You said that you do the very first thing which is cook, including beans, so I assume that means pancakes, grinding your own wheat for fresh baked breads (because they are filling, nutritious, and people see them as a treat rather than a filler), etc.
Do you waste any money on drinks, or condiments, or pre-packaged mixes?
Costco is for people that do not buy the sales leaders from the weekly fliers of the supermarkets (Ignore Costco, do use Walmart).
Supplement basic foods like your beans and breads with home grown, garden highlights like fresh tomatoes.
If your family needs more, remember that homemade baked goods like cakes and cookies cost all of 70 cents to a dollar or two, yet you become a Goddess.
When was the last time that you had a homemade banana pudding, or home made marshmallows, when you remember a great childhood food that you now realize was probably cheap to make, write the name down, google it, and try it on the family.
I don’t grind my own wheat for bread, but we are pretty low carb eaters, so don’t consume that much bread - maybe a couple slices a week each. Don’t make/bake desserts either. Once in a while, I buy some dark chocolate (70-85% cacao) for a treat.
Don’t use much in the way of condiments except store brand mayo and spicy mustard, except dill pickles and black olives occasionally.
As far as drinks go, I brew my own iced tea and DH likes one soft drink a day. Rarely buy juice or other drinks. We do enjoy wine and each have a glass a day, but I don’t buy the expensive stuff and that’s separate from our grocery bill-DH goes and gets that.
I eat homemade soup (bean or vegetable) almost every day for lunch. DH likes either a chef’s salad or sandwich and yogurt. For breakfast, we most often have oatmeal (Old Fashioned). A couple times a week, we’ll have eggs and bacon or sausage. Sometimes boxed cereal.
For dinner, I make primarily pasta dishes or have chicken/fish/london broil/pork (grilled or baked) with a fresh or frozen vegetable and sometimes rice or potato.
I don’t buy pre-packaged foods at all except for jello/pudding (rare) or Stouffer’s meat or veggie lasagna (once in while for an easy meal when crunched for time) or frozen pizza (again once in a while for emergencies).
Ice cream, cookies, chips etc. we only have when we have company. We do keep pretzels, saltine crackers and cheese around for snacks. Our pantry is definitely boring. Also try to keep some fruit around (bananas, apples, melons when in season) but we aren’t big consumers of fruit.
I do buy paper products and cleaning supplies at the grocery, but it’s only the two of us, so that’s not too bad.
I honestly don’t know how it all adds up to $100+ per week (not counting adult beverages).
We rarely eat out because of 1) the cost, 2) the quality (I think I’m a pretty good cook) and 3) the large portions (which we always eat!).
I’m actually a pretty light eater, even though I’m not really that thin. DH is a BIG eater and is definitely not thin. So between the two of us, it averages out. I eat 1/3 of what I prepared, he eats 2/3, e.g. Neither of us snacks between meals except for perhaps a few pretzels or crackers with or without cheese in the evening.
I’m going to compare fresh vs. frozen vegetables price wise. I know frozen spinach and brussel sprouts are much cheaper than fresh and as good. I don’t care for canned vegetables at all except for beets.
There have to be ways to trim some. This is ridiculous.