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This is my ritual, my friends have finally given in and started doing it too. (Instead of calling me OCD) I buy things that are 10 for $10, and research recipes based on what those items are, trying to keep the groceries for the two of us less than $50 for a week and a half.

I agree with Fiksu. Coupon clipping doesn't help you eat well.

Personally, the coupon thing is crap. Buying manufactured goods, which most coupons are for, are generally marked up products made from basics.

Want to save money? Start with always keeping a moderately full pantry of basics. Have a good amount of basics on hand and just cook often and build a personal repertoire of ways to cook things fast and start making variations on that. You can build and maintain this pantry overtime. Basics being: Flour, salt (various kinds if you desire), Cooking Oils (Olive Oil, Sesame Oil, Canola, Corn, etc.) water, onions, garlic, fresh ginger, dried seed herbs (coffee grinder to grind them if you desire), sugar, vinegar (several kinds), carrots, fresh herbs, eggs, etc.

Grow some food. Grow some herbs. Not all, but some. Then when you go to the grocery store or greenmarket, you buy what looks fresh or should be seasonal and fresh and you supplement it with what you have. This can help you weather cost increases in the fresh vegetables.

Cooking from fresh and basic ingredients is how to reduce your costs, that is how restaurants make money and how you can save it too.

Reduce your meat consumption.

I love meat, I will eat any part of most things that moved, but...slow down, these things eat too, hence, by nature they are going to increase your costs. No matter what kind of rationale you come up with to justify their cheapness.

Sure, there are cheap chickens,fish, beef, and pork at the grocery store, but why is it cheap? Do you really want to be planning your life around what meats are cheap? Or what meats are discounted and moved to sell. Can we thing about this please. Cheap meat is cheap because what went in was cheap.

Making a menu for the week is great, but a lot of people are overwhelmed by the thought of "making a menu" so that might not be their best option for reducing costs.

I find that if I spend too much time thinking about my menu a) it comes out over thought b) I get hungry and go buy a snack or sometimes even dinner, thereby negating the cost benefit.

Take stock of what you have on hand already.
My best menus are when I take out all the ingredients that look good to me and ask my self how I can cook them, what is my cooking and prep time constraint and how can they all be combined to make a meal.

For example: Say I have a whole 3 1/2 # chicken. I have butter on hand. I have some oregano, thyme, and lavender in my backyard. I found some nice ramps at the greenmarket. I still have a nice head of romaine lettuce in the fridge. I have eggs. I have extra virgin olive oil. I cured some lemons, just to have around and experiment with. I bought some artichokes a few weeks ago and preserved them and those might be nice in a salad somehow. My wife bought some beet pasta, and hey I have some red swiss chard, wouldn't that look and taste great together, and what cheese do we have? Oh parmesan, oooh riccotta salata... heh this is starting to sound like something....

From all this I made: Ramp and Mint Pesto (to marinate my chicken), Lemon and Ramp Roasted Chicken (Pollo al Mattone style), Fresh Beet Linguine and Swiss Chard in a lemon butter sauce, and a "Caesar Salad" made from hearts of romaine and fresh caesar dressing made from Worcestershire sauce, champagne vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dijon mustard, black pepper, salt, parmesan cheese and a whole egg. I didn't use complicated techniques, I used what I had on hand. It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes. I cook for a living, so maybe it would take you longer, but do things ahead when you can. My ramp pesto was made a few days a head for something else. My wife had cured lemons many moons ago, and they are always nice to have to brighten up a dish, just scrape the flesh and mince and mix in (like in my pasta sauce). The fresh pasta was found at the green market, as were the ramps, chicken and eggs.

This is how good quick menu planning happens. Not over thought, just taking inventory of what you have and what you can do with it and taking action. Do this every-night you can and you'll save more money and be pleasantly surprised more often than you think.

Want to be realistic about reducing your costs on food? Spend more than 60 minutes thinking about it. I mean, most people spend more time than that on their subway, and somehow this is the golden, boils done to this, time that will allow you to turn your life around? Hrm.

In that case, spend 60 minutes, examining your cabinets and refrigerator and inventorying what you have on hand.

Spend another 60 minutes in your favorite market or grocery store, and buy 4 or 5 things you could cook several ways. Buy enough to last you more than 1 or 2 meals. Use a small amount of each, maybe not all at once, and cook differently several days of the week. Combine it with things you already have on hand. Got some rice in those cabinets? How about a box of pasta? Or maybe whole eggs and flour. You could make your own past, and you don't even need a pasta machine thing, it's called a rolling pin or wine bottle people.

Get about 5-8 ingredients together that you think would go well together and make something. Think about including different cooking methods, different base ingredients, and intermingling things from time to time. Use salt and other ingredients that open your taste buds.

Have fun. Play. Cooking and eating are a central part of life and you should make sure you make it feel that way as often as you can.
Keep it fun and interesting and use things you've never seen before.

Taste at every step of the way, and season in layers. This prevents you from ruining by over seasoning, or overcooking, or undercooking. Taste. Taste. Taste.
-wayne out

Thanks Ellen, I do have a blog, but i don't write on it too much. i'd love to continue, but that would mean actually putting my head to the grindstone and fixing the direction and design of that site, more towards cooking and food. That is a bit daunting right now, especially with the sun out longer these days (today its raining). I spend most of my time actually in a kitchen cooking and teaching others to cook...part of that being a chef thing...;)

I've tried to use the whole thing philosophy, even keeping a list, but I'll admit, I don't always use everything. That's why I'm trying to get my compost going, so I don't feel so guilty when it goes right back into my garden. But these things take time. But generally knowing what is in there is a must. If lists are your thing, do the list, for me, that list is a mental one, and a generally empty fridge, minus the basics is the way I keep my hand on what goes bad and what gets used. Just like at work. The more free space, the more aware I am of what is there.

If you can cook what you buy immediately, that is great, but sometimes you can't, and yes, sometimes things get forgotten.

That head of romaine I used in my salad, was forgotten for a month, but I peeled away the outer leaves and the inner still tasted good. I bought artichokes when they were cheap and seasonal and made a big batch and put them in a jar in the fridge to pull from as often as I can.

Green onions, mmm, especially any green things, should be used as fast as you can. When I have too much herbs, too many of some green veg., I'll make a puree, a pesto, or make an oil and freeze them. Inevitably, they find their way back onto the plate.
Ciao,
wayne

I'd like to add my voice to all those who are saying coupon clipping is a waste of time. Coupons are only for crap food. Eat in season and moderately and you'll save just as much money and not waste an hour clipping coupons.

Hah, PerkyMac! That's exactly where this discussion led me -- to my pantry, where I said, "Hey, I bet next week I could buy just fruit and milk and call it good."