I qualified for WIC for 3 out of my 4 pregnancies. With my second, my husband made too much money. When I got preg with #3, his income hadn't changed but our household size had, so I qualified again. I would say our grocery bill usually runs a little under $100 every two weeks. I cook a lot of things from scratch--chicken and dumplings, chicken noodle soup, steak stir fry, pork fried rice ... all of these dishes can be made for a family of five (with one on the way 
) and only use one or maybe two pieces of meat per DISH, not per PERSON. You just chop the meat small then add more vegetables and enough pasta or rice to make a large batch. Veggies and pasta really are cheaper than a lot of meat. You still get the flavor of the meat, it is just MUCH cheaper and probably healthier, too. I always make a weekly menu before I go shopping so I get nothing I don't need. I buy my flour, sugar and rice in bulk because it saves SOOOOO much money. I can get 25 lbs. of flour or sugar for around $12 at my local grocery store and 50 lbs. of rice for $7 (!!!!!!!) at the wholesale club. I just separate them into gallon zip-locs and put them in the deep freezer. That much rice lasts us about a year (we eat rice almost every day), and the flour and sugar I buy about every 4 months or so. As for canned goods, peanut butter and the like, I buy that at the Dollar Store for very cheap. As long as I have rice, etc., in the freezer and WIC to cover dairy, I can actually get by (and still eat very well) for around $35 a week. Sorry so long! I love these discussions! 
) and only use one or maybe two pieces of meat per DISH, not per PERSON. You just chop the meat small then add more vegetables and enough pasta or rice to make a large batch. Veggies and pasta really are cheaper than a lot of meat. You still get the flavor of the meat, it is just MUCH cheaper and probably healthier, too. I always make a weekly menu before I go shopping so I get nothing I don't need. I buy my flour, sugar and rice in bulk because it saves SOOOOO much money. I can get 25 lbs. of flour or sugar for around $12 at my local grocery store and 50 lbs. of rice for $7 (!!!!!!!) at the wholesale club. I just separate them into gallon zip-locs and put them in the deep freezer. That much rice lasts us about a year (we eat rice almost every day), and the flour and sugar I buy about every 4 months or so. As for canned goods, peanut butter and the like, I buy that at the Dollar Store for very cheap. As long as I have rice, etc., in the freezer and WIC to cover dairy, I can actually get by (and still eat very well) for around $35 a week. Sorry so long! I love these discussions! 
I *love* chips and salsa, and I can get a 2 lb. bag of yummy chips (not organic, but trans-fat and cottonseed oil free) for something like $2.89! If you know chips, you know that's cheap! I occasionally buy other things I find there, but those are my staples. They also have some great deals on clothing, but I don't buy them because of sweatshop concerns. Before I became convicted about that issue however, I got some wonderful bargains -- I miss them!
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