How to Shave $200 + a month off your grocery bill

By planning meals in advance, you can plan ahead for rolling leftovers into the future menu, saving money and time. For example, buy a ham on sale and have it for dinner, chop ham salad with the leftovers for lunch, and save the bone for soup or beans…you can freeze the bone if you're already sick of ham. Baking potatoes in the oven takes an hour, so bake enough for two meals…on day two they can become home fries or twice baked potatoes stuffed with cheese and sour cream.

Have you ever run up to the grocery store for a gallon of milk and come home with $75 worth of groceries you didn't really need? Of course you have. We all have. Cut your trips to once a week and you'll save the 20% or so of your grocery bill that you spend on unplanned impulse buys.

Have you ever considered how grocery stores are laid out? Perishable staples, like meat and milk are usually at the back of the store. This common marketing ploy forces you to walk past aisles packed with tempting, and usually unecessary, items. If you want to stick to your shopping list, don't wander. Spend most of your trip on the perimeter aisles where you can pick up produce, meat, milk, eggs, cheese....the things you honestly need.

Fruit and veggies in season are cheap. Out of season, and they can cost up to 50% more. Do your budget a favor by learning to cook dishes that feature squash in the fall and desserts with luscious strawberries in the spring for significant savings on fresh produce.

Save a bundle by doing a little research. Buy organic for the foods most likely to be loaded with pesticides, and save money on those that aren't. Foodnews.org publishes the dirty – and clean – dozen, lists of foods that are highest and lowest in pesticides. Topping the dirty list are peaches, apples and bell peppers, but onions, avocado and corn are clean and sweet, relatively speaking.

Chlorine often tops the list of home health concerns and many families drink expensive bottled water to avoid it, but installing a simple filter on your water faucet is not only cheaper (a lot) but the result is healthier. Bottles of water sitting stagnant are not always the healthiest option.

Cooking a little extra dinner to pack for lunch is a great way to save money. An extra serving often winds up wasted in the trash, but taking a lunch that's healthy and nutritious is better for both your health and your wallet.

Coupon clipping has evolved with the web, and now there are plenty of sites where you can download coupons online. Try couponMom.com for grocery coupons and couponcabin.com for just about everything else.

Lean ground beef costs about four bucks a pound, but if you grind up things like mushrooms, carrots, zucchini and parsnips, you can substitute about 1/3 of your meat mixture for meatballs, meatloaf or even hamburgers. It's flavorful, healthy and helps cut the fat from the meat and from your wallet. You'll cut your food budget and your family won't suspect a thing.