I have a thing called an easy menu. I do shop with coupons and stockpile but this will help anyone. I have an expo board with a marker on the fridge door.(These boards with marker are on sale at Walgreens this week for .99) I list about ten meals I have ingredients for. We just walk in the kitchen and pick out a meal, make it and cross it off the list. This elimates that stupid conversation of 'I am hungry, what are we making? Well what do we have stuff for? Then you rumage around get angry and say lets go out to eat'. I shop the sells ad with what meals can I make with what is on sale in mind. I feed a family of three for less than $60 a week easily. Plus you can use the board to make that "leftover menu" that one of the articles suggest.

I wait for sales on ppartiocular items. For ionstance, I like chili with rice. Every once in a while, cans of chili sell for one dollar instead of 1.69 etc. I stock uo, buying perhaps 10. Then, for a quick meal, I cook one can and mix it with rice. The total cost is less thasn 1.50. In any restaurant, it would be at least 5$ ibcluding tax but not tip. Beans are protein  and rice is often on sale and easyu to cook.I do the same (stocking up)  whenever the items are on sale.. Even cans of sliced potatoes are better than fresh one. I just bought 10 can of sliced potstoes for 30 cents a pioece, They will go back up to 79 cents. . They go well with microvave-coocked eggs. total cost of a hearty breakfast, with toat, omelette with vegetables and potatoes...about 1.25$.

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I have been trying to use coupons. I painstakingly clip the coupons in the Sunday paper (has anyone else noticed that there seem to fewer every week?) and print coupons online. However, I get really frustrated with the loss of my time when I get to the store and my coupon savings still make a product more expensive than the generic version which also seem to be going up in price. None of the grocers in my area offer double coupon deals, and I just can't figure out this "loss leader" stuff. As we get deeper and deeper into this non-existant recession, we have cut back on produce and meat the most. Last night we had dinner of tuna and mac n cheese with frozen green beans from a friend's harvest--total cost? About $1. I miss steak : (

I seriously need help in this area.  I LOVE to eat and the grocery store for me is like Toys R Us is to a child.  In addition, I eat pretty clean and the healthier choice foods are expensive.  I have a very active metabolism and I eat every 2 hours.  I've tried going to Costco which has helped but I think the meal planning helps the most.  I like the idea of making multiple meals from the same ingredients.  I'll try that.

We are having a tough time shopping for $100 or less in Pittsburgh even where the cost of living is reasonable.  We eat very healthy foods (but not organic), plus my husband and our son are picky eaters so we are limited with what we purchase.  I refuse to buy processed meals from boxes, microwave foods, most canned foods (due to high sodium content, etc.) and just basically stuff you should not eat.  Unfortunately, the coupons available to us are all for foods we do not eat, like processed and prepackaged meals.  We eat very reasonable portions that are nearly text book size, and that's about the only reason we can manage this regimen of healthy foods.  If we were used to eating huge portions, we definitely would not make it on $100 per week getting good food.

My big thing lately has been trying to use up leftovers! That' s my biggest weakness. So I've been taking extra baked potatoes and chopping them up to fry with eggs and cheese, or using leftover rice for a stir-fry. DH and I have a goal to try to spend $50 a week on groceries, which will probably correspond pretty closely to $100/week for a family of four. Hopefully DH won't get tired of my cooking!

After my divorce I had a hard time shopping for groceries just for myself.  I had a tendency to buy in bulk for a lot of people and it would take me a long time to use everything I had bought, or it would go bad on me. I was spending a lot of money then. So, I have learned to stock only on as few items as I can possibly use in one week and stretch them to the max. I buy chicken and roast it, or bake it, make chicken cacciatori, chicken strir fry, chicken fajitas, chicken tacos and tostadas, chicken soup, etc. Sometimes I substitute with pork or beef and use a variety of veggies over and over again every week, like carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, peppers, chiles, mushrooms, zuccini, squash, chayote, lettuce, jicama, tomatoes and avocados and I never have the same meal twice in a week.  My grocery bill is about $65 a week and I still keep all the essentials in the fridge, like milk, eggs, bacon, cheese, bread, tortillas, juice, some fruits and sandwich meats that I use to take to work, instead of going out to lunch.  I think I'm quite frugal by reheating the left overs and not wasting any thing that can be turned into a new meal again. I usually have soup or salad and a generous healthy dinner plate. I skip desserts and soft drinks and have a fruit for dessert instead and water or home made ice tea to drink. I shop at Costco for some stock items and at a Latin Market for most fruits and veggies, where prices are usually less than at supermarkets and the produce is fresher and better. Lately I'm learning to grow some herbs in my back yard which are saving me a few extra bucks more. I love to eat well, but I hate to spend money I don't have, just for eating out often. I get all my recipes on line instead.

I want to mirror Frugal's comment about the Latin markets. Get to your local hispanic neighborhood and hit those grocery stores!! Produce and meats are always the cheapest and freshest. You may not be able to get certain common 'american' cuts of beef...such as t-bone or tenderloin. But you can get the basics..ground, chuck steak, skirt steak, london broil, etc. Chicken is always the cheapest there too. It isn't the best place for cleaning supplies, toiletries, paper products, etc. But if you focus on the perimeter of the store...you can save tons over your large chain grocers.

I use Costco a good bit.  My husband likes a steak chili they sell in a six can pack, and with that I serve a salad and a hot roll.  I put some sour cream or some grated cheese on the chili.  It is delicious and filling for him.  I buy the crisp panini rolls they have in bags at Costco, divide them into freezer bags of two, and always have fresh hot bread for my husband.  That is a good winter meal for him.

In summer I use the Costco premade salads for the two of us. The spinach and bacon is delicious, the tomato mozzarella is good, and again I have the good bread to go with it. For salads, I always make a good mustard vinaigrette from dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  I add everything to salads, often chop an apple and add to it, along with walnuts and a handful of whatever herb is available from my herb pots in the back yard.    We make our own iced tea from tea bags and buy a dozen lemons at a time in a big bag.  We buy a box of sugar free fudge pops, 40 calories each, and that is dessert.  

I make a soup that is delicious, good and cheap.  I make an instant stock from Better than Stock mix, or canned chicken broth, with a little golden seasoning packet or chicken bullion cube mixed in.  I might add a can of beef stock.  You want a good, well seasoned stock.  I add a large bag of frozen mixed vegetables, a bag of frozen cubed squash, half a chopped onion if I have one, perhaps some tomatoes.  Any tomato -  canned, cherry tomatoes, what ever you have.  If I have some leftover ground beef, or meatloaf, or chicken, I would dice it and add it but it is fine without it.   I also grow some fresh herbs and this is a great place to put them, a handful of chopped rosemary adds a lot to this soup.  You might add a teaspoon of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the soup.  Skim the foam and that is it.  It can be ready in twenty minutes and is always delicious.  

Ways I cut the bill at the grocery store:

I used to stop at the Starbucks stand when I arrived to the grocery store- i cut that out.  

I buy the big glass jar of mayo, not the convenient squeeze lid, made of plastic, squeeze bottle kind- the big jar is much cheaper (same goes for mustard, ketchup, etc)

I switched to cheaper, basic wheat bread (.99 cents compared to nearly $3.00 for fewer slices - and less carbs per sandwich I will add...)

I buy the large tub of yogurt instead of little containers (Yoplait).  I found it's really not a huge inconvenience to dish out the yogurt into a bowl.

I drink WAY less soda and more water (not bottled- tap water usually has added flouride anyway...)

I have a habit of buying too many bananas- they end up rotting on the counter.  Bananas are not the cheap fruit they used to be.  So, I buy half the bundle I used to, and I barely manage to eat those.

I buy the CHEAPEST toilet paper and napkins now, and I hardly notice any difference anyway.

Happy Shopping!