The only way I have found to cut grocery bills is to exchange the cost for labor. If you only buy staples and stay away from anything where the labor is done for you (bags of salad, precut veggies) then you will save money. To save beyond that you have to grow your own food and/or change your diet. You need to plan ahead, not only to buy bargains when you see them, but to take advantage of bulk buying. Food can also be stretched with planning. Saturday night we grilled, and my daughter cooked a pot of pinto beans to eat with our meal. The next day I added meat, tomatoes and chiles to the beans to make chile beans. At that meal the beans were gone- but if I had ended up with a small portion I would have mashed them for tostados. You can freeze leftovers so you will have quick meals when you need it and to fool people that don’t want to eat leftovers the next meal. Soups and stews are very cost effective meals.
Buy in bulk, freeze what you can, can what you can’t freeze...........
I still buy bagged organic mixed lettuce (actually boxed), bagged broccoli and bagged carrots from Sam’s club. I liked my salad mixed and even if I could find all the stuff they put in it would cost me more and spoil before I ate it. The bagged broccoli is just the crowns and not much stem. And the carrots are cleaned, cut and trimmed. I have tried the whole carrots, but I just like them this way since I don’t waste much of them pealing them, they are all pretty even and well I do save time too. But for the rest of the veggies I agree with you.