How to Buy Groceries on a Budget

Have you been to the grocery store lately? $1.99 for a dozen eggs. $3.99 for a gallon of milk. $1.89 for a loaf of bread. It makes my head spin when I start looking at prices and then look at the balance in my account. Buying in bulk doesn't help with these types of items. There are only 2 of us (plus our cats) but even 2 people can go through $100 a week in groceries. My budget for this week was a $40 WalMart gift card given to us by my fiance's parents. We were out of everything (even ketchup, mustard, mayo) so I knew $40 wasn't going to go far. Here are some cheap meal ideas that help if you are in a pinch and need to make a good meal and don't have the time to make everything from scratch:

• Frozen Turkey Roast / Instant Mashed Potatoes / Veggie of your choice / Bread & Butter (Cost = $6.50)
• Spaghetti / Canned Meat Sauce / Bagged Salad / Homemade Garlic Bread (make with mixture of melted butter and garlic salt brushed on bread and baked in 375 degree oven) (Cost = $5.00)
• Potpies (we like the Turkey from Banquet). We can each eat 2 and they can make good cheap lunches. (Cost = $2.66 for 4)
• Soft Tacos (Soft taco shells / hamburger / shredded cheese / tomato / left over lettuce from bagged salad) & refried beans. (Cost = $7.00)
• Grilled Ham & Cheese / Tomato soup. (Cost = $6.00 if you use the bagged lunch meats)

Just a few ideas. Cereal has also come down in price quite a bit and can be a filling snack. Milk is expensive but we can find deals at our local Walgreens or CVS sometimes for $2.50 a gallon. Check out prices on pizza as well. Our local Marcos just ran a special on larges for $5.49. We had to pick it up but it fed us for dinner and lunch the next day. We've found that the $1.00 menus at some fast food restaurants can provide a quick lunch for under $5.00 for the both of us. Not cheaper than eating at home, but that is not always possible.

There are many things we love that we've had to give up (Mt. Dew, Doritos, Lasagna, to name a few) but we do splurge on them once in a while so we don't go into a complete melt down. I shop at WalMart but have found that our local supermarket has better deals most of the time and they are right across the street so they really mark things down to compete. I comparison shop but I don't waste a lot of gas doing it. I can't afford to stock up. I shop daily and buy only what we can afford for that day. Many people think this is a bad thing, but it keeps me from running up a bill for $150 at the market and writing a check I can't cover.

Feel free to post some of your favorite money saving meal ideas!