What not to buy — just my ideas

Caviat :  this is my opinion and based on research if many years. The optimum end result is lower food bills without sacrificing good food.

• Bread crumbs.  We just took the last three slices of bread from the french Toast  on Christmas and made bread crumbs.  It took barely a few minutes and our almost 7 yo granddaughter knows how.  According to an ad from grocery outlet, their pound of breadcrumbs would retail for 6.80.  Even dollar tree bread crumbs are 2.00 a pound,   Why pay two dollars a pound  for someone else’s dry bread.   Break it up into a food processer bowl, process until it becomes crumbs.  Put it on a sheet pan and place it on an oven that you have just baked something in,  or just put  it in the oven for a day or two.  When I didn’t have a food processer, I just out the slices in the oven until they were dry and grated them with a box grater that I set on a sheet pan.  Costco business has 1/2 and 1/4 sheet pans really inexpensive.  If you don’t like using aluminum, consider covering them with dollar store parchment paper.   It makes clean up easier and you aren’t cooking in aluminum.   
• Parmesan cheese in a green canister.  It is laced with wood pulp and is old.  Fresh parm is well worth the additional money.  We buy parm, a blend of cheeses, or any hard cheese that I can find that is reasonable.  Costco has one for 12.00 for a huge wedge. I can’t remember what it is called, but it lasts a long time.  They all impart a good flavor to enhance some dishes. 
• Mac and cheese in a box.  Even the organic kind is not the best.  They have tsp in them. And the organic one has more fat than the blue box kind.  It’s nit hard to make scratch Mac and cheese and the quality is much better. 
• Fake butter.   Some of them have palm oil on them and other oils that are not healthy,   Hydrogenated oils, so I read, thicken your blood.   You are better off using a smaller amount of real butter. My nutritionist told me that a skim of butter was better than margarine or fake butter.  I was amused that an article click bated that Nutella was so bad for your children. So, I looked up the ingredients .  Skim milk, ok.  Chocolate, ok. Peanut butter, ok.  Palm oil....not so ok.   So, Nutella will kill your children, so they say, but fake butter is not ok?   My accountant logic doesn’t see that.   Lol.   
• Anything fake.  I read the ingredients in my daughters fake cheese. A few tablespoons of coconut oil has more saturated fat than a big beef steak.  All fake cheese was just oils and a stabilizer.  I don’t know how that can be better or you.   If you have to be dairy free, just avoid dairy. Nut butters can be a better alternative, so I hear. 
• Enchilada sauces are really expensive and take minutes to make.  They are basically the roux technique.   Cheap ingredients and a can of enchilada sauce  can cost more than the enchiladas.   
• Instant oatmeal.  The cost of instant oatmeal is ten cents a pack at best.   It takes 4 packages to get the same nutrition as a serving of regular oatmeal.  The cooking time difference is minimal. One cup water, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1-1/2 minutes in the microwave.  Use a bowl or mug bigger than you think you need.  We got sprinkles for oatmeal with a coupon at winco for a dollar,  they are 1-2 carbs a serving.  You can also add cinnamon sugar, a bit if apple, or raisins.  The cost of a serving of oatmeal when purchased in the 10 pound box at Costco is .085 a serving.  No, there is no mistake in the decimal point. 
• Bakery goods are cheaper made from scratch than store bought.  It takes a matter of minutes, real hands on time to make a loaf of peasant bread.  The cost is upwards of 2.50.  The cost of making it scratch is about a quarter.  90 percent savings.  When we go to the bread outlet, the bread is 1.25 .  Then you have to factor on that we get 10 percent for seniors or military, and freebies.  One loaf for 10.00. Two loaves for 15.00, and last time we got a 2.50 box of donuts.  I figured we averaged .93 or so each including bagels, English muffins, French bread, Texas toast, and hoagie rolls.   It pays us to buy in  bulk because  it is five miles to the store. We combine it with other errands if we can . 
• We buy pizza sauce from the dollar tree (DT) .  It is a name brand  and is at least 1/2 the price of any other jar at Winco.  Winco is about the cheapest store in our area, except for the grocery outlet that isn’t a full service store.  The  (GO) is one of those stores that items are here today, gone tomorrow.  They are overstocks for the most part and it’s a treasure hunt. Freeze it on ice cube trays, then snap it out into a quart bag and freeze.  We use 2 ice cubes per 12-14 inch pizza.  One jar makes 5 pizzas.   The alternative would be to find a sale prices 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and Italian seasoning and freeze it yourself.  
• A jus mix, ranch dressing mix, and taco seasoning.  Those envelopes can cost 16.00 a pound.  And, of you don’t need the whole envelope, some is likely to get wasted.   Meal h cheaper to make your own,  slices are cheap on the bulk isle at Winco. Any Mexican spice  is usually cheaper in packages found on the Mexican Foods isle.
• Individual juice or fruit cups.  Juice is nit the best for you.   The nutritionist for my daughter told me 40 years ago that she would be better off eating the apple than drinking our natural juice.  Fruit cups are loaded with sugar and expensive.  Fresh fruit is best,  it the alternative would be unsweetened applesauce in a individual container .