Diabetes: Meter woes

I am frustrated. I went to check my BG before I ate dinner, as usual and my first checked showed 120, which is way high for me. So I decided to check and use a different finger, maybe there was some food left on the one I poked. My second test, within 30 secs to 1 minute of the first, said 78. Ok, big jump. So I immediately check a third time and it is 96. Interesting. .. so for the heck of it (or to support the companies who make test strips) I check a fourth time and it comes out 102. I know there is a 20 or 30% error rate and I guess seeing it in action is hard to take.

I had eaten about a 1/2 cup of almonds about an hour plus prior to this. I had come home from work, was STARVING but could not take time to fix dinner right away as I had to go right back out.

I ran a check of my meter with control solution but that seems like a waste to me. When I look on the bottle, the range for the test strip is usually at least 30 points (this time is 90-120 and my test came to 100) Whenever I test it, it always come somewhere within the range.. so it only tells me that from that perspective, it SHOULD be working. It doesn't help to know if 78 or 120 is more accurate.. .sigh...

I guess I am frustrated as when we work hard to keep carbs at the minimum, get exercise, etc., and then the meter gives us such wacky readings, I feel like it makes it harder to know when to be concerned and the value of checking really often. If it is so inaccurate, do I just work at keeping my crabs low, eating foods I have some history and trust their impact and then wait for the quarterly A1c?