Oooh yeah this is a good point. The question specifically is asking for cheap meals, and good bacon and sausage does not come cheap. I guess this is where an individual's specific needs and desires come into play. I totally agree that it's important to get meat of high quality. I mean, it's someone's body you are eating here. I only really very recently added bacon to my shopping list because I have decided that for what I am getting I am willing to pay a few more dollars. I am rather thin and find that when I am not eating richer food I need to eat more often. But not everyone is the same, plus I am only feeding myself which changes things considerably.

I have been making this really great bean salad this summer. Two cans of beans, a can of corn (fresh corn might actually be cheaper right now!) chopped red onion, chopped tomato, some vinegar and oil, salt and pepper, any spices you might like. Some cheese and sour cream if you want. Some avocado. You can serve it as is, on rice, on salad, on a bagel with cream cheese, with chips. Use any combination of these ingredients, and anything else you can think of. Oh man it's great!

also: once a month or so I put together a big batch of museli. It's like granola without adding sugar or baking it. Raw oats, whatever dried fruit and nuts you want (sunflower seeds and raisins are pretty affordable). I have it with milk every morning with a hardboiled egg or two.

I also enjoy BLTs and sausage sandwiches quite a bit. Canned sardines are also amazing. They are very cheap and you can throw em on a salad.

Some foods, like the avocado, nuts or meat seem expensive when you're at the store but you seriously need protein and calories and fat and they are completely worth it. There is basically no point in even eating if you are not getting protein and calories and fat. The secret is to get as many versatile items as you can. Try not to get a lot of items that can only be used for one specific kind of meal. Then you can mix and match all week!

I have two.

The first is a mug from the Charlie Rose show that was left behind by a college roommate when she moved out of our apartment for the summer. I just got it back after not seeing it for 8 years when my mother brought me several boxes of stuff I left in her attic. I don't know why, but I seriously love this mug so much.

The second is THE best one, it has Data from Star Trek: TNG. He is a simple light grey line drawing standing on a transporter. I'm pretty sure at some point he must have disappeared when hot beverages were put into it, but I imagine it's pretty old so it doesn't work. On the other side is a fake Brent Spiner signature. I found it at a thrift store and was so psyched that I yelled "YES", because I had been looking for a good Data mug on the internet for a very long time.

I also have this really great little demitasse that isn't particularly special, but it's the perfect size and I really love it. I have had a lot of very special coffee mugs, but this is my current collection.

I think that doing it on one's own is the only way to achieve discipline. What is the point of self-discipline and self-improvement if you are doing it for anyone else but yourself? The idea of being able to go into a program where someone turns you into a better person is very attractive, but that is not realistic. It is not easy, and no one else could ever do it for you. Think about high school. Did you put in all of your effort and become a highly disciplined person just because you were expected to get passing grades? I don't think that anyone will ever make true, lasting changes to their life unless they are doing it for themselves, and not because of outside pressure.

And what if you had a significant amount of outside help in achieving these goals? What would you do if that source of help were to leave you? It needs to come from within in order for it to be a true life change.

That being said, achieving discipline on your own does not have to be a solitary activity, shut off from the rest of the world. Outside support from people you trust is not only helpful, but will provide you with an outside observer who can help you mark your progress. But no, I don't think that these outside forces will or should be the motivating factor in your self-improvement goals.