Local news said many people are going to farmers markets for produce which is approximately 25% cheaper than grocery stores. Might want to check it out. Also check out ethnic markets for meats. I carefully shop area ethnic markets at considerable savings on many items including high quality meats, poultry. One offers home made tofu at a very reasonable cost. Cube, saute for a protein equivalent to meat, no cholesterol and fewer calories ..... provided you can consume soy safely. Others have "delis" which serve some really good foods. :-)

Thanks, Konane. I guess it also depends on how far one has to drive too! When I lived in NH some areas had a food co-op where each member worked a few hours a week. They offered a wide variety of fresh, organic fruits and veggies. Wish I could find one around here. I can't do physical work, but maybe I could help with the paperwork or washing the produce. I agree about the meat although, as I wrote, I usually don't eat beef, although I'm not a vegetarian. Soy is controversial, although I don't have any trouble eating it. I used to buy soy milk all the time for hot flashes. I've purchased Boca & Morningstar veggies burgers too.

I stood in front of the big sale on vine ripened tomatoes and said "Nah, I'll wait. 89 cts a pound instead of $2.79.   They were very ripe & looked juicy, but nobody was buying. Shows you how much influence watching the news can have on us.

The reason I mentioned fruit is because fructose is a real life saver for me. In fact, for those here whose systems get a little sluggish from time to time, if you're not a diabetic, try some unfiltered molasses in a glass of warm water. Natural honey (not the Sue Bee kind in the grocery store) works well too, but unsulphured blackstrap molasses has lots of nutritional benefits. Of course, exercise is important which does not include typing on a keyboard. LOL

My problem in getting all the vitamins & minerals is that I can't eat much at one sitting, so it's hard to have a meal with fish or chicken and some vegetables without getting full. I take a very good supplement however. So far today I've eaten one banana..that's it. I get munchies very late at night however. I find pasta to be nutritional because I add tomato sauce, cheese and olive oil. (Wish I liked the whole wheat pasta) I often use sauce from a jar & Bertolli is really good. Even the Hunt's canned sauce I bought for 89 cts isn't too bad, though the quality is far from superior, but it has the benefits of tomatoes & carrot fiber. I just add a little cheese and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I started to use olive oil recently after noticing how dry my skin is. Sure I use facial products, but it's important to lubricate from the inside too. Olive oil has been proven to fight some cancers & it lowers blood pressure too, although if mine were any lower I'd be dead. :-)    http://www.whatsfordinner.net/article-olive-oil.html

One dessert I haven't eaten in a long, long time is halavah (also spelled halvah) one of the oldest treats in the world. It is sooooo rich, but it is made with sesame seeds. Joyva isn't top quality, but it seems to be the most available. That's one thing I really miss about living in Boston. When I first moved here nobody knew what a blintz was. (that's the east coast of FL)   And forget about tzimmes. Funny how when I was a child I got excited over stuff like that (tzimmes tastes like candied yams)   Once in a while we had Chinese food or pizza on special occasions, but I don't remember ever going out for "fast food" -- probably because there wasn't any. LOL   (I remember there was a White Castle in Boston, however, next to a joke shop that sold fake poop.)

My favorite when you can't figure out what to eat is use ramen noodles as a base for flavor. Add any combination of stir fried veggies such as carrot, broccoli, Shanghai bok choy (it's the small green kind), bok choy (larger white stemmed kind including green tops), gailin (green leaf veggie available in Asian stores), bamboo shoots, snow peas, water chestnuts, chopped cashews or other nuts if tolerated. Then add some cooked minced chicken, pork or whatever other meat is available and/or cubed sautéed tofu. Quick easy, versatile according to type of ramen noodle used ..... again check out some Asian stores and be amazed at how many different kinds of ramen they carry.

Was going to make guacamole a couple of nights ago with chopped fresh cilantro, fresh chopped jalapeno, onion, lime juice, salt. Tomatoes are optional for anyone not allergic. Avacados were not ripe enough to mash so cubed and combined with other ingredients. Served this mixture as salad over romaine. A mistake turned out very good. Froze the remainder for later. Guacamole freezes well so anticipating this will also.

I'm not a heavy meat eater either Justxploring. I try to eat as healthy as my money will allow. Really eating healthy cost money. I can't remember when I have cooked beef!!! I eat a lot of fish which I love. Talapia is a very good hearty satisfying fish that I eat a lot of. You might want to check that out if you haven't already. I'll stir fry a couple of onions in olive oil to go along with my Talapia...yum yum...that beats beef any day!!!

I love Konane's ramen noodles, however, I have to watch my salt intake, and those salty noodles will shoot my blood pressure sky high! So, to my dismay I stay away from those.

Good luck on your quest for healthy eating!!! :)

Tilapia is popular here, Gentlespirit. I'm not sure, but I think the first time I ate it was in Costa Rica. I eat salmon too, but I won't eat farmed salmon any more. To be honest, I don't enjoy cooking. Boiling a pot of water and dropping in some angel hair pasta is cooking to me. Egg salad is a little more effort. I have to boil the water, drop in the eggs and then peel & mash them. LOL   Actually, if I didn't have trouble chewing (long story) I'd eat a lot of raw stuff or cold sandwiches. I love tuna and those new pouches (no draining) are great. I get many sandwiches out of one Starkist pouch. I used to turn my nose up at the "light" tuna and only buy solid white albacore, but now I'd rather eat the chunk light in sunflower oil. It's tastier. Konane, I've eaten ramen noodles, but I was trying to get more fruits into my diet. I eat a lot of noodles, probably too many. (pasta, lo mein)   It's really not the budget as much as lack of room in my tummy. There's something wrong which I should check out one of these days. A few bites and I double over with knife like pains in my lower left. Still, the reason I started this blog was I got sticker shock at the price of produce. I mean, I'm only one person. How can a mother tell her 3 children to eat some fresh fruit everyday if it costs a dollar for an apple? Love guacamole, but anything with jalapenos would kill me.   I'm really proud of myself, however. I've gone about a week without a Boston Market or Stouffer's frozen entree.   (applause, applause) Thanks for posting, Konane & Gentlespirit.

Justxploring, you mentioned pains in your lower left. Well I use to get pains in my lower left and eventually had to have surgery. This was 2 1/2 years ago. I was diagnosed with diverticulitus. It's a colon condition older folks have a tendency to get. Mine was so bad they had to operate. Before the operation, I definitely had to watch what I ate or I would have painful episodes. After surgery, I can eat anything and it doesn't bother me. Just thought I'd share that information with you because you might have the same thing.

Thank you so much, Gentlespirit. Maybe that's why I feel faint & feverish after eating (although not all the time) I don't have any insurance and when I go to the doctors they want me to have so many tests that cost thousands. But if this continues to worsen, I won't have a choice.

Justx, my post about ramen noodles was to illustrate that you can add lots of unseasoned, unsalted veggies to them which helps balance out high sodium. Noodles in ramen come in many different forms not just wheat, there's beanthread (mung bean origin I believe) potato (believe it's yam in origin) glass noodles (believe those are tapioca origin), rice noodle, also have found buckwheat noodles in a Korean market. Oh well am a make it up as I go along cook calling dinner my latest experiment.

If you can eat black olives, adding sliced black olives to tuna instead of mayonnaise is quite good. Am a firm believer in olive oil being a good thing so do use it myself, except for saute or rare frying because it breaks down in high temps.

Seriously take a look in ethnic markets for fruits most at better prices than grocery stores. Or take a look stuff the truck farmer has .... you know the one who parks his truck loaded with baskets of fresh stuff.

Leave out jalapenos ... guacamole tastes fine without them. Hope your digestive condition improves soon.