My strategy went approximately:
Levels 1-2: Quests, obviously.
Levels 3-12: Max out Firestorm, spam it to grind at Docks then Robot Hive, burning chips at the desert Enlightenment center (idea stolen from bmara), spend time on quests when I feel I'm up to it, with priority to level 4 and level 9 quest. I didn't bother with +FT when grinding, used as much FT as possible when doing lower-than-my-level quests.
Levels 12-15: Spent time taming away in Triassic. Bought a remainder cell phone, that, combined with all-xentrium gear later, was a godsend. Start pulling malkamite accessories and xentrium gear. Also unlocked the space station and finished all quests.
Levels 15-22: More time in triassic, now pulling liaos and dulce de diamantes nonstop, with the odd blue chip now and then, and adding +FT as fights were getting too easy.
22-32: Hundenswein all the way. Honestly, I should have begun this at level 20. Firestorm came in handy once again to bail my ass out. The dropped chips, stroopwafels and furry pills came in immense handy.
32-50: Again, should have entered the next area as soon as I could. Went to underwater city and Insanity, farmed enough to buy Trident of Nodens from Creepy Old Man, went back to Hunden for a few levels, then went to Outer Space and firestormed everything, burning chips at the space station's radiation center to replenish PP as necessary.
At this point, I stopped using the Psychoanalyst sidekick and was using clockwork armadillos and owls to stay alive. Started using Trident of Nodens at level 40 instead of radiation center. Whenever I got a good amount of bone flutes, I'd combine them and use them to semi-safely take on the Ancient Crypts (note: avoid shoggoths at all costs-very not worth it) in order to grab liaos and summoning cones. Still pulling liaos.
I believe in only using FT when fights are getting too easy, and not wasting any pulls on it, instead going for XP, -time and general combat ability. Yes, Space Mead was very, very useful. I sold just about everything that wasn't healing, a sidekick, good food or future equipment after level 15. Food consisted of a crapload of Mister Teas I bought early on, with pulled dulce de diamantes from level 10 to 20 and stroopwafels the rest of the way.
At later levels, after taking things such as stealth, meditation, firestorm, sugar purifier, proper hydration, etc, I took passive combat-based skills (sniper, both martial arts, Salt of the Earth, aura:vim) and lifeblood manipulation, since most of my -time, +XP equipment was subpar for past level 20. Then again, I had way too many skill points on me, so this may not work for you.
My experience boils down to this:
1) Taming is good.
2) Liaos are good. Dulce de diamantes are the ideal sugar, too, until you have access to stroops.
3) It's best that you only pull it if you're sure you can't loot or buy it in time. Blue chips can do a lot.
4) It doesn't matter if you're massively outleveled- maxed out Firestorm (with +spell damage skills/items if needed) will cover your ass as long as you can survive for long enough to use it (defensive sidekicks if necessary) and have enough chips or +PP to keep your PP up. And keeping your PP up also keeps your HP up due to Lifeblood.
5) FT is bad if you're already struggling, and great if things are getting too easy and you can't move on to a harder area yet.
6) You *might* want to save up part of your turns at the beginning, keeping 100 or so in reserve, so that you can pull your good equipment and not have to adventure with crappy items. You can burn the extra turns come Frayday. Bmara did this, and I would have too if I had thought of it
7) You'll want to delay the more annoying quests until later, when you've had enough total skill points to blow some on stealth/mental magnetism and have picked up +non-com, quest-aiding equipment, so that you can spend as little time on quests as possible. Don't delay quests too long though,- the opportunity costs of getting the relatively weak XP from quest combats goes up as you reach higher grinding sites.
... But for heaven's sake, unlock the space station early, not after you've done the level 1-10 quests.