I've been trying to find a good figure on how much the average family of 2+1 dog spends on groceries each week. I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself (or not) that we spend about $30-40 each week on food--not including anything [non-food] like car motor oil and/or cleaning supplies.

As the primary shopper, I try to pick out inexpensive, non-processed foods. I cook mostly from scratch using foods. Which helps A LOT. We don't eat processed stuff, or at least keep it to the minimum,

Right now, I think for us, it's about saving and NOT spending money. I did just spend the extra $$ to get no-nitrate added hot dogs...I think it was well worth the extra dollars. I'm firm believer in "an once for prevention is worth a pound of cure," I keep that motto in mind when I'm grocery shopping. I will spend the extra money on all-natural pasta sauce, ketchup and peanut butter and the like as well.

Costco has made buying inexpensive AND all-natural products easy. Many of Costco brand (Kirkland Sig.) all-natural/organic products are cheaper than it's name brand not natural counter-partner (i.e. GMO free canned corn).

 I rarely use coupons. I only clip one if it's something I already need/desire, like cleaning supplies. As you know, most coupons are for junk food type items. Thus, I will pass up an item if if it's, "a really good deal."

ANYWAY...

We don't always eat lavish meals, but we don't eat processed stuff either. I'm a pretty simple cook, but use "whole", unprocessed ingredients.

Last night, I accidentally made really good bolognese sauce...
It was suppose to be just Newman's Own marinara sauce (left-over from using it as a dipping sauce from homemade chicken tenders) and pasta. But I decided to add a little protein/hamburger (bought in bulk from Costco!). We didn't have enough sauce to cover the noodles, so I added some tomato sauce (bought in bulk, always have it on hand). And it was a good dinner.

The morale of this entry? It's possible to eat well on a budget.