Ditto what Wendy said about the additional testing to evaluate your current dose. Please don’t get too wrapped up on single high numbers — you need to see numbers from the entire cycle, over time, to determine the ideal dose and whether an increase is warranted.
Also, please be careful about increasing dose too quickly while simultaneously going to low-carb food. Lowering carbs can decrease BG, and thus dosing requirements, noticeably. Also, in general, it’s best practice to increase dose by 0.25 u increments (I think you jumped 0.5 u?) no more frequently than every 3-7 days (depending on dosing method/protocol) and test throughout each cycle to see the impact of that dose before increasing again. Think of it like bungee jumping ... you can be jumping off a very high bridge, but what really matters is how low that rope lets you go ... you don’t want it to drop you so low that you crash.
As for expired test strips ... I’ve used expired test strips with no real negative consequences however I’ve also make a point to compare the results against fresh strips (don’t expect exactly the same numbers -- there’s always a slight variance anyway, which is normal). It’s not just expiration date, by the way. Sometimes it matters how long a vial has been open, etc.
Please just take a deep breath. Sometimes I think vets don’t want us to hometest because we get stressed about the numbers and want a fix NOW. The whole process takes time and insulin dosing is not as simple as “my car is a quart low on oil so I simply need to add a quart.” Sometimes we just have to take a deep breath, remind ourselves that it’s a process, collect the data, and sit on our hands.
But eventually it will be an automatic habit. 
