I find that coupons are almost never helpful when our dietary choices and other restrictions are taken into account. We eat so little from the middle of the grocery store that I couldn't even tell you which aisle has potato chips.
The key thing is that we cook almost all our meals from scratch. I make triple batches of freezable things, like chili, because I take evening courses, and I'm not here to cook. My partner is exhausted by the time she gets home from work and school, and it seems only reasonable that food be easy for her to figure out.
What stores/food sources work for us:
Costco
I'd make the list of what we buy, but most of it is on this other blogger's post:
http://dailykale.com/2012/02/15/a-surprising-organic-and-vegan-shopping-haven-costco/
I go there 3 times a month, easily. It's close to the homeschool enrichment center, and I just work it in when I'm not trying to cram in a grad school assignment during the kids' classes. In non-organics, we also find nuts, more produce, amazing tortillas (they're uncooked - you throw them on the griddle for 30 seconds each side), and more.
Kroger markdowns
We live in the country. Vegan foods aren't high-turnover items at the local grocery stores. We hit two of them regularly - the one near the house, and the one on the way home from the university. On really lucky trips, I've picked up 10-20 blocks of tempeh and packages of seitan for $0.25-$0.99 each, depending on who did the markdowns.
Trader Joe's
The trick here is not looking at the convenience foods, and that's most of them. We fall under the spell, yes, but we try to stick to the real food. We get: more nuts, tempeh, tofu, cheap wine for date nights at home, fruit leathers for Picky Eater (I admit I haven't attempted homemade yet), dried fruits, frozen edamame, gluten-free noodles (for my dad), and, yeah, something fun, like Veggie Pakoras.
Indo-Pak Grocery
Ours has tons of fun food. Interesting legumes (read: not brown lentils), cheap. Interesting flours (read: not just wheat) cheap. Cheap spices. Coconut oil. Crazy produce markdowns - usually things like 15 zucchini that needed to be used yesterday for 99 cents - good enough for muffins. Mangos! During Ramadan, a whole box of mangoes was free with a $50 purchase. We got a lot of tofu that day, because their price is as good as anyone else's, and we used 3-4 blocks a weeks.
Like Trader Joes, there are some fabulous temptations.
Something Better Natural Foods
They're a really great vegan cooperative, and they deliver to our area. We get nutritional yeast, organic brown rice, Braggs, organic popcorn, instant refried beans (another favorite convenience food), oats, sucanat. These are huge quantities, and we end up with a year's worth, so we only have to order once a year.
CSA Share
We used to trade labor for a share, but now we pay for it, because with 2 of us in grad school full time, we don't have the time to add another part time job in.
It's worth it. Supporting our local farmer friend, eating amazing fresh food, and having to be creative when we have a veggie we never met before or a bumper eggplant year is a great exercise.
Veggie Garden
The truth is, we could do more here. But we grow about 80 -100 lbs of sweet potatoes (the dogs' favorite treat), blueberries, raspberries, muscadines, strawberries, tomatoes, chard, and herbs this year.
Foraging
No, I'm not crazy. Lambs' quarters, dandelions, blackberries, and wild onion all volunteer in our yard, and we don't spray, so it's there for the eating. We've also been known to harvest an abandoned apple tree.
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