cheap foods

I'm not sure how it works in america but try going to farmers markets and things for your fruit and veg. It's usually much cheaper and better quality. I also find that if I go shopping later in the day, quite often a lot of stuff is reduced because of sell by dates. There's usually nothing wrong with it but shops have to get rid of it. Hope that helps.

Dried Beans, rice, lentils, quinoa are good fillers and can be added to almost any casserole type dish to get more servings out of it

We do dry beans and Chicken and big bags of frozen veg. Those items will last forever just have to portion my measuring cup is my best friend

Processed and pre-packaged foods can wreck a budget. Cook from scratch if possible or simply don't buy convenience food. (It's mostly full of preservatives, artificials and sodium anyway...even if they taste good. LOL)

Lentils, rice, dried beans, potatoes, and rolled oats are my cheap, filling standbys!

Also, don't underestimate the power of coupons! Even if you only devote an hour or two a week to clipping and perusing grocery store ads, you'll be surprised at the amount of money you'll save.

Buy in bulk as much as you can - eg I now buy dried pasta in 3kg (6.6lb bags) as that costs me £3 rather than buying the 1kg (2.2lb) bags that used to cost me £1.80.
Buying in bulk costs a little more week one but works out alot cheaper over all.

Make sauces from scratch - eg my kids love pasta bake with tomato sauce - I now use a tin of chopped tomatoes and an onion rather than the expensive 'dolmio' type sauces. If I have any other odd bits of veg it gets thrown in as well and to make a crunchy topping I use some bread crumbs from bread that might be a bit too stale to eat as bread.

Always look in the fridge before you shop so you never double up on things.

Use every last bit of food, if it running short of date freeze it to use later or use it that day.

Beans and pulses are cheap and fill you up for hours.

Homemade soup fills you up, I make soup with anything left in the fridge at the end of the week and add a handful of rice or lentils to thicken it and to make it more filling.

I totally understand being on a budget! My family of 3 (and 1/2 if including my 11 month old) has a weekly budget of $70. I make my own homemade yogurt, salad dressings and have a bread machine (although we usually buy bread). I don't do coupons because I don't take the time with working full time and two small kids. We just make wise choices. Here are a few of my favorite go-tos......

Dried Beans - I make a full pound at a time and we have beans/bean soup with my healthy version of cornbread cakes for dinner. Then put the rest in chili, mexican or you can freeze them in a bag.

Frozen Whole Fryer Chicken (cheaper than thawed chicken) - Thaw it, skin it and throw it in the crockpot with some seasonings. After your first dinner, take the rest of the meat and use for homemade chicken salad, put it on top of a lettuce/green salad or save for another dinner main course. You can save the juice to use for broth, too. If you watch your portions, you should be able to get three meals for two poeple out of one chicken.

My new favorite.....I have discovered frozen all natural turkey burgers at Aldi. A box of 12 is only $6, sometimes less on sale. They are all natural and only 200 calories (but have 160 mg of sodium if you are watching sodium intake). You don't even have to thaw them before throwing on the grill.

Potatoes, frozen veggies, pasta, all of the other posters' suggestions.

I stumbled across this a while back looking for something completely different. Some decent ideas, but some things aren't as cheap as they used to be and it's more focused on getting enough calories than cutting them to lose weight.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm