Well TVS, a lot of budget savings can be made in the menu process, for example:
Meal 1 - Pork Chops with mushroom sauce, steamed veggies, baked lentils with cheese, rice. While prepping, make extra so you have leftovers, and prep extra for next meal.
Meal 2 - From many of the previous leftovers, and pre-prepped...Pork Fried rice (diced pork chops, the extra rice and veggies from meal 1), Egg Rolls, Hot'n'Sour mushroom soup.
Etc. Do it right and you reduce prepping for the next meal, and, typically I would have 2 nights a week of free-for-all left-overs, so no cooking. And since W is a vegetarian, I always try to plan so I make stuff she can eat, and I love vegetarian food as well. Which is another budget saver, adding in more vegetarian meals and dishes, especially since animal protein seems to be getting very expensive quickly. Hope the midwest breaks its drought...
Also, when shopping, stick to the "outside" ring of the store (the fresh stuff like produce, meat, etc), minimize the center (the boxed, bagged processed stuff)...cooking from scratch and raw ingredients is always cheaper than the convenience foods.
And use the flyers to find the specials, grocery stores, especially the major ones, have their "loss leaders" in the flyers to get you in, and hope you buy the higher priced things along the way (I worked for a fortune 50 grocer for a while, they are very scientific about how to lighten your wallet or purse. You know those discount/club cards everyone pushes on you? They serve an additional purpose not necessarily for your advantage...lol).
I have always meant to get around to writing a cookbook from my sous-chef/cook days...I have tons of my recipes from 6 different cuisines filed away...one of these days, lol. I Have too much on my plate right now (bwaa-hahaha, I crack me up)!
In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus
Uncertainty is the very condition which impels people to unfold their powers.-Eric Fromm
