Big blocks of cheese from Costco and bulk tomato sauce and diced tomatoes are a huge saver in bulk versus shredded cheese packs at supermarkets. Costco have variety packs of pretty high quality pastas sometimes too that are great deals. Other than that, I normally rotate discount pasta varieties from Kroger, but if you have the time and means to build up a collection of seasonings and spices and learn some cooking skills, you can save a lot versus the equivalent eating out, and can watch calories easier when you measure stuff yourself. I was shocked how much added salt and fat are in a lot of chain restaurant meals. I really like adding dried TVP to sauces sometimes for extra texture and protein, that kinda works for Italian and Mexican style cooking the way tofu does for a lot of Asian recipes. Bulk dried beans, barley and garbanzos are relatively cheap at places like WinCo and store well and you can get a lot of mileage out of, and if you have a Korean grocery chain nearby, they often have the best prices on bulk rice and a great selection of seasonings and frozen seafood.

For your health!