- check around local orchards, farmer's markets, etc. canning and transportation greatly increase price.
- COMPARE PRICES ON BRANDS. it's amazing how many people continue to buy the highest priced jar of pasta sauce because "it's what i grew up with so it's what i look for."
- beans are extremely cheap and filling, especially if you buy bagged ones. look up proper handling/cooking instructions before doing this though (it's not complicated).
- meat is expensive. learn to get your protein other places. this goes along with the beans thing.
- also about meat, there's a lot of supermarkets that will sell discounted meat because the colour has gone bad. this meat is perfectly fine to eat. colour is not a perfect indicator of freshness, and if the meat was actually spoilt it would be thrown away.
- chili is filling, easy to make in bulk, all ingredients are relatively cheap and can be frozen and will not decrease in quality for quite some time.
- crockpot is a good investment. especially a large one.
- cook big and freeze. this goes along with the crockpot thing.
- consider growing your own vegetables and herbs, if you can.
- stir fry. that's all.