What really happened. .....

I did go to Safeways today with the blanket coupon my daughters boss so generously gave me.   I didn't follow my examples because we already had a lot of what was on that list.  I started with the largest dollar items,   Adding in my head as I went along.   I pick three pounds of ground round, and a pork tenderloin.   Just short  of  17.00.   I went down the isles, comparing prices.   Just about everything else was higher than my target prices.   I never buy anything that is more than my target price unless we really really, need it.   I , realizing that everything was twenty percent off provided I stuck to a 25.99 limi, picked up no sugar added apple sauce for granddaughter, (2.00) .  I paid 1.69 for it at Fred Meyers .    The net price  of it will be 1.60.  

Up to 19.00.   Six to go.   My husband picked blue cheese.  That left a few cents short.   I added a package of ramen noodles that I use for stirfry without the flavor packet.  

25.18 less five dollar coupon made 20.18.  

I didn't use any manufacturers coupons.   I stuck  to protein because it is the most extensive of the food groups.    No sugar applesauce is hard to come by at a low price. There is fruit cups  and applesauce at the dollar store, but they are full of sugar, anywhere from 16-20 grams of carbs.    No child needs that many  carbs added to their diet.    

Why?....

Someone once asked my why I fed us for fifty dollars a week. ( this was some years ago) .   My husband and I had both been laid off of work and  while we were fortunate to get jobs, we took a cut in pay to get them.    My answer was , " because the mortgage company doesn't have a sense of humor.   ".   LOL.  They really don't care what your situation is, they just want you to live up to your promises.  

Honestly, no matter how much we have earned, I have always economize on food.   It was how I was raised.   We never wanted for food, we always had good quality food, but my mother never wasted food or allowed us to have junk in the house.  Cold cereal was only in the summer time, and not very much of that.  Drink mixes or fresh fruit, or pop just never happened.   We grew up in the fifties when fresh wasn't quite as easy to get as it is now.    

I have read economizing tricks and articles for years -- like over fifty years.   I've tried a lot of things: some worked, some didn't.   I never got soy beans or lentils to come out any better  than rocks.   LOL.   I am still reading a lot.  Only,now, we have the internet that makes things  easier.   

I have been watching  a lot of grocery hauls.   Some mothers that virtually make everything from scratch.   Some mothers that buy everything in a box or bag, and some that are in between.  Some mothers that buy everything organic and spend two hundred dollars a week.   Some that still spend two hundred dollars a week and buy organic milk, but boxed Mac and cheese.   Some that buy everything from the dollar store or .99 store regardless of how big the box or where it came from.

All of them buy their food one week or two weeks at a time.  

What I have developed is a different way of grocery shopping,  it is easier, and a lot more economical.   It's neither all organic, or all junk food.   It's some planned, controlled, scratch cooking And a little ready made when it makes sense.  It developed over a lot of years trying things, twekting things, and sticking to what worked to keep our budget in tact.   

It works.   It takes a few weeks to get up and running.  It takes some time  to get planning and organizing.  Once you get yourself set up, shopping is a piece of cake.  Some weeks I don't have to shop if I don't feel like it-- and it doesn't mean that we are eating out three days a week.  I can cook a variety of meals any day .    I have dinners on the shelf that can make dinner on a hurry.  Tonight we were going to have tacos.    By dinner time, my body wasn't cooperating.    My granddaughter and I made scratch cheese bread and we had chilli.    

No body died!   

Life goes on......

Terrific Thursday - 4-14-16

One of the ways to stretch your food dollar is to take advantage of extra promotional sales when offered.     Somewhere, ( I'm working on where) there is a specials coupon for five dollars off of twenty five dollars at Safeways.

The trick is  is to only spend the twenty five dollars and  only  on things that are already a good price, and use coupons.    It can be a really good saving opportunity.    Usually, most of the items in the store are full price.  

Safeway's- virtual shopping trip-- shop Friday.   

2 dozen eggs  ( 1.98) with coupon on ad
Strawberries ( 2/4)
Pork tenderloin -24 ounces (5.00)

Either :
I chub of ground sirloin ( 11.97)
              Or 
Buy 4, get free milk participating GM products ( up to 399 value)

1.  Cheerios , Cinnamon Toast Crunch ( 2 each- use dollar off coupons ) nets you 8 dollars for a 3.99 milk, and four cereals.    Depending how you look at it , if you attach a regular sale price of two dollars to the milk, you are paying  six dollars for four cereals, or 1.50 each.   ( that is still higher than my target price.   

Now you are up to either 22.95 - buying beef or 18.98 buying cereal.    

Fill in 2.05 in the case of beef, or 6.02 if you bought cereal.   

This is the key point: if you overpay for  your fill in, you loose.   

Ideas -1) ramen 5/1 , sour cream 1.50 (250)

Or.      2) 10 ramen -2.00, tortillas, signature kitchens 167, salsa, 1.67 , romaine 1.49, (6.83) 

That's as close as I can come and not buy somethings that are not over priced.    

For 20.45 ( beef option) you get ( protein option ) 

1. 2 dozen eggs
2. Two pounds strawberries 
3. 1 pork tenderloin 
4. 3 pounds lean ground sirloin 
5. 5 top ramen 
6. 1 sour cream 

Or 

For  20.81 - cereal option you get ( breakfast option) 

1.  2 dz eggs 
2. 2 pounds strawberries 
3. Pork tenderloin 
4. Gallon milk 
5. 4 boxes cereal 
6. 10 top ramen 
7. Signature kitchens tortillas 
8. Salsa (1.67) 
9. Head of romaine 

In my opinion, I would go for the beef option-- it gives you more bang for your buck.    I can get more meals out of it.   We don't eat a lot of cold cereal.   It can get costly if you have a child that would abuse it amd not eat their meals.   

1. 
   

  

        

 

Alberways ad

since Albertsons and Safeways have identical ads, I'm just posting one set of prices.  
Albertsons bought all of the Albertsons and Safeway stores.   The prices are the same, but the stores still have two names.    The Safeway store in shoreline that became a Haggens, is,now back to being  a Safeways.

Strawberries 2/4
7 percent ground beef 3.99
Eggs .99@@


5 dollar Friday
Shrimp
Pork tenderloin


Buy  4 General Mills indicated cereals, get milk free. Assuming milk costs two dollars, that makes the cereal two dollars each.   There are coupons out there for cereal to make them cheaper.   Also includes,uses nature valley granola bars.

Wicked Wednesday.

So, I don't know what is wicked about it, but it is Wednesday.   There are no ads for QFC this week, it is a two week ad last week.  That means that the buy 10, save five salemsmsill on.  A lot of the items are for processed foods.    I am trying to steer clear of too much salt, sugar, and fat,    A little at a time.    I'm using what we have stock  on and starting with the things that we eat the most of and replacing things with healthier versions as long as the budget will hold out,  I am still on budget.   I went to Winco and Fred Meyers this week along with doing an extreme couponing for the B10;save 5  haul.  

At Fred Meyers I picked up a few non food items.    They had 160 count tissue for a buck and the shampoo was cheaper than the dollar store.   I just bought fruits and veggies and a couple of cream cheese packets for a buck.   I also bought six white beans and garbanzo beans so we can make hummus and chicken Chimichangas.     I got one more Barilla pronto with a .75 off coupon,  

Strategy for buy XX, save XX sales.    First, make sure that there are enough things in the list that are not too processed and that you will actually use.  

Nothing is a bargain if you feed it to the garbage disposal.   That bears repeating.   Nothing is a bargain if you feed it to the garbage disposal.    

Usually, there are a few things that are in the dollar range.    I never do a haul if I can't match coupons with it,    That's a deal breaker.   You can't save enough money.    This time I was close to sixty percent,  last time i was  at 78 percent.    I do keep frozen pizzas on the freezer.   While I can make pizza from scratch, pizza is our go to meal when my husband and I are gong out , or when someone is sick and we don't feel like cooking,    Cheaper and not any worse than take out.    Tombstone was on sale, imhadmcoupoms, and there was an Ibotta on it too.   They are 3/10 at Fred Meyers and there is still the coupons and Ibotta.  

I had coupons for ritz crackers and I found lowered fat and whole wheat.  We eat crackers,my it not a ton of them.  Dtto salad dressing and BBQ sauce.    We eat a few more hot dogs on the summer time,
Nathan's is my hit dog of choice,  it's the best ingredient wise and it has as many hot dogs as there is buns in a package.   Of course, in a pinch, you can make pigs in blankets.  

When to meal plan

Meal plans help you stay on track and not cave into the take out or pizza delivery demons.   We stopped the pizza delivery when a driver told my daughter that twenty percent wasn't enough tip.   It's expensive and in the to,e it takes to wait for the delivery, you can Doctor up a frozen pizza and have it 1/2 cooked.   I'm still trying to perfect a thin crust home made.  

The magic question is whether to plan before shopping or after.   Since I already have most of the basics before I go shopping, I plan on a specific day.  Before Alberways happened, I used to shop on Fridays.   Because there is no consistency in the times the ads come out, amd some places don't have ads, that doesn't quite work.   We go to Fred Meyers usually on Sunday or Monday because the ads come out Sunday.  I can check the ads for QFC and Alberways and see if there is anything worth a trip.    Otherwise it's usually Friday for Winco.   I do meal plans on Monday.  Whatever day you choose, make it the same day.

Doing certain things and having a plan is a lot more efficient.   If I don have. Plan, I might do a few things, but I get a lot more done with a list.  

Making a matrix saves a lot of time when planning,   I use a protein based matrix to give us a variety of foods and keep everyone happy.   Some people use a theme based matrix : i.e.  Soup, breakfast for dinner, Mexican, Italian, casseroles, pizza.   Etc.  

Most people have a list of meals they make often.   Of not written down, on their head.   Wrote them down under the type  of protein.   It makes meal planning a cinch.  

1. Make a list of things in your fridge that need  to be used up soon.   
2. Check your schedule for nights out, or appointments that will make your day hectic.   Plan on a crockpot meal or a meal you can make the morning of or the night before to accommodate.    
3. Check your matrix and fill in the blanks using the things that need to be used up and adding any things you need to fill in the meal.   

Product review.....one cheap dinner.

I purchased pronto spaghetti ( Barilla) at  the dollar store  with a .75 coupon.   I was a little Leary, expecting it to be starchy like a hambirger helper, but it wasn't.    It took ten minutes and was just the consistency of boiled pasta.   I googled a recipe and adapted it to use up ingredients I had in the fridge.   I added 8 ounces of pasta sauce. A can of white beans and 1/2 of a package of beer brats we had left over.    Total cost 1.90 for six servings.   I added a salad.   ( I pulled two servings out before I added the beer brats for daughter and granddaughter. ) and added a sprinkle of parm and parsley.

5 Bargain dinners.

Continuing the five theme....Less than five dollar dinners from the specials this week.  

1. Tombstone pizza   2.00  salad 1.00   Total 3.00
2. Speghetti, meatballs. Sauce.    Sauce w coupon .79, Speghetti with coupe , .25. Meatballs 2.00 total 3.05.   Green beans .58.   3.63 
3. Pulled pork sandwiches 2.50, buns .98. French fries. .75 Carrot sticks..50.     4.73 
4. Pigs in blankets. 1/2 - 1.75,  pasta salad   .75 
5. Scrambled eggs 1/2 dozen .84, oranges .84, fried potatoes .20, Bisquits    1.88

Now, I would not eat all of these meals on the same week.   Far too much processed foods.

But, incorporating them into your meal plans can severely reduce your food budget.    

Extreme couponing, QFC buy 10, save five.

Total spent 19.93.   At least two of the items were already marked down from regular retail.    The slip says a 57 percent savings.  I also picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk for .99.

Nathan's hot dogs
Tombstone pizzas w coupon
Lloyds BBQ meat w coupon 2.49. Retails 6.00
BBQ sauce .99
Kent dressing on sale with coupon
Ritz crackers, whole wheat with coupons


Plus a Catalina for 1.25 off tombstone pizzas and a dollar Ibotta on the pizza.  

Meal plans

Meal Plans for week of April 11

These plans are on no particular order.  I have a weeks worth of plans, but no rigid schedule.   I do have a matrix based on origin choice.

1. Chicken pot pie 
2. Ham and chicken quiche , salad 
3. Tomato,roasted red pepper soup with  basil.  . Cheesy Bisquits. 
4.  Meatballs  and speghetti pronto 
5. Pizza , salad 
6. Tacos,re-fried beans, rice 
7. Salmon patties , rice, broccoli 

Chicken is chicken breasts I de-boned - 1.00 a pound 

Ham is from cubes in a pouch from Winco - 1/2 pouch - 1.20

Tomato soup is from Costco -2.00- add basil, milk. 

Meatballs are already madman freezer

Taco,shells, seasoning and sauce is a dollar at grocery outlet , taco meat batch cooked.    

Salmon patties recipe is on "jenny can cook" .   

That's it for today..... 

Don't throw the baby out with the water.

Pinterest and u tube are really good sources for finding new recipes .   It's nice to shake things up and cook something  different .  It broadens our horizons and stretches our brain.   Often times, a recipe will sound good, but in examination, it either has expensive  ingredients or is very unhealthy.  

Now, if the main ingredient is lobster, you prolly should skip it.   But, often, you can adjust and substitute an ingredient to make a recipe more healthy or less expensive.  

Basically, if  you substitute an ingredient, you need to replace it with something that has the same bulk and flavor.   My husband does not like onions, green pepper, or mushrooms.   I often substitute celery or red and yellow peppers.  

I saw a recipe on u tube.   I was intrigued because it was an oven recipe that made chicken and rice in the oven.  The problem was that it called for onion soup mix ( onions and a lot of salt) , cream soup and two cans of water.    Basically you put rice in the bottom of a baking dish, add rice, boneless , skinless  chicken breast, and add a cup that has onion soup mix, cream of celery soup, two cans of water and bake for 2 hours  at 320 f.  

1. Grease the pan.   Add raw rice ok .
2. Debone 1/2 chicken breast .  Difference is 3.00 a pound savings.   
3. Instead of onion soup and cream of chicken soup ( too much salt and preservatives and cost. ) use a can of cream of mushroom soup, 2 cans  of chicken stock and some grated onion.   You can get cream of mushroom soup for as little as forty cents with coupons at thanksgiving time.  Stock up for the year providing the pull dates on the can are far enough out.   We don't  use a lot.  It was hard to tell how much liquid he was using because it was imperial measurements.   
4. I would also add parsley to the top for color and serve with broccoli.    I would still bake for 2 hours on a medium oven 350 degrees.  

That was a hard one because I was dealing with Celsius and method measurements,  their can if soup didn't look the same size either.   

Basically, I'm saying don't overlook a recipe that sound good just because an ingredient is too expensive or not healthy.  Look for an equivalent in taste and mass.  If it is a spice, don't use it, or replicate the flavor with something else.   No capers!   Add a little salt.     

Or goggle the dish and see what pops up.   

Happy cooking.    

Tomorrows Fred Meyers ad

Large  avocados .99
Berries, black or raspberries 1.88
Chuck roast 3.77
Kroger veggies or beans 2/1 @@ limit 6 stock up price
Hillshire sausage 2/5@@
Eggs 1.69
Sour cream/cottage cheese/ cream cheese .99
Cantaloupe 2/5 each

Dollar tree haul.  

Tomorrow's paper 1. Instead of 2.00

Speghetti, Barilla , .25 with coupon 

Speghetti o's , large per than large can 

Hangers, velvet type 2/1

Laundry basket for wet choices.   

Garbage can 

2 spray,cans of "Pam" one butter, one canola 

I don't have price comparisons on everything, but I'm sure that did well. 

5 ways to have Passive cooking

Passive  cooking is a word coined by the Chew.   It's the cooking time where you have assembled your ingredients, put them to cook, and can walk away to do other things.    To my favorite type of cooking.   Efficient cooking .

There are many recioes that use passive cooking.   When they don't, sometimes you can cook early on the day or on the weekend so that you aren't cooking if dinner time is hectic in your house.   It certainly is on our house.    

1. Make ahead. Some people make dinner the night or day of dinner.
2.  So,e people  make freezer meals.  Freezer meals can be made in multiples in a short amount of time,   The Pinterest is full of recipes.  Dinner is ready for the crockpot.  You pull the bag the night before, out it in the fridge to thaw and sumo it on the crockpot on the morning,   
3. Crock pot dinners.   We love soup.   
4. Oven dinners.    Meatloaf, baked potatoes and acorn squash was my mothers favorite go to.  The whole meal cooked on one oven.    Pork chops with Apple cranberry, bread stuffing is one of ours too.   
5. Hobo or pocket dinners.    We have fish packets all the time.    I got the recipe from "do it on a dime,"  it cooks fish on parchment with spinach, rice, beans, fish and broccoli layered on parchment paper. Sealed. And common on the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.   There are a lot of other foil packet dinners that basically put your starch, meat, amd veggie on a piece of foil and seal and either out them on the oven or on a grill .    Mothers love them because they are easygoing and washing the dishes is a breeze.   No pans.  No dirty plates.    Kids like them because it's camping out!,   

About all.    If you want recipes, let me know on the comments.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro spective.  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals 
on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.    

5 mixes you can scratch cook.

Buying packets of seasoning can derail your meal train in a hurry.   If I'm going to spend another dollar on dinner, I would rather buy more meat or ice cream for desert.   Making your own mixes can save a lot of money and can avoid artificial ingredients.   ( preservatives etc)

1. Taco seasoning. 
2. Ranch dressing mx 
3. Baking mix 
4. BBQ rub
5. Cream soup mix 

Many of these are already on this blog or they are in the Internet.   

We have Tex-mex at last once a week.  It's an easy way for me to make everyone happy and I am not cooking two meals.   My taco seasoning is already made .  Sometimes I add it to the hamburger when I am batch cooking.   Last time I used ready made just because it was virtually free along with the sauce. 

There are a lot of recipes in cyberspace that call for just using the packet of seasoning.   Making your own salad dressing can avoid hydrogenated oil.   It has to be used faster, but has no preservatives.   

Baking mix is a mainstay at our house,   Besides the usual breakfast fare, I like to use it for chicken pot pie and banana, oatmeal, blueberry bread.   

BBQ rub makes the fastest chicken ( non-passive time) in the west.....or east.    

Cream soup mix is healthier than the alternative.   Less salt and good for Mac and cheese, casseroles.

5 meals from 1 chicken.

Now, I must preface this with the fact that a chicken doesn't mean a rotisserie chicken that weighs 3 pounds or less.    Other than, boneless, skinless breasts, it os about the most expensive chicken in the market.  Three pounds of chicken, even at five dollars, is 1.67 a pound.    Whole chickens are as low as .87 and often .99 a pound.   At .87 that's almost 1/2 price.    In addition, the break even point for a chicken is three pounds.  As my sister pointed out, that means if you buy a 3 pound chicken, you are going to get 1.5 pounds of meat.   Every increment beye drops 3 pounds  gives you more meat to bone ratio.    I usually opt for a 5.5 pound chicken.   I can either roast ot on the oven, or I can throw it in the crockpot.   The roasting tastes better, the crockpot is more efficient, gives you a good  stock, and has less cholesterol.  

Five dinners.      Pieces of chicken stretch further than slices of a meat.   You get further with sloppy joes , than you do with hambirgers.   It's the stretch phenomenon .  

1. Chicken noodle soup, cheesey bread.  
2. Chicken pot pie.  Fruit cup 
3. Shredded chicken ( dark meat) tacos.   , refried beans, rice.
4. Winner, chicken dinner.  Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, Cesear salad 
5. Buffalo chicken pizza.   Layer. Ranch or blue cheese salad dressing.. Chicken pieces ( soak in some Tabasco sauce I you like spicy) chopped red peppers, blue cheese / and or white cheese.    

Bones make chicken soup. 

1/2 of a breast  makes chicken pot pie, and pizza 

1/2 of a breast makes roast chicken dinner.   

Dark meat makes chicken shreads 

Winco deals.

These prices are per favado.  I went to Winco, prices are revised!  

Strawberries 198
Pronto pasta w coupon .33-  not available - it was at the dollar  tree Last tome I was there.  
Armor meatballs 1.98
Kens  dressing - there is a coupon out there
Frenchs  mustard - with coupon. 25- coupon want th name if your last born son!   Not going don that road!  
Betty Crocker brownie mix .98
Parsley .48
Chicken thighs 1.28
2 pack fryers .98
Starkist albacore 128
Pork sirloin chops 198
Corn chips 148
Hamburger or hot dog buns .98
Butter 282
London broil 298
Diced chillies - last time there was a in store coupon in the
Grapes 173

Eggs Are. 1.18 a dozen.   Some have a 4/18 pull date
The huge picante sauce is less than five dollars.  
Mjb coffee was a good price and I have a coupon.
Lindsay olives are a buck with a .25 Ibotta
Baby tomatoes were 2.00
Strawberries are two bucks a pound and looked good
Three different kinds of apples are a buck a pound
Peppers were too high, cucumbers were 1.00 for English and less  for regular.  

5 myths about couponing

i read an interesting? Article on Pinterest.   The lady said she didn't coupon any more because she could save more by not wasting.   Duh, why can't you coupon and not waste?  

5 myths about couponing ....

1.  Couponing takes a lot of time.   You can extreme coupon and take a lot of time, or you can spend very little and make a coupon book.  Download coupons once a month for a total of about 15 minutes and glance at the coupon inserts that are in the paper or come on the mail to see if something in there is what you buy. Favado tells you what's on sale, if there is a coupon, and where to find it.   Most of the work is done for you.   Some things are free.  Free goes a long ways to cut your expenses.   
2. Coupons are just for highly processed foods I wouldn't buy anyway.   True,  there are a lot of junk food coupons,   There are also coupons for yogurt, frozen  veggies, frozen potatoes, whole wheat bread and other things that are not  junk, processed food.   Ibotta has rebates in real fresh vegetables, milk, cheese and other real foods.  
3. Coupons are just one thing I would  forget to use or take to the store.  A little organization puts them in a categorized binder and leaves  them in the car next to your reuseable bags.   I also carry a cooler in the car for transporting the frozen and perishable foods.  
4. Coupons are a waste of time.  "I'm not going to spend my time to save a quarter".  If you save three dollars a week with coupons for something you are going to use, you save 156.00 a year.   
5. Stores hate coupons.    Stores do not hate coupons.  They sell new products that they might not sell otherwise.   They get paid a fee for collecting the coupons and get reimbursed for the amount of the coupon.   

Note : I have found Favado  to not always be accurate.   It may be because prices and merchandise is not always the same in other parts of the country.   This is especially true of the dollar tree.   Many dollar trees on the PNW do not have the name brands that they do in the east and south.   In addition, the dollar tree coupon policy says you cannot get something for free unless it is on a BOGO.   That being said, I have got things for free with coupons there.   You can, also only use four coupons on any given day per household.    

Hang onto your hats.........the ads

Of I was looking for good buys in the ads that we got in th Mail, I'd look elsewhere.   I went to the doctor today, but, I didn't go to the Winco.   Winco has no ads on favado.  

The Alberways ads are pretty much a bust.

QFC is a two week ad

Strawberries - 2/4
Chuck roast BOGO 3.50.
Milk .99
Cheese 2/6.  NOTE THAT IS 6.00 a pound for shredded cheese.   Costco is 2.08 a pound last I went.
Pork shoulder 1.59


Buy 10, save 5.   A lot of this so junk food.     I think it would depend how much your family eats
Nathan's 349
Frosted Flakes 188
Ritz crackers 1.88
Jiff 1.99

There may be a coupon for Frosted Flakes.

NOTE.   THERE Is A .75 coupon for pronto pasta ( Barilla) .  It is at the dollar store.   Nets .25.   You can only buy 4 things with a coupon at the dollar store.    And, from what I see supplies are limited.  

I am pretty well stocked.   If I had to go to a store, I'd try Winco .   The best meat buy would be the BOGO roast at QFC to grind  your own hamburger .   Milk is a buck at QFC also.

5 principals of groceries on the cheap

Ok, continuing with the five  series. .....five principles of groceries on the cheap.

In order to stay on a very frugal budget and not feel deprived or run out of food before the end of the month....

1. Never pay full price for anything.    Identify the things that you use on a regular basis for your main dishes.   Find the RBP for these "target" items and buy in quantity when they are on sale.....just enough to last you until you can find that price again.  Set a stock number.    I use three months on some things.  I keep one of other things.   Just enough to not have to run to the store in the middle of cooking.
2. Plan meals to avoid the " take out demons." .  Develop your matrix to make meal planning quick and easy.   
3. Buy one loss leader protein a week.  Buy enough to last you for that kind of meal for a month rotation in bulk.   Batch cook, or portion control soon after you get home from the store.  This gives you the best prices and saves a lot of time when things can get hectic around dinner time. When everyone hits the door after school, or daycare and work, things can just be crazy.   
4. Plan your grocery trips .  Being hungry without a plan and going to the grocery store is a recipe for disaster.    Because you already have the basics in stock at home, you are only looking to replace any short supply of your basic stock items that are a RBP, , a so called loss leader protein to rotate, and the produce in season and dairy you will need to finish your meals.    Make a list and stick to it.   Check the flyers of the stores that have them, check favado or the store web sites of the ones that don't. Make your list  and check to see if there are coupons to match up.   Pick your 2 best stores that will fulfill your needs.   
5. Plan to go to 2 stores.   This gives you the best prices of two stores and the best produce selections,   Last week, I checked Safeways and Winco and both of them had rotten grapes in their bags.    Usually, however, you can find good between two stores.    This gives you the availability of two stores sales.  

KNOW YOUR PRICES.   I have saved the most important for last.   You don't have to know every price of everything in the store-- just the things on your target list.    My mother used to say...." Some people wouldn't know a bargain if it came up and bit them in the butt."   Don't be that person,