G'morning, Free. You have all my good wishes for quick healing of your toe . . . and the lower your levels drop, the better it is for rapid healing. You've made excellent progress in 1½ months!
Eating healthy is definitely expensive, but what I've found on metformin is that I eat less!

Mebbe not enough less that it helps the budget much, but met curbs my appetite & has helped me drop a little weight.
At diagnosis my doc told me to keep carbs under 100g per day. When that wasn't working, he upped my metformin, but it still didn't work, so I have dropped my carb intake down around 50-60g per day. I feel really good & am missing my carbs less and less all the time (those being rice, potatoes, bread, etc). It helps that I found a high-fiber tortilla which tastes great & doesn't spike me, and I also developed a low-carb resistant-starch bread that is pretty meter-friendly too. The payoff is that my levels are now grouping between 85 and 130 with most between 90-110, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts - always keeping in mind that this is a progressive disorder, so I dasn't become complacent.