Thanks to the Southern CouponBelle blog, I won a $100 gift card to Vons, sponsored by the Ecoupon company, Cellfire.com. But I was given a challenge: How far can I make that gift card go, using store specials, paper coupons and Ecoupons?  Let me tell, I am off to a great start! I just walked out this evening with $50 in groceries for only $10! That’s 80 percent off!

I have become a great believer in Ecoupons. The reason is not only because of their simplicity (you just load then to your club card), but you may also combine with paper coupons. The best part is you can stockpile Ecoupons, where multiple ones are deducted! This doesn’t net you savings — this is when you are paid to buy items!

For instance:

You see how great Ecoupons combine to make incredible deals?!

By the way, I also got the Gold n Soft margarine and Land o Lakes spreadable butter for free, too! Just used store and/or manufacturer coupons for those.

Of course, I didn’t figure these deals out all by myself. I used the great Vons list provided each week at This Frugal Life. She is the best for Vons coupon matchups and makes it so easy each week. My savings in coupons, alone, was $24! That means if I had not used coupons, I would have paid $34 for what I ended up paying $10.

Thanks to Southern Couponbelle for teaching me the joys of Ecoupons, and now thanks to the gift card I won, I’ve begun to see how far I can stretch a C note. I think I am off to a good start — $50 in groceries and only used $10 of my gift card.

Let the tally begin!

For the best produce prices, there is one place to shop — and that’s stores aimed at the Hispanic market. Want proof? On Friday, I ran into my produce guy from Vons at Vallarta! We laughed, but he was aiming right to the produce area, too! What does that tell you?

You see all the produce (and rice and beans) pictured here? Total cost $11.60! Subtract out the rice and beans, and the total cost is $8.22 for easily two weeks produce!

Here is just a sample of the prices:

• 10 pounds potatoes (99 cents)
• 1 pound Strawberries (99 cents)
• 1 green onion (33 cents)
• 1 cilantro (18 cents!)
• 1.75 pounds of peaches - 86 cents (50 cents a pound!)
• 5 pounds Valencia oranges - $1.65 (33 cents a pound!)
• 2.5 pounds of white onion - 80 cents (33 cents a pound!)
• 1.51 pounds of broccoli *crowns* - $1.49 (99 cents a pound)
• Celery - 50 cents!
• 5.14 pounds rice — $1.71 (39 cents a pound!)
• 4.25 pounds of pinto beans - $1.67 (39 cents a pound!)

Compare those prices to what you normally pay! I would say on average they are more than 50 percent off. Don’t worry. Most produce is grown in the United States.

There is a little culture shock. At Vallarta — a wonderfully clean, large store — I stick out as a 6-foot-4 balding Anglo man, but you know what? I see a lot of seniors from the nearby mobile home parks there, too. Also, most announcements are in Spanish, and you will learn the Hispanic Top 40 music selections.

But for 50 percent off plus, I will adapt!

A warning — the prices for other grocery products are notoriously high at Hispanic markets. So I draw up a list of the produce deals, or any other items that may be loss leaders, and do my wham-bam shopping. Literally, I am in and out in 15 minutes or less! Most times, I don’t even get a cart, and just load items in my reuseable grocery totes.

Do a test run this week and see how much you can save. If it’s good enough for my Vons produce guy, the savings is good enough for me!