Money vs. Health

Last week I started trying to increase my workouts per week. I decided to go to the gym every day except Monday (because of a scheduling issue.) In reality, I had to take Thursday off due to overwhelming soreness. I'm going to try this again this week, although my S.O.'s parents are coming into town Thursday, so I'm not sure how the workout schedule is going to work on Friday. In order to head this problem off at the pass, I plan on squeezing in a workout today, just in case things go awry at the end of the week.

Money is tight around here, like almost everywhere else. This is leading to some interesting dilemmas. Gym memberships are expensive, but IMHO necessary expenses. Oddly, healthy food is more expensive than prepackaged crap. This is distressing to me. It should not be cheaper for me to get a Super Sized Fat Burger Meal than it is for me to make myself a Salad. Especially around these parts, veggies are not cheap. I'm lucky in that I can rely on someone else's income to provide the foodstuffs in the house, but if it was just me, I'd be almost reduced to Ramen at this point.

The sad thing to me is that I know I'm not alone, that there are thousands of people out there right now in the same or in a worse situation as me. And right now, at least one of them is looking at the change in their pocket, or the numbers in their bank account and making the decision to eat crap because it's what they can afford.

What are your favorite, go to, cheap healthy recipes?