Supermarket Savings...How I Did!!!

So last month after facing the music and reconciling our bank account, I was SHOCKED to see that my hubby and I had spent a whopping $776.49 on...food for the month. Just food. I'll let that sink in for a moment. Of course, we have to eat but not to this excess! Half was spent just on fast food alone and the other was on groceries but also included things like soda, unhealthy snacks, odds and ends for the house and indulgences like ice cream and sweets...things that we certainly did not need (also..our Jack-In-The-Box shakes...sigh.) So I sat my hubby down and gave him the cold, hard facts. We were overspending.
We decided for the month of October we would set some parameters: spend no more than $100 a week on groceries and limit our eating out to once a week each and once a week as a family, which kept things realistic. We were also very conscious of frivolous spending. No trips to Target just because (I would end up spending money on nonsense, naturally) no more random drive-thru stops for cookies and a soda (did we need either?? don't think so!!) and most importantly, less eating out altogether! Eating more at home would naturally cause us to eat healthier, or so we hoped. So how did we do??? Drum roll please....we spent $453.88 on food in October. That gave us a savings of $322.12 in one month, not bad if I do say so myself!!
Over the course of a year, that's over $3600!!!! That's A LOT of money! In just a year, we'd have enough for a family vacation, a new car, a huge chunk o' change toward debt or hello, money in our  savings...not eaten. So how can you save money too????
- Make a list and menu for the week with a meatless night or two thrown in. It's amazing how much food is wasted when you don't have a plan and meat every night can be pricey.
- Rethink dinner out. If you need a break from cooking, (who doesn't??) hit places with coupons or where kids eat free.
- Pack lunches for work. This is huge!! Lunches cost at least $4 so that's $20 in just one week!
So, are you up for the challenge??? How will you save?