All the advise is great. But the one I do is ground turkey from aldi's it is only .79 cent it is great in everything .

The food from AngelFood Ministries is really good. I've only ever heard one complaint, but I've never found anything wrong with it.

cook a lot of your meals in the crockpot. buy the cheapest cuts of meat - they'll tenderize in the crock pot.

make a list of things that you use all the time and get coupons for them (www.thecouponclippers.com is where I get mine from), then when they go on sale, STOCK UP. I have 2 12pks of Scott toilet paper stashed in my closet.. ought to last us a while, even with DS using strips of it as a flag all the time. LOL I do this for deoderant, juice.. things that I think are pretty expensive or are, for us, brand-sensitive.

Check your local assistance office to see if you're eligible for WIC. (if you have a child under 5 and you meet income guidelines) I save at least $40/month from it. Every little bit helps.

Avoid buying pre-packaged snacks.. make cookies, popcorn, granola, trail mix or keep fruits/veggies cut and ready to eat.

If you do buy snacks, buy from the cheap stores (Aldi's or an Aldi's-type store, $1 store, BIG LOTS, etc).. I get pretzels from BIG LOTS for DS that are $1 because the package is misprinted, and they're actually better tasting than the ones in Walmart that are 2/$5. Don't be afraid to try a different snack from a cheaper store. 90% of the time it'll taste good and the times it doesn't, well you learned. Same as anywhere else. Except if it tastes like crap and you have to throw it out, you're out $1 instead of $3.97 (like tasting a new flavor of Doritos or something).

Be a "sale ad" junkie. Watch prices - you'll be able to tell that one store's sale prices don't beat another's normal ones. Walmart honors other stores' ads, as long as they aren't a card-carrying store (where you have to have a card to get the savings). If you want to minimize running all over, hunt through your ads and price-match to get your savings.

Invest in (or ask to borrow one from friends/family) a vacuum sealer. I have thrown out TONS of meat/etc from my freezer b'c it got freezer burn.. even with the freezer bags and foil and saran wrap and everything else. I may just be handicapped in that area, but the $50 I spent on my vacuum sealer was one of the best investments I've ever made, and I've paid for it again and again and again..and again. (I just caught a sale where I got over 30 pounds of beef/chicken/pork for $30. After I separated into almost 40 meal sized portions, I vaccum sealed it.. It's good for 3 x's as long (or longer) than if I had just wrapped it up and threw it into the freezer. Plus, I can see what each package is.. I couldn't stand having to thumb through 15 foil-wrapped packages to find what I wanted. Here's the shelf-life chart for the sealer.. it shows how long the sealer extends the food's life.. Vacuum Packaging Guide

Stretch meals with homemade bread or biscuits (or storebought that you picked up with a coupon, so it's dirt cheap!).

__________________

sorry I have nothing to add, all my suggestions have been mentioned, and I just want to add the vaccume sealer is a bit pricey, around 100.00 or so, but it more than pays for it's self in the first month.

__________________
Sheila

I find meat markdowns in the morning. I think they have to sell it or get rid of it before noon when it expires.

I got my vacuum sealer from Walmart for like just over $50. cheapest one they had. but it works.

Wanted to add that since I read about it on here, I've decreased my detergent to less than half of what I was using before. My clothes come clean, don't have detergent residue on them (i don't have to add vinegar to get rid of the residue) and a bottle lasts more than twice as long!

__________________

I have one more thought to add. I just discovered Ariel detergent at my grocery store, it's $2.19 for about 35 loads. It's a product of Tide, smells just like it, I really like it. One lady on here said it stained her clothes, I've not had any trouble with it. Someone also said they've seen it at the dollar store. I use a 1/5 cup a load, disolve it in a small amount of water, just in case of the stain problem. I also have started cutting my dryer sheets in half, and have not seen any problems with them being smaller.

Ditto AngelFoodMinistries. I have not used it but I have looked at the menus and they provide a LOT of food. The only reason I have not used it is because I try to not use a lot of processed foods.

We make a lot of things from scratch. For chicken noodle soup, I use a whole chicken and I make my own noodles. I use the dark meat in the soup and use the breasts for another dish like chicken salad. That pot of soup will feed us for 2-3 days. For a $3.50 chicken, that isn't bad. Sometimes, I can get whole chickens for .40 a pd and its even cheaper.

I also bought a bread maker and I can make bread for about .40 a loaf - no preservatives and it tastes so much better.

We get a sack of beans and rice from Sam's. Beans and rice with cheese is a good meatless and healthy meal. Stick it in a burrito with lettuce and salsa. Add eggs and broccoli and and cheese for a casserole. We eat oatmeal for breakfast.

In the summer, we pick free fruit (blackberries, muscadines) and make jam. We have a neighbor with an apple tree. When they are in season, I make huge batches of applesauce and apple butter. We also plant a big veggie garden in the summer.

Eggs are a cheap source of protein. Egg salad, omelettes, frittatas. Breakfast for dinner is good. We do cheese eggs and fried potatoes with peppers and onions and a fruit (melon). Pancakes and fruit is another cheap meal. Potato pancakes and a salad too. We like potatoes topped with chili and cheese.

Condoleeza Rice and Beans (aka Black Beans and Rice) is another fave here. Red beans and rice too. Add a salad or other veggie.

What is local to your area? We are in the poultry capitol of the nation and we know folks who can get us chicken cheap. Sometimes, the plants will have stores where you can get stuff cheap.

Processed foods are more $$$ and loaded with salt, fat and sugar. Whole foods are cheaper and so much healthier.

I also cut my dryer sheets in half, use half of the recommended detergent. I use vinegar and bleach for most of my cleaning.

Menus are my big thing too. We spend $500 a month for a family of 4, but that includes 2 big dogs, a cat (and litter) and all paper products. I wish there was an Aldi closer!