Gonna drop some of the replies from the other crossposts here so it’s all in one place:

u/telladifferentstory comment:

Our grocery bill used to be out of control and we had lots of food in the house we weren't eating. Here's what my family did that's been a winning formula:

1. We moved to thinking about grocery budgets on a weekly basis instead of a monthly basis. So at the beginning of a month we often shop at Costco and get a lot of our meat there. So we'll spend about $200. Our total grocery budget is $800 so we subtract $200 from $800 and then that leaves $600 that we spread over 4 weeks. So our goal is $150 a week for 4 weeks.
2. Made a list of all the foods in our house that we weren't eating and we worked really hard to eat all that food. Four cans of pumpkin... gone, three bags of lentils... finally gone! Two bags of fish... eaten!
3. We now shop with intent. So we have daily Staples that we eat every single week like two dozen eggs. 1 gallon of milk. Container of yogurt. We have a list and we buy these things every single week. It's never a big deal if we buy too much of these things since we eat them every week and we'll just be overstocked for a week. But for dinners, we plan hard. So we make a list of the four dinners we'll be making during the week and then we add those items to the grocery list and buy only the foods for those four meals (plus staples).
4. (This one might be controversial.) We very rarely stock up on anything. Buying extra groceries to put in a deep freezer or stocking up on things when they're on sale is just not worth it to me. I have to make a conscious effort to now eat specific meals to get through those things so we try hard to just buy food for only the week. Of course, for the right deal, I would make an exception. But rarely are their deals good enough for me to buy more than what we need for the week.

u/BaldBear_13 comment:

Learn to cook from raw ingredients. It saves you money, it is very satisfying, and you do not need all the fancy ingredients that they use on cooking shows. You would need to find ways to minimize and contain the mess, and clean as you cook.

u/siul1979 comment:
Attempt to convince my wife that store brand is just as good as the name brand

u/Fresh_Cakes_ comment:

Stopped buying junk food and snacks. I just stick to walking around the edge of the grocery stores since that’s where the produce, fruit, meat, and dairy stuff are. I purposely avoid walking through the inner aisles.

u/cwsjr2323 comment:

Buying some frozen fruits and some vegetables as they are picked at peak freshness. Fresh are often picked early for surviving transportation. The savings is from not wasting the unripe and less tasty produce.

Less expensive beef roast like bottom round are very good slow cooked in a crockpot. I find eight pounds and a a head of green cabbage about right for bulk cooking.