better foods for sure. look into what you can make. your first target in the swamp should be turnip seeds to cultivate turnips and upgrade your cooking station. good foods=good times. if you take a lot of hits then finishing the armor will help but avoiding attacks is good too. lots of more experienced players skip bronze armor all together.
parrying with the non-tower shields is better than just blocking but if you aren't comfortable with that yet then just make sure your shield is as maxed as you can