Buy produce from that store where nothing costs more than a dollar? I flinched at the thought. I probably came across as a snob when I asked my friend if it's safe to do so. I mean, where would food that cheap come from? But she pushed, so I agreed to tag along, but only as a spectator.

Oh, the bargains I found there. I picked up beautiful, top-quality produce items: lettuce, scallions, a seriously large bag of ginger root, 5 pounds of russet potatoes and six heads of gourmet garlic. Five items, just 99 cents each, for a total of $4.94. The same items would have cost $11.88 at the supermarket. My skepticism evaporated quickly. I became a dollar-store convert and regular shopper.

My methods of cutting the cost of produce is a drop in the bucket compared to those people I consider extreme grocery shoppers. Just keep this in mind: Not every method works for every person. Discover what works for you, and then hone that method as sharp as a razor's edge. Soon, you'll be bagging bargains and bringing your food costs down immensely. Here are some methods of extreme grocery shoppers.

ONLY BUYING ON SALE. Every supermarket has weekly sales. Some extreme shoppers do just this one thing: They shop at one large supermarket, buying only what's on sale and stocking up on extras of the sale items they use frequently. No coupons, no fancy lists. These shoppers let the sale rotations to dictate their purchases. Using this method, they often rack up consistent savings of 50 percent or more.

SHOP AT MULTIPLE VENUES. One multiple-venue shopper I know is a stay-at-home mom who shops for six hungry people in Torrance, California. She goes to four stores — a local produce market, Target (for nonperishable items), a supermarket (to pick up the week's deeply discounted specials) and Trader Joe's — an assortment of chain stores that cannot be beat on their everyday low prices for healthy basics.

STRATEGIC COOKING. Extreme grocery shoppers cook at home most of the time. If you don't know how to cook, it's time to learn. With this method, you'll buy fewer frozen meals and other pre-prepped meals. Eating food you prepare at home is infinitely cheaper than eating out. Plus, if you make eating out a rare event, you will enjoy it more.

DIRT-CHEAP MANEUVERS. Get serious about growing a vegetable garden or herb garden. If you don't have room for a garden, a kitchen window, patio, balcony or basement window may provide enough space and light for an indoor potted garden. Chives, basil, garlic and parsley are so expensive when you buy them fresh in the produce department, but they're a cinch to grow. Once you're accomplished as a beginner gardener, you'll move on quickly to growing tomatoes, squash, lettuce and all kinds of healthy produce!

EXREME COUPONING. Many extreme shoppers are serious couponers. They get the best bang for their buck by matching a cents-off coupon with items on sale. Do this at a store that doubles the coupon (42 states allow this), and we're talking about an extreme bargain. One person I know has a monthly method for couponing: She takes the coupon inserts out of the Sunday paper and holds on to them for four weeks. After a month has passed, she takes them out and invariably notices that many coupon items are now on sale at the store. She matches her coupons with the sales. It's simple; there's no coupon clipping, filing or fuss. It's almost uncanny how sales follow coupon releases by four weeks.

CASH ONLY. Only take cash to the grocery store — no plastic, no checkbook — so you don't have to juggle balancing your checkbook. There's something to be said for grocery shopping with cash. If you don't have the cash, you can't buy the item. And when you're faced a week of slim finances, train yourself to adopt a "Survivor" mentality. What you have in the house is all you have to live on until you get off the island.

Mary invites questions, comments and tips at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or c/o Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website and the author of "Debt-Proof Living," released in 2014. To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.