Asklemmy

My how our education system has utterly failed the last two or three generations. Personal finances used to be taught in High School economics, including how to track spending. With the tap, swipe and scan payments we have these days, few people even keep a record of their spending other than perhaps the account balance. I use a checkbook program and spreadsheet together to keep track of where my money goes, and reconcile it with my bank statement every month to be sure everything adds up. This does mean I have to get paper receipts when I can't get a digital one, but living your life means you can't just float around through life expecting the apps and electronics to keep you on track, you have to do some work.

Out of curiosity, what are you buying? I cook for a family of three and I buy like $100-150 worth of food every month. I buy lots of fresh produce (many, many onions), whole chickens or large cuts I trim myself and some cheese or butter. I also make my own stock with a slow cooker, veggies scraps and bones/carcass from the chicken. I also buy my fresh produce at the local, smaller, grocery store. If you want to you can also use beans and peas to supplement protein.

I also save money on spices buying them whole (like whole pepper corns) by the bag from local specialty grocery stores, bottled spices at the big box store are a scam in comparison. When cooking I scoop all the spices I need and grind them in a dedicated coffee grinder, it's really fast.

Also by the cuisines, basic, "base" ingredients in bulk. The kind where you can make most other sauces and dishes with. An example for Asian cooking is soy sauce, honey, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar. The combination will let you make a large variety of sauces in that cuisine.

Also freeze finished meals so you never need to get door dash.