-Use frozen pre-chopped onions. They are usually $1 per bag. You can use just what you need and keep the rest frozen. Same for diced green peppers.
-Use jarred minced garlic. Same concept as onions, but refrigerate it.
-Buy gnocchi at the Dollar Tree. It is imported from Italy and is surprisingly good.
-If a recipe calls for meat (such as a pasta or rice dish, curry, etc) either cut the amount of meat in half to keep costs down or try omitting the meat all together. Some recipes work well to substitute black beans or chick peas for protein.
-Basically I just order my groceries at Walmart and pick them up. We don't have any great low priced grocery stores near us. I shop major sales on cereal and other staples at other stores and really stock up. I stop at places like Harmons just for specialty items (bread!). Winco for arborio rice, and have a specific list of things I try to stick to at Costco.
-I make a basic white sauce sometimes with Parmesan cheese added to put in dishes I want to be a little creamy. I love cream or ricotta cheese, but learned to get creative with white sauce when we were first married and had no money! I've always got flour, butter, and milk on hand. 2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbs flour, 1 cup milk, pinch of salt. Mix butter and flour in saucepan, cook for 2 minutes, whisk in a little milk until smooth, whisk in remaining milk, and salt until thickened.
-In spaghetti sauce, Italian dishes, or soups I use a small amount of sausage. It's strong flavor allows for just a small amount to flavor the whole dish making it seem meaty. I use Jimmy Dean Italian sausage mostly because it's pretty good, inexpensive, and easy to find. I really like Harmons chicken sausage when they have it.
-I usually cook with very sharp cheese. You can use less and still get lots of flavor.
-Use your freezer for bits of leftover sauce to use later, or overripe bananas for banana bread, cheese that you won't use up fast enough, etc. Even milk.
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