Wendy, I'm going to worry about your diet! So here's a suggestion or three about winter veggies.
Cabbage of all sorts is cheap and VERY nutritious. The simplest way to prepare it and to my mind most delicious: wash it, cut it up into bit sized chunks, put it in a relatively deep bowl so that the plastic you cover it with does not touch the cabbage. Microwave it - probably 10-15 minutes, depending on your microwave. For the first time, I'd go in 5 minute increments til I find it softened but al dente. This method bring out the inherent sweetness of the vegetable and I eat it as is, without even salting it. (but you can add a little salt before cooking). Failing a microwave, steam it. Unless you come from a family where boiled cabbage in all in watery grave is a tradition, this is the only way to go. Also, you get less of the cabbage smell all over the house; hardly any. I treat Brussel sprouts similarly; they tend to be more expensive than cabbage, though.
If you can find some good winter squashes (butternut, acorn, turban and others less well known - the latter tend to be a good bit pricier. Simplest preparation: halve it, scoop out seeds (which can be toasted and eaten) put in a dollop of butter and/or maple/honey or other syrup and bake (45-60 min depending on size) at 325-75f (I tend to bake hotter than many do). Also full of good nutrition.
Sweet potatoes (yams) are very nutritious, also. Bake as for baked potato, or for a real treat, cut them up, rub the bits with some oil, sprinkle with favorite herb if available (dried ok here) and bake in some sort of dish (the squash is also very good this way)
If you buy fruit and vegetables in their seasons, you'll spend less. Forget strawberries in winter, asparagus, turn to the cabbage family, beets, turnips, parsnips, winter squash, pears, apples, oranges.
Kale, chard, turnip greens, collards, chard, spinach, beet greens, escarole, etc. Whatever green leafies are available as winter veggies will be a lot cheaper than lettuce usually and a lot more nutritious. The darker the green, the more nutritious. I don't care for any of these cooked in water, and tend to saute them in a little oil. You can begin by sauting a little onion if you like, or do them straight. Add a pinch of (hot) red peppers if you like that (I don't), or bacon bits if you're not fighting fat. You can eat it Italian style as a sauce with pasta and a grating of cheese as your meal. (Weigh your pasta so that each serving as only 3 - 4 oz if your waistline is an issue).
Some of these vegetables can be grown in your garden and harvested during the winter, planting them as the more tender veggies are harvested. I'm not much of a gardener, but I believe cabbages, beets, kales, parsnips, perhaps some varieties of carrots for awhile. Get Johnny's seed catalog online, I'm sure they have that information. Maine's winter's no better than Chgo. Also if you have good light exposure (southern, etc) make a cold frame, and you can extend your growing season considerably even for some of the more tender veggies such as lettuces and begin some seeds earlier.
And for fruit, try to add at least an apple a day, usually about 2-3 per pound, it shouldn't add more than 50 center/person/day.
Most of all. Give up buying stuff that someone else has prepared for you. First it's full of chemicals to replace the flavors and nutrients that processing has sucked out. Second, you're paying a premium for it. That's where the big bucks go. Ditch sodas (colored sugar water!) - make lemonade with fresh lemons, cheaper and better for you.
We've been brainwashed into thinking 75 cents or more for a can of soda or a bad cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup is cheap enough to grab on the run every day , but apples at $1/lb, etc. are too expensive to eat on a regular basis (nearly $200/yr/person if you only do it workdays . Furthermore, many of these processed foods (including, especially? sweets) have lots of salt (and perhaps other chemicals) that stimulate our appetite so that we eat WAY more than we might of well prepared and more nutritious foods.
Oh, I could go on, but will spare you.
