Feeding 2 kids healthy food on a budget part 1

I am amazed when I look and see how much we spend on food each month and then I look at the national average amount spent on food for a family of four and I am shocked that it is 2 1/2 times what we spend and here I am complaining. I know we live in a moderately priced area but still how can people spend more on food each month than their vehicle payments or utility bills. The average american family (from info I have found) spends roughly $400 a month on groceries. For us that would be all of our utilities and animal feed and about 1/2 of our gasoline. We eat at home more than eating out but I thought I would share a few tips we use to help lower our food budget.
1 Find a discount store near you. Most cities have one or two and you can find a LOT of good deals from stores that went out of business or bought too much or bought right before packaging was changed and the older stuff won't sell. We have gotten a 2 party tray TGIF spinich& artichoke dip for $2.50 and the smaller pack with just 1 party tray was at Target for $7.50. The expiration date was still 8 months away and we take that to parties.
2 Keep a list of what you normally have in your pantry and freezer and how much you like to keep on hand, which I did when checking the pantry for stuff for the food pantry, and get contact paper to laminate it and then use a grease pencil or dry erase marker to write how many I have and when we make dinner just change the #. When it is grocery time check to see what you have to get and what you will get if it is on sale. I check all the ads and if something is on sale I might even buy a few extras if it is something I use a lot.
3 Plan what you are going to eat. You don't have to plan what you will eat every night but look at what is on sale and think what can I make with that and what I have then make a list and when you get stuck for ideas look at the list. This will save you from running out to eat or takeout when food you make is cheaper and quicker.
4 Use coupons. If you are good you can match coupons and sales to save even more money. Watch for the best sales the last week before the coupons expire.
5 Check to see where you can use store coupons (SC) AND manufacturer coupons (MC). Target, & Babies r us (BRU) will take both for example I went to BRU and they had a buy 2 boxes of huggies and get a $15 gift card back. Then I added a $3 off MC for each box and a $4 off 2 boxes of Huggies SC so instead of paying $64.98 for 232 diapers I paid $54.98 AND got a $15 GC back to use for my next purchase which was more diapers so the next time I paid $44.98 and if it gets close to the card expiring and I don't need diapers I can always find a toy or wipes or something. I have also bought this deal put the diapers in the car and used coupons and gotten 2 $14 boxes of wipes for $9
6 Keep a running total. I round up even if something is $1.10 I round it to $2 so it evens out with tax. I also don't subtract coupons so it gives me an idea of what I save. I also get a subtotal before handing coupons over to show myself what I saved and I can say that the 15 min I spent clipping/sorting coupons saved $40 so it really was worth it.
7 Make sure you have your list with you and stick to it. Since I started carrying a list and keeping a running total I quickly noticed I wasn't buying as much.
8 If you run out of milk,bread etc and you run to get more DON'T GET A CART that almost automatically adds $50 to your total
9 This is actually both a money saving tip and a safety tip.. Don't put your baby carrier on top of the cart put it in the cart. According to the CPSC on average 21,000 children under 5 are injured each year from falling from shopping carts most are head injuries that can cause permanant brain damage. When you put your carrier car seat in the basket you don't have as much room so you can't buy as much so you spend less. See ya do 2 good things at once.