The following is a guest post from my friend Meagan over at Frugal Fun and Fortune.  I get so many questions from readers on how to save money on basics and items that don’t often have corresponding coupons.  I was thrilled when Meagan agreed to give me her tips on saving money buying produce.  Be sure to visit Meagan HERE for more great deals and tips!
Often times, when people find out I am a Vegetarian, the first thing out of their mouths is, “OH!  So that is how you save so much money on your grocery bill!  No wonder you can keep your weekly budget so low – you don’t buy any meat!” 
If you have been following Michelle’s site and couponing for any length of time, you probably know that you can get awesome deals on just about anything.  Even meat drops down to rock bottom prices.  You simply stock up, freeze it, and you have meals to last you for a while!  We all know you can get sides to go with the meat for practically free every week at Publix:  Frozen vegetables, rice, couscous, bread, mashed potatoes, salad mix, etc. 
 What’s the number one item that is very difficult to get a super deal on?  I would say FRESH PRODUCE.  What are the main ingredients in all of my meals as a Vegetarian?  You guessed it – produce!  Almost every meal I make requires 5 to 6 different kinds of vegetables just to make the main dish.  Therefore, I find that since going Vegetarian, it is actually much more difficult to stay within our weekly grocery budget.  Meat was easy, but produce…it’s pretty tough!
 Michelle asked me if I would be willing to share a few pointers for saving on produce.  I have discovered quite a few on my new journey as a Vegetarian, so I said, “Sure!”
 These are some of the best ways I have learned to save on produce:

 1.  Shop at Publix!  Everybody complains about their produce prices being so high, but honestly, it’s so worth it.  First of all, the produce is very high quality.  Second of all, the amount you save on other products usually compensates for the extra expense on the produce.  When I shop for all of the freebie deals and the produce together in one trip, I usually end up getting a discount on my produce, making it way cheaper than it would be at Walmart!  It’s simply because of their coupon policy.  When you get most of the items on your bill for free, use produce competitor coupons, and competitor coupons for $$ off your entire purchase, you’ll find that you walk out of the grocery store paying next to nothing for your produce.

 2.  This brings me to my next point – Use competitor coupons!  Target, Food Lion, Harvey’s, Albertson’s, Kroger, Winn Dixie, and other stores often have coupons for produce!  It might be specific like $1 off of a pound of apples.  Or it might be a general coupon for $2 off of a $5 produce purchase.  These drastically help reduce the price of your produce bill, and you can use them all at the same store (as long as your Publix store accepts them as a competitor – be sure to check with your manager first!)

 3.  Keep your eyes PEELED for produce manufacturer coupons of all kinds.  They’re pretty rare, but they are out there.  Just recently, there was a $.50/1 Driscoll’s berries coupon on the internet.  You can also look for tearpads, peelies, and winetags.  These kinds of coupons usually involve you buying a specific product and getting an additional amount off of your produce.  These are great when you can combine them with store deals and coupons to get the items for practically free!  A while back, there was a tearpad for saving $2 on produce when you bought Tostitos chips.  I took advantage of that deal many times!  I usually got the bags for less than $1, plus $2 worth of free produce!

 4.  Menu Plan, Menu Plan, Menu Plan!  I can not stress this enough!  Menu planning can save you hundreds of dollars.  The principle is simple: You only buy what you need for that week.  You know what you need, you go shopping with a list in hand, and you stick to it.  Often times, people overbuy on produce.  When I go to the store, I check my recipes, and I jot down the exact amount of every type of produce I need.  I also weigh every single item I pick up and input it into my calculator, so that I know I’m sticking to my weekly budget.  To me, produce is more important than other processed foods.  If my produce is a bit more than I expected, I put something else back that I don’t really need that week.

 5.  Another idea that goes hand in hand with menu planning is not letting produce go to waste.  There is nothing worse than going to the store, picking out a variety of beautiful fresh fruit, only to let it go bad one week later.  Get an idea of how much fruit and/or veggies your family eats realistically every week.  Don’t overbuy, don’t let it go to waste, and shop once a week!  Shopping once a week is a key factor, as that is how long most produce lasts.  Shopping every two weeks can sometimes lead to a lot of food being wasted. 

 6.  Shop the produce sales.  Plan your menu around the sales.  Before I plan my menu each week, I look at what produce is on sale.  I then plan my meals around the rock-bottom produce prices.  For example, potatoes are only $1.99 this week for a 5 lb bag, so I picked some of those up.  I will make quite a few meals with potatoes over the next week!  Celery was $.99 last week.  Add some cream cheese or peanut butter that you got for free with coupons recently, and you’ve got a cheap and healthy afternoon snack!  One of my favorite tools is the “Ingredients Tool” on AllRecipes.com!  You can type in what ingredients you do and do not want to use in a meal, and it will bring up a list of hundreds of recipes to choose from.  Type in some of the items you see on sale, and tada! – you’ve got a budget-friendly meal made up of the cheapest items at the store that week.

 7.  Look out for store specials.  Sometimes, local stores will put produce on sale.  Often times, I go to my Publix and see “in-store special” signs on produce.  A lot of times, it is on fruits.  These are great deals!

 8.  Shop the seasons.  Certain produce items are in season at different times of the year.  Just like flowers, they will be cheapest during their in-seasons.  Go HERE for a pretty good list of produce items by season.

 9.  Does your store allow overage?  If so, you’re in more luck than you could ever imagine!  This is one of the main ways I save on produce.  I gather together a few Dollar Deals that give me overage, and I’ve got sometimes anywhere up to $10 additional savings off of the remainder of my grocery bill (although at the moment, there are not any dollar deals that give you overage).  For me, it always comes off of the produce, since most of my other items are practically free!  Be very careful though.  Not all stores allow this, and you always want to check with your manager first!  We always want to be ethical couponers!  Some of my favorite overage products in the past couple of months have been the Phazyme ($4 overage) and the Knox Gelatin (almost $4 overage).  With this overage, plus a competitor coupon (maybe a $5 off of $30 CVS coupon – if your store considers CVS a competitor), you’re talking $15 off of your produce bill!  WOW!  Wondering what to do with all the extra products you buy simply to get overage?  Easy – just donate them.

 10.  Look for packaged produce sales.  Publix often puts produce BOGO, when it is packaged.  For example: baby carrots, Fresh Express lettuce, Smart Start raw veggies, etc.  You can save quite a bit of money by taking advantage of these packaged BOGO deals.  I personally prefer fresh produce over packaged produce, but it sure saves some money!

 11.  Of course there are many other ways to save on produce: shopping stores that markdown their produce at night before closing, shopping farmer’s markets, making substitutions, shopping for certain produce at less expensive stores (such as Walmart), starting your own garden, getting produce from neighbors who have fruit trees, etc.  I tried to focus on how to save on produce at Publix, considering this is the I Heart Publix site, and we all love shopping at Publix!  =)

 As you can see, there are quite a few saving options when buying produce.  I hope that some of these ideas can help you save on your produce-shopping adventures!  And Michelle – Thank you for inviting me to do this guest post on your fabulous site!