Another helpful tip my bestie taught me: find fifteen meals your family enjoys (burgers, spaghetti, tacos, soups) and do each meal once, then repeat. That is a month of meals. It helps you plan and budget and cook ahead. We buy veg from a CSA, get fruit from a nearby cannery and orchard (what they can't can, I can!), grow a small garden, buy beef in bulk, and I cut my ground beef with beans to make it go farther. It's all organic, non gmo and not totally cheap, but the four of us each three meals a day (packed lunches) for roughly $8. We eat out once or twice a month if we get ambitious. It feels good! My kids tell me it's boring - so it must be worth doing! Every year I try to learn 2-4 new recipes and rotate them in for special holidays, etc.