This evening I did what I call “wham bam” grocery shopping. That’s when I run in one store, snag the sales and walk out with great deals. Tonight $23 in products at Vons turned into a final price of $2 — 91 percent off! Across the street at Ralphs, $37 in merchandise ended up being $7 — 81 percent off!

Here is the secret: You are not there to shop, you are there to buy. That means you don’t wander the aisles, you hit every deal and leave. That’s how I could turn $60 in merchandise into a total of $9.

Believe it or not, I also hit a third market — our local Hispanic store, Vallarta, which has great produce prices. This week I got 5.50 pounds of oranges for 92 cents! I had five items to buy and I was out in less than 10 minutes.

With drive time, I was done in less than 75 minutes. I think that’s reasonable for a weekly shop.

Now, some tips:

Yes, coupon shopping does take a small amount of time. I would say it takes about an hour to 90 minutes a week. But I just got $70+ in groceries for $12.50 tonight, and you can do it, too!