Cheap good food, I think, starts with a little planning. First of all, it doesn't have to be fancy with a bunch of garnishes (unless it's a cheap garnish) or have 5 courses. Here is an example of a typical meal day at my house and the approximate costs per meal:

Breakfast:
Apple cinnamon muffins (homemade with apples from Arlan's "bruised fruit basket") ($1.50/dozen)
Strawberry-banana smoothies (strawberries frozen after getting on sale at Kroger for $3.88 for 4 lbs./bananas at .99/5 lbs and frozen) 0.50 more or less for 5 medium glasses
milk (0.65)

Total: $2.65


Lunch:
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (homemade bread, store brand ham/cheese slices) (2.50)
Fruit (2 apples, sliced) (0.50)
water

Total: $3.00

Dinner:
Black bean chicken soup (using leftover chicken from the roast chicken the night before) (2.00 per meal/6.00 for whole pot)-This makes enough for 2 more family meals)
soup toppings (cheese, green onion, tortilla chips) (0.50-1.00)
cornbread (1.00)
carrots with ranch dip (0.50)

Total: $4.00-4.50 (this is probably a bit high)

The whole family (2 adults, 11, 8 and 4 year old) is fed for about 10 dollars/day. Some days are less and some are a little more, but this is about our average. This can be done with a little planning and flexibility, which was something I had to develop and learn. I started with reading other frugality books, such as "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Daczyzyn and "Miserly Moms" by Joni McCoy. The common theme I found in the many books I read was planning so you never are in a panic about what to do for dinner. The panic is what lays the road for takeout disaster, which is no good for your budget or your body if done to excess.

Some books advocate planning a month or more in advance, some two weeks or a week, and some 24 hours in advance. All have valuable points, and I use all of these methods to some degree depending on what I have in the house, what's on sale, and what the schedule is for the family. The general trend I follow is doing a weekly menu of all meals on a simple meal planning sheet a week in advance, with activities noted on the menu like evening sports practice or Bible study which occur near dinnertime. I go "shopping" first in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator first to see what I have on hand. There is usually something to make a couple of meals with if I get creative.

A huge budget saver is doing a soup and bread night at least one day a week. This tip comes from "Miserly Moms" and has really helped. We have soup and bread about 2 meals a week (dinner and a lunch). Any extra is frozen for a later meal a few weeks down the road. Making soup is really easy and cheap because almost anything can go in the pot (old veggies, leftover pasta/rice/potatoes, bits of meat) and it will usually come out tasting great. I usually serve it with homemade bread. If the soup has enough veggies in it I won't serve another side veggie or fruit.

I learned a lot about soup at the library, which is an awesome place to be if you're into cheap cooking because the library is FREE. ALL FREE ALL THE TIME! Check those cookbooks out and you will see how easy soup is. Which leads me to my next post for next time: The USB (Universal Soup Base).