I have lots of thoughts circling my brain, but none of them want to show up on my screen. I have been trying to find ways to feed my family a healthier diet without breaking the bank. Like many of you I have a basement full of food storage and a side of beef in the freezer. I think my challenge is to use what I have and work more fruits, veggies, beans and whole grains etc. into the menu rotation. I have found that a lot of the "trendy" aka lowfat, heart healthy, multigrain, fat free and the like are also very pricey. Dennis and I have been shopping the perimeter of the store and that seems to help as well as reading labels. I still don't fully understand all the nutrition info, but it is easy to spot the variations in the labels, and make the better choice. I try to cook most of my meals from scratch to avoid the preservatives and because I am usually feeding an army (4-9 on the average)but I have found a few short cuts that I am willing to pay for such as matchstick carrots. these are already cut up small, julienned, and they are easy to add to salads, stir fry or soups and they cook fast too. Spray butter. I just can't say enough about this. A couple of sprays and you get the flavor but not the fat or calories. I am still amazed a how full I can feel on a smaller amount of good food than I ever did on tons of junk food.