STEP ONE: Instead of focusing on recipe specific ingredients (which can be VERY expensive) focus on well rounded ingredients that you can use in a few recipes. Keep these supplies in stock and make a list of common recipes you can make with them! For example my pantry staples include things like flour, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, baking soda, onions, garlic, potatoes, rice, beans, pasta, canned tomato sauce, peanut butter, white bread, soy sauce, butter, vinegar, plain yogurt, oatmeal, chicken stock, eggs, milk and cheese. Just be careful with milk and yogurt as it goes bad quickly.

STEP TWO: Then I buy meats, usually chicken thighs and ground beef because its the cheapest and easiest.

STEP THREE: Then I get what I consider upgrades with my leftover budget. For example, fresh or frozen fruit to upgrade my plain yogurt. Or bacon to make my baked potatoes better. Or jelly to make PB&J instead of just PB toast. Or chocolate chips to make chocolate chip pancakes.

Preparing food for two can be expensive and wasteful if you make a new meal every night so you should invest in some tupperware and freezer bags to save your leftovers.

Name brand products aren't always the best. Consider trying off brand products, and if you hate it you can always go back.

The more preparation that goes into an item before you buy it, the more expensive it will be. Ready meals are expensive items and should be avoided if at all possible. I try to make my own cookies, yogurt flavorings, coffee flavor syrups, microwave meals, etc. It's more work, but it does save you money once you get the hang of it. You can freeze more items than one would normally think of. I always have frozen cookie dough, frozen homemade pancakes, crock pot meals and soup in my freezer.

Also: I make crock pot freezer meals and that saves me money / time throughout the week. If you can do the prep work it's very easy and cheap, plus you always have easy leftovers! The meals will feed you at least 2-3 times each. I'm not sure what your dietary restrictions are, but if you google "crock pot dump" meals you'll surely find a few that fit your needs. A crock pot can be bought for about 15$ at walmart. All of these recipes are just cutting up and dumping the uncooked shit into a bag, freezing it for later and then defrosting in your crock pot.

Some tested recipes me and my boyfriend enjoyed: Chicken and Stuffing, Beef Stew, Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot (my boyfriend said its orgasmic and begged me to make this), Garlic Honey Chicken with Rice, Chicken Adobo, Salsa Chicken, Chili and Spaghetti Meat Sauce with Pasta.

It also helps to go vegetarian for a few nights a week. Meat is hands down the most expensive thing on my grocery list. Some meatless dinner ideas that don't require a lot of work: Any kind of rice and beans, grilled cheese with tomato soup, fried rice with just eggs, quiche, bean burritos, spicy potato tacos, baked potatoes and pancakes. I use tortillas a lot, and make quesadillas with beans or pizza style quesadillas. I also like hummus wraps with leftovers.

If you want a specific recipe just let me know.