This is why I like fasting. Patricia Bragg who makes Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar, says that she fasts one day a week and 3 days at the beginning of each month. That is fasting for 1 week a month. That would cut the food bill by 25%. Back in biblical times people fasted a lot. That is why the bible has 74 references to it. I am sure it helped with them not having an abundance of food.
As far as foods being your medicine, I took some information from a U.S.D.A. database website and showed what common foods are good for many different health problems like strokes, high blood pressure, insomnia, obesity and many others on the webpage Natural Cures.