Looking for healthier foods to eat - while on a tight budget

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If you have an Aldi in your location buy the products with the brand name "Fit & Active". The selection of various snacks and meals maybe small but you get healthy foods for a fraction of the price you would get if buy big brands like Healthy Choice.

Also you can't go wrong with Greek Yogurt.

I decided to try sardines, since I heard they were healthy. So I bought a can of sardines in tomato sauce, opened it, took one bite and I had a mouth full of fishbones! Bleh. Threw it away. How do people eat this s**t?

Bones are high in calcium and magnesium.

That is the sad part. Those fishbones are probably healthier than a lot of things humans seem to prefer, such as sugar and sodas and pizza. But the moment I feel a fishbone I'm done eating. Same thing with insects, many of them are quite healthy but people don't like to eat them.
Maybe they should just grind down some bones and insects and mix them in pizza topping or sodas.

I've been eating sardines since like 3rd grade. My dad bought me some nice ones in olive oil, I liked them and bought them to lunch and everyone freaked out. I was unaware why.

I dunno, the whole "aww the animals" thing was lost on me. I had outdoor cats and everyday I'd see them kill birds and squirrels and whatnot and tear them up in front of me. So I can go to the Asian market and buy whole fish with heads on and butcher them myself and everyone, again, freaks out.

Personally for cheap sardines, best are sardines in hot sauce. But mackerel kinda just tastes like a big sardine for cheaper (not as good, though, I think sardines are fattier.)

Also sardine/mackeral are no big deal, especially when canned they're soft. I get much more mad when I bite chicken cartilige or something.

Guess they aren't for you... I don't mind them. I always thought the bones are soft, easy to chew and swallow. Tomato Sauce is my favorite thing they come in! Deeelicious...

Mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes and onions are quite cheap and can be used for lots of things. Red meat can also be expensive so maybe you could try eating more things like fish, eggs and turkey.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I have tried making myself a sardine sandwich just a couple of days ago (and I am more than willing to spend a buck or two more on a loaf of bread that doesn't have HFCS). That worked out just fine for me.

I also discovered that there is no shame going to the discount grocery stores (Grocery Outlet is a big one around here). I have to be more careful when I shop there and really look at the ingredients, but I have found some damn good stuff there that is pretty cheap.

There is also an organic food shop nearby that has a selection of cuts of meat at an excellent discount - great deals in there.

Cutting out the soda has saved me a lot of cash. I've replaced that with black drip coffee in the morning and early afternoon, and just straight tap water when I don't feel like I need any more caffeine. Strange, I used to love the expensive super-sweet mochas that they sell at Starbucks, but now I vastly prefer black drip coffee. I drink about half a pot of it a day. Probably not the healthiest habit, but it's better than a six-pack of cola.

As far as canned mackerel goes - my ex-roommate purchased a can of that once, and I remember how much it smelled like cheap cat food.