I’ve never been much of a coupon clipper. If somebody pulled them out in front of me in the check-out line, I immediately judged them to be a penny pincher. It seemed so…extreme. How much could they really be saving after all? But, more importantly, they were wasting my time by holding-up the line. Where was my cut?

Well, I’m still not a coupon clipper, but now I’m the one holding up the grocery line. I’ve morphed into a produce bargain hunter. I found out — way too late in life — that you really can save a ton of money — easily 100% or more — by ad matching. No coupons required! For example, it’s not uncommon to find apples listed for $.25 a pound, sometimes less, in discount produce ads. The regular Super Walmart price: $1.25 per pound. That’s a 400% savings!

The problem with coupons is that they are usually for processed food products. If you’re trying to eat a healthful, whole-foods diet that makes them pretty much worthless. As for the poor saps in line behind me, I politely let them know in advance that I’m ad matching so they can find another line if they so choose. At least they can’t say I didn’t warn them. Honestly, though, it really doesn’t take all that long. The first few times are the worst, and an uncooperative cashier can really tack-on the minutes, but it becomes second nature in no time at all.

The first piece of the produce ad matching puzzle is Super Walmart. They have a very liberal ad match policy that allows you to use any local ad. The “Super” part is important. Regular Walmarts don’t have a produce section. If you don’t live near a Super Walmart or prefer a smaller store feel, Walmart Neighborhood Markets honor the same ad match policy since they’re also part of the Walmart corporation.

The second piece of the puzzle is finding a few discount markets that publish print or online ads in the same locale. Usually there are one or two discount food markets in every city that have drastically reduced produce prices. Some examples of these stores are Food City, Pro’s Ranch Markets and Rancho Markets. If you’re lucky, ads like these will just show up in your mailbox. Otherwise, you may have to do a little bit of initial research. Oddly enough, the Neighborhood Walmart Market ad prices aren’t all that bad either. Super Walmart will also honor these.

Here are a couple of tips and tricks that will help you become an efficient and masterful produce ad matcher. First, don’t waste your time scowering mainstream grocery store ads like Safeway or Albertson’s — at least for produce. It simply isn’t worth the time because their produce prices are usually higher than Super Walmart’s regular produce prices.

Second, you don’t actually have to bring the ads to the store with you. I usually just jot down the items, prices and ad on a piece of paper. It doesn’t hurt to bring them on the first trip just in case, but the Walmart cashier should already have all of the ads. You can even use a smart phone to reference them online if you haven’t had time to prepare a shopping list.

Third, it pays to be polite! Sometimes, when I’ve been extra nice, the cashier offered me a better ad match price from an ad I wasn’t even aware of.

Lastly, you don’t have to buy the number of items listed in the ad. For example, if cucumbers are 6 for $1, you don’t have to buy 6. Walmart isn’t Sam’s Club. You don’t have to buy in bulk. Remember, you don’t save anything on food you don’t actually consume. Even though the cashier should be able to figure the price out for you using the cash register, my experience is that many can’t. It’s best to figure out for-each pricing in advance. For example, if cucumbers are 6 for $1, just divide $1 by 6 to figure out the price of a single cucumber. In this case, it’s $.17 (assuming you round up).

The only potential gotchas I’ve run into are discrepancies in pricing models. Sometimes Walmart prices are per item (each or ea.) instead of per pound and they don’t do conversions. In the event you can’t find what you’re looking for at Walmart, the safest bet is to go to a farmer’s market or health food store like Sprouts or Sunflower Farmer’s Market. Their regular pricing, especially on greens, isn’t half bad.

With current inflationary pressures, such as the increasing price of gasoline, it never hurts to find a cost-effective way to save money. If you save $100 on your grocery bill and spend an extra half an hour doing it, it makes economic sense (unless you already make more than $200 an hour, in which case I’d like to switch jobs with you).

The bottom line is that, for most of us, it pays to save. In addition to holding on to your hard-earned dollars, you can also improve your health by making the important transition from a mostly processed to a mostly whole foods diet.