy the best that you can. They are all beneficial and all supportive of good health. There should be no shame around this.

Visit your local farmer’s market.
Leading on from the first point—
Farmer’s markets have really high quality, delicious local produce which is oftentimes much cheaper than the big supermarkets. The produce (I’ve found) also lasts much, much longer.
Plus, you’re supporting smaller businesses!
Pro tip: if you go towards closing time, a lot of them begin to sell at discounted prices.

Plan your meals around the same ingredients.
If you’re someone who likes to change up what they eat nightly, then I would suggest choosing vegetables that are versatile. That way you are using the same ingredients for multiple different dishes.
For example, baby spinach in a Bolognese, as a pizza topping and in a salad. Or broccoli steamed with a roast and thrown into a stir-fry.
Plan your meals prior to shopping and decide what vegetables can be used in each to avoid wastage and over-purchasing.

Freeze your leftovers.
This one seems obvious, but the reminder is always useful—
Have some spare containers on hand and serve up any extra directly into them. That way you have meals ready to go in the freezer for a later lunch or dinner.
Don’t forget that you can freeze any left-over rice or pasta which is perfect to bulk up another meal or as your main carbohydrate source!

Utilize frozen fruit and vegetables.

Frozen fruit and vegetables are a perfect way to avoid food wastage whilst getting the same (if not more) nutritional value compared to fresh, whilst remaining really cost effective.
Frozen fruit and veg is often times snap frozen, meaning once it’s picked, it is frozen immediately, therefore keeping nutrients intact.
I like to stock up on these for smoothies, quick stir-fries and baking mostly.

Look out for weekly specials.
I’m a big fan of click ‘n’ collect. Not only is it time efficient but I find it’s an easy way of tracking your spendings when it comes to the big weekly shops, especially when it comes to meat (ahem…and snacks). It’s a very easy way of comparing prices and tracking where you are spending your money.

Use wholegrains and legumes to bulk up your meals.
Wholegrains and legumes are highly nutritious foods and when bought uncooked or canned, quite cheap! These are a great addition to each meal for a serving of complex carbohydrates, fibre and nutrients whilst making the serving bigger and thus go further.

Have more meat-free meals.
This of course won’t suit everyone however, if your body responds well to other protein sources (eggs, seafood, tofu, tempeh etc.), it can be a good opportunity to lower meat consumption and consume sources which are typically cheaper.

Buy seasonal.
Similarly to buying from farmer’s markets, food that is actually in season is often not only more nutritious than fresh food grown out of season but much cheaper.
By eating in season, we are supporting variety in our fruit and vegetable intake which additionally, can support meeting nutritional requirements.  

Ignore the health food aisle.
This one does pain me a little bit because I do enjoy a sticky beak of new “health” products on the regular, however, as the quotation marks imply… I use the word health sparingly.
As fun as this aisle can be, majority of products aren’t necessarily healthful and more so simply tailor to dietary requirements.
This, of course, is highly useful, especially when it comes to snacks and convenience if you are someone with strict dietary restrictions and/or allergies, however, attached is often a pretty hefty price tag for what you’re really getting.
If you are trying to be more mindful of your spending, I would recommend keeping your snacks simple and/or making any of those fun protein balls, bliss balls, biscuits etc. yourself… or, simply keeping them as a treat when on special.