Hrm. Unless you're feeding a family of 4, $50/week is a /very/ generous grocery budget. My husband and I approximate like $30/week, and I have company over all the time, so it's a little higher than usual. Rather than telling you what not to buy, I'll tell you stuff *to* buy.

5 lbs of rice. This should run you (at most) $2.50 ($4 if it's brown rice), and last you a good long while. I don't mean rice in a box. I mean the stuff that comes in a bag, that costs really little. You can often get sales on 20-lb bags of rice, where you pay like $8 or even less, depending on where you are in the country, and how carefully you check the circulars for that sort of thing. Barring that, about $10 for 20-lb bag of rice is roughly standard. If you get reamed, and pay full retail, I'll assume that you dropped about $5 on this bag of rice.

5 lbs of various beans. I don't mean the kind that come in tins. I mean the dry beans that come either in bulk, or in bags from various companies, like Goya. A good start is pinto, black, white, lentils, and split peas. Grab a pound of each, and you're set. If you cannot find them in the bulk section of the store, and they're coming in 1-lb individually wrapped bags, the most you will pay is around $1.50. I'm assuming you'll end up paying this, because if you're spending any amount of money on *-a-roni, you're used to spending a fucking fortune on crap. Might well buy real food, and give that a whirl. I'm assuming you'll get the worst price, so I'm assuming $2/bag. We're currently at $15.

A 3-lb bag of onions. Should run you about $2, give or take. We're at $17.

A head of garlic. $1. So far, we're at $19.

Spices of various sorts. A good mix is cumin, coriander, black pepper, Kosher salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, dried basil, dried marjoram, dried oregano, dried thyme. I'm assuming you'll spend about $2 per container, give or take. $24. If you've got the time and wherewithal to go to a decent "ethnic" store, your spices will cost even less than that, because they tend to sell them in bulk, which means that you can snag most spices for about $1.50 per pound.

It seems like a lot of money, but the amounts you'll buy at a grocery store should last a month or so. So assume that this trip is a tiny bit more pricey than future trips, because I'm assuming you haven't got a stocked pantry. Currently, we're at $43.

At this point, we're nearly maxed out, but stick with me, and the other trips will be much cheaper, because you won't be buying the most expensive things (herbs and spices) every single week.

1 gallon of vegetable oil of some sort. This should run you about $10. We're at $53 right now (and this is a VERY extreme estimate, assuming that you buy the most expensive of everything, and don't find a single thing on sale, AND you buy everything all at once, which may or may not be the case). Currently, you've got the bare bones of a reasonably stocked kitchen.

Soak about 1 lb of beans overnight, and the next day, they'll cook up in 45 minutes - 1 hour on the stove, or 20 minutes in a pressure cooker, or 8 hours on low in a crock pot. The rice, if it's white, will cook in 20 minutes, If it's brown rice, soak it overnight like you do your beans, and it'll cook up in about 30 minutes on the stove, or 45 in the rice cooker.

The onions, garlic, and oil form a base for spicing up any of the beans that you've bought. Add one or more of the spices to the cooking onions and garlic to add a bunch of flavour for not a lot of money. Throw the cooked onions, garlic, and spices into the cooked, drained beans, and stir to combine. Eat it with rice. Any leftover beans should go into individual portions (I use zip top sandwich bags) into the freezer. That way, you don't get sick of eating the same thing over and over again.

The next week, the sky is the limit, because you've still got a boatload of rice and beans at your house, so now you can buy pretty damn near any vegetable you see in the store, bring it home, toss it in oil, salt, and spices, and roast it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F or until they're tender. They make an excellent side to the beans and rice.

From here on out, replenish your stock of rice and beans and spices as needed. Unless you're deep frying every day, the gallon of oil will likely last you a couple of months. Unless you're pouring the spices on like a weirdo, the spices will likely last you a couple of months as well. The 5 lbs of rice should easily last you about a month, but if you like a lot of rice (as I do), you'll go through it in two weeks. One pound of beans should make four servings. Again, that five pounds will easily last you a month.

In other words, after spending a little more the first week, you'll spend FAR less the subsequent weeks, because you're just picking up accompaniments for the main food. Anything above and beyond the main cheapfood is a bonus.

Essentially, this way, you'll cut back your grocery bill to about $70 for two - three weeks, rather than $200 in one month. As you cook more, and discover bulk spices in Indian and Latino stores, your spice costs plummet, because that same $2 that you spent on a small jar of spices will buy you an entire /pound/ of spices, which will likely last you about six months rather than one - two months.

If you wait for a sale, you can often find pasta for roughly 2lb/$1. Stock up and get a bunch of different shapes when that happens, and you're more or less set. When you do find such a cheap deal on pasta, you can splurge, and spend like $10 on a litre of decent extra virgin olive oil. Get some fresh herbs too, and you're good. A few fresh herbs, some garlic, some olive oil, and cooked pasta makes a lovely meal, especially when you have some roasted veg on the side.

If you like wraps and sandwiches and the like, you can also find some really good, cheap sandwich material at any grocery store. Spinach, mushrooms, peppers, olives, and hummus are all relatively easy to find anywhere. If you have the patience and the food processor to make your own hummus, please do so, because it's excellent eating. However, if you don't, just buy whatever kind you like, and use it as a sandwich spread for wraps, stuff them with your favourite veggies, and eat like a king.

Best part of doing large batches of roasted veggies is that you can turn it into a soup the next day. Just fry off some onions and garlic and spices in oil, dump in your roasted veg, and add just enough water to cover the veg. Let it all come to a boil, and you're done!

Old rice that you kept in the fridge overnight becomes excellent fodder for stir-fry the next day. Quickly sautee off some onions and garlic in a bit of oil, toss in your favourite veg (I like peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms), and toss around in the oil. Add the rice, and toss it all around with a bit of soy sauce. It's pretty quick to get together. This is also a great place to toss in your leftover roasted veg. The sky's the limit!