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I also need to watch sodium content in foods, plus saturated fats and cholesterol. In addition, there are a few foods that I have to avoid because they interact with one of my meds. And, I have some food allergies.

Therefore, I buy very few prepared foods and make most dishes myself. I shop at a grocery chain here in the east and northeast, Wegman's. They carry some expensive high end foods, but their house brand is good quality and cheaper than other stores. Their every day items that are not high end are lower priced than other stores, too.

To keep costs down, I try to make casseroles and other dishes that last more than one meal. I am cooking only for myself, but that habit would work for a couple, too.

Example: My own version of sweet and sour pork. I use one very thick, boneless pork chop, cut off all the fat that surrounds the edges, and dice it into 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch pieces. I do not coat it with anything. I slice and dice a whole or half green bell pepper depending on the size, half of a medium onion (or all if a small one), and one clove garlic (2 cloves if small ones). Sautee the green pepper in olive or canola oil over medium heat and add the onion after 2 minutes. When they are translucent, add the garlic for a minute. Then remove the pepper, onion, and garlic (or push them to the outer edges of the skillet) and add the diced pork. Cook the pork THOROUGHLY, stirring often. Add half or a whole can of petite diced pineapple and the juice. Stir everything together, cover with a lid, and reduce heat to simmer for about 5 or 10 minutes. Add salt and ground blackpepper to taste. Pour over cooked rice. You can cook the rice while doing the pork and veggies. I use "regular" rice, not pre cooked or minute rice. It comes in a bag, is cheaper to buy, takes a little longer to cook, but is more nutritious. I prefer brown rice.

You can also do rice and ground beef (or black beans instead of beef), with green pepper, onion, garlic, and a can of petite diced tomatoes. Only seasoning is salt and pepper. Quick, simple, and cheap.

I do soups in my crock pot, most often chicken or beef. I use skinless chicken breast (lower fat than other parts of the chicken) and trim away any fat that I see. I add onion, celery, baby carrots or sliced fresh or frozen carrots, diced garlic, and frozen veggies - green beans, limas, corn, peas. No store bought broth or bullion. Just 5 cups of water and seasonings -- some poultry seasoning spice, 1/4 tsp turmeric, a sprinkle of paprika, some marjoram, dried parsley flakes, 1/2 to1 tsp salt, pinch of black pepper, and 1 bay leaf. Cook in crock pot for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. You can cook rice or noodles separately to add when the soup us done. Or, make biscuits or dumplings for the soup. Nutritious and long lasting if you make a big batch. Leftovers can be frozen in sandwich size zip lock bags.

Same veggies for crock pot beef soup except add one can of diced tomatoes and one medium sized, uncooked, diced potato. Same seasonings except no poultry seasoning. Can also add barley if you have it on hand. For beef, I use a cheap cut like top round steak. Does not take a large steak since meat is only a part of the recipe. Can use cubed steak, too. Since it cooks a long time at low heat, it will be tender.

Lentil soup is nutritious and cheap. There is a recipe on most lentil bags. You can vary it. Add a meat if you want to.

Bread is high in sodium so read the labels. Most are around 250 mg sodium per slice. I found that Pepperidge Farm whole grain breads are around 110 mg per slice, and a near equal amount of potassium to balance out the sodium.

I make my own pizza and spaghetti sauce with either low sodium canned tomatoes or low to no sodium canned tomato sauce. Just add onion and garlic powder (or dried, minced onion and garlic), oregano, basil, dried parsley flakes, olive oil, and 1/2 to 1 tsp salt. Simmer to let the spices blend.