On a "Top Ramen" kind of budget...

If you use Reddit, check out the EatCheapAndHealthy subreddit - http://www.reddit.com/r/eatcheapandhealthy

Look at some of the popular posts, there are some good resources there!

I cut my grocery bill in 1/2 by going to Costco (warehouse store). Many things were basically buy 2 get one free price compared to grocery store (eg at costco almond milk is $7 for a 3 pack, at store one is like $3.50).

You can stock up on things like quinoa, long grain brown rice, frozen veggies, cheese, frozen fruit bread etc all way cheaper than grocery store.

Oh funny enough sticking to a lower cal way of eating helps cut bill too lol.

Cheap staples in our house are frozen vegetables, dry beans and rice, bags of potatoes, on-sale meats (we portion out and refreeze them for later use), and, lately, making our own bread, which is saving us a lot of money.

Yes, three kids and always poor lol. I recommend cooking normal for everyone, and altering your meal. Chicken thigh and leg quarters are very cheap. Oven bake them and pull the skin off for your meal. Brown rice, stir fry lean meat with veggies, also eggs are a cheap miracle food. I always keep staples, eggs, potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, and peppers. You can alternate many recipes from these. I avoid ground beef, and purchase round steak or eye of round steak instead. If you brown one or two steaks in a little oil with onion, add tomato sauce and cook on low till the meat is falling apart you have got it made. Pork is also inexpensive. Buy the bone in steaks. Anything skinless or boneless is way more, and it's so easy to do yourself. I hope this helps

Depends where you shop
I always check out the newspaper to see what deals are going on.
Always great places to shop : Walmart & 99 cent store
Why buy top ramen, when you can get whole wheat pasta or regular pasta for the same price.
You can buy grounded beef for cheap at walmart or your local supermarket and throw that in the mix.

Oatmeal, store brand wheat pastas, brown rice, and Jennie-O ground meats are your best friends. Also, coupons.com.

The beauty of rice and lentils is that they count as starch and veg-fiber, but they also make a complete protein.

Yeah, I usually spend about $240 on groceries for me and my son. I buy in bulk from a wholesale club and I buy cases of diced tomatoes, pastes and sauces as well as cases of canned veggies.

In addition, I will buy a huge thing of plain, slow cooked oatmeal, along with eggs, milk, ground beef, chicken sausage, orange juice, sweet potatoes, chicken and a big jar of coconut oil to fry in. Then, I will go to the smaller chain stores and buy smaller portions of things, such as bananas, dark red kidney beans, green pepper, pancake mix, onions, garlic, kiwi fruit, raspberries, blackberries, etc.

For example, at breakfast, I might make slow-cooked oatmeal and throw some fruit in it. For lunch, I might have a baked sweet potato, some canned green beans and a piece of meat and a snack of some sort to hold me over in between lunch and dinner. For dinner, I might make a big pot of chili and freeze half of it, for later meals.

I buy canned tomatoes, sauces and pastes because they provide the basis of all kinds of dishes, such as lasagna, spaghetti, chili, Mexican casserole, etc. Once, I have these ingredients, I basically just stockpile from there.

I have gotten so good at stockpiling that I only have to go to the grocery store once a month for most things and I still have food left over to last several months if I decided not to go to the store at all because of bad weather that is typical of here in the Midwest. I also invested in a deep freezer to help me stretch my meals and stockpile better.

My son is autistic and is a very picky eater, so I tend to have to cook two different meals most of the time, but when I go to the grocery store, I try to buy ingredients to make meals that I know he and I can both eat together, such as chili, spaghetti, nachos and hamburger helper. He will eat these dishes with no fuss.

Overall, eating on a budget just involves a little meal planning and buying and using ingredients that you can use more than once in different meals. For example, bananas are big popular item in my household and we go through them pretty quickly. Therefore, I will usually split one with my son as he likes his sliced in his oatmeal, and I like mine sliced in oatmeal as well. However, I will also eat a banana sliced on top of my pancakes accompanying other fruits. To preserve them longer, I will usually keep my bananas down in the cold basement; however, when they get overripe, I will bag them up and freeze them to use in a future smoothie.

I also try to buy fruit that I can freeze that is in season, such as cranberries and canned fruit like peaches that I can use at any given time, if I run out of the fresh stuff.

Gardening Is a great way to cut a lot out of your bill. I started with a small garden just outside my door, and grew it to where now I only have a $250.00 grocery bill every month. This is for me, my wife, and son. Learn to can, and when you Can, buy a seal-a-meal, and a dehydrator. Both are around $50.00 a peace. And dont worry about a name brand I have cheep ones and they have lasted about 5 years. And like the person said before, a pressure cooker is great. I can a lot but you dont have to go out and buy new jars, I went to yard sails, and asked family if they had old mason jars . Total investment in jars to date is around $40.00. and I have a pantry full. You can sterilize old mason jars in the pressure cooker. makes them look Good as new. I hope this helped some. Just remember, no garden is to small If all you have is a planter with a tomato vine, and another with some pepers, you can Save $100.00 over the summer just growing them. Happy Gardening,

I'm in for ideas. Lost my job in July and its been hard.