$40/Week Groceries...How do you do it?

I have been getting asked this question lately by fellow wanna-be-money-savers.... here's the secret!
As I have become obsessed with saving money, one area in our budget that has taken a huge hit has been the grocery envelope. Stephen and I started with a $450 budget and have gone cold turkey and now only spend $120 (or $40/week). Of course, when we entertain, which is about once a month, the food and drinks for those events do not get covered in this envelope... we put it in the entertainment budget!
To be successful at this you must PLAN. Each Sunday evening after getting all of my ads together I take a few moments and check out whats on sale at the various grocery spots... United, Walgreens, CVS and Target. I then check out the coupons - I do not buy groceries according to my coupons, but I clip them so when I'm in the store and I see something on sale that I know I have a coupon for I can whip it out to see if it's a good deal - that would be an item that I had NOT planned for but it was a good deal so I need to buy it. After seeing what items are on sale I then plan a menu according to those choices.
I know that Walmart always has lower prices then United and Target, but sometimes those places are having deals on food that beats Walmart.
United - these are great deals
milk $2.99
eggs $.99
pork chops buy 1/get 1 free
tomatoes $.99/pound
green beans $.79/pound
chicken drums/thighs $.99/pound
lunchmeat 2/$4
stuffing $.79
cornbread mixes 2/$.89
pears $.99/pound
red potatoes $.79/pound
flour $1.50


AND ON WEDNESDAY - ONE DAY ONLY SALES
apples 5/$1
avocados 3/$1


Now I look in my cabinets and see what things I have and then start planning menus... this week I worked out of one of my new cookbooks... which I bought off Craigslist.
My menu for the week -
Mon - to a friends house - will eat there
Tue - pork chops in a sweet chili and onion sauce with creamy cilantro and potato salad
Wed - fajitas
Thurs - hamburgers
Frid - Left overs
Sat - BBQ sloppy chicken Pan Pizza
Sun - Salsa Soup and Double Decker Quesadillas
Desert sometime - Apple Crisps
Breakfasts - pancakes (will make double batch and freeze half to eat another day), apple sauce with toast, eggs, oatmeal
Lunches - sandwiches, salad, leftover soup from this week

If you will notice... my meals are based around what I know that I will be able to get on sale. And the meals all call for a lot of the same ingredients which makes it much cheaper then having to buy lots of things that I will only use a little of.
To keep things simple I buy cookbooks that have lots of different foods as opposed to a cookbook with only Italian food... then I can get all my meals out of one.

I have also learned to make things from scratch that I feel are a waste of money - like (tortilla chips, yogurt, bread, cookies, salsa, baby food) and Colton takes his lunch to school everyday which I believe is a huge money saver then the nasty school lunches - and STOP buying junk food, no one needs cheese curls and ding dongs in their house - they aren't healthy and they serve no purpose!
I try to NEVER buy pre-made dinners in the frozen section but will have a a few on hand just in case I really don't feel like cooking.

Planning is key to making this system work - do not go to the grocery store and just buy items that you think you need or think that you will use... you will get to the final bill and discover that you have spent WAY more then you thought. Learn to just live without... we ran out of milk on about Thursday - so we did without it! I actually had to make drop biscuits with water (couldn't even tell the difference)

Key items that I will have stocked in my cabinets - I buy everytime I go to the store - if you buy a few at a time (they are really cheap) then you will get a good stock pile of them and I use mine all the time -
diced or whole tomatoes in a can
celery - great filler for all kinds of food
baking staples - baking powder, baking soda, flour, sugar, brown sugar and spices
creamed soups - cream of chicken and mushroom
tomato soup
chicken broth
basic cooking veggies - onions, garlic
potatoes
baking mix - my favorite is Pioneer mix (sold at United)
oats

Take your coupons and your calculator with you to the store - don't be embarrassed! I went into shock the other day when the family in front of me bought $500 worth of groceries - and most of it was pre-made and junk food - I couldn't believe it! Food is important but not worth that much! Learn to stock up on cheaper foods that can have shelf life and learn to plan your week - you will see a difference!