eating right on a budget need help?

There are lots of folks out there cooking on a budget and the magic search word is "frugal." Google "frugal recipes" and "frugal meals" -- you'll find lots of good sites.

When talking healthy and cheap, beans leap to mind -- cheap in the can but even cheaper (and better tasting) cooked from scratch. A can of tuna + a can of white beans + some chopped celery + vinaigrette dressing = Fagioli con tonno -- a great, healthy, tasty dinner salad.

Start watching the weekly grocery ads for sales on chicken parts -- I stick to fresh not frozen because the big frozen bags often have water added. They are cheap per pound because you are paying for water. Cook all the chicken at once and divide it into meal-sized portions for the freezer. Then whip it out and incorporate it into quick meals.

Save chicken bones, scraps, skin, etc. in the freezer and use it to make a broth. Throw any limp celery, carrots, parsley, parsley stems, etc. in the freezer, too, to throw in with the chicken scraps to flavor the broth.

Look for cheap plain yogurt and drain it to save money on Greek yogurt -- the definition of which is drained yogurt. Here's a link to my instructions: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/snack/other-snack/greek-yogurt-bargain.html

Take advantage of cheaper veggies, e.g. carrots, greens, sweet potatoes, etc. Bananas are often pretty cheap. Cabbage is often very cheap per pound and goes a long way.

Make your own granola bars. Here's my recipe: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/HeidiCooksSupper/view/easy-no-fuss-whole-grain-banana-granola-bars-697517

We're retired and have the time so we spread out shopping at different stores based on price. For example, Bi-Lo on senior discount day for most of the groceries, Walmart every few weeks for big blocks of cheddar, bird seed, etc., Trader Joe's every couple weeks for cheap feta, cheap unsweetened soy milk, etc. There are some things we order online because they're cheaper that way -- e.g. big boxes of Fancy Feast from Walmart and big cans of Colavita olive oil from Amazon, etc.

Watch for sales of things that keep. For example, I only buy pasta when it's on sale. We won't have lasagna again until the Barilla no-boil is $1 a box. I buy them four at a time and just used my last one.

Use healthy casseroles/one pan dishes when possible such as stews, chinese type meals, etc. They use much less meat. Also try to do at least one meatless meal. We try to do Meatless Mondays here. You could do rice and beans or some other vegetarian meal, or an egg type meal. Eggs are more expensive lately, but still a good value.