CLEVELAND -- How would you like to get $70 worth of groceries for $1.58? It can be done, and NewsChannel5 enlisted the help of author Faye Prosser to show us how.

“Sourcing and buying locally, couponing, and meal planning,” said Prosser as she walked around Dave’s Supermarket in Cleveland. But deal by deal, and coupon by coupon, the savings added up.

Prosser said her plan to be a smart spender started 10 years ago when she had her first child.

“We realized really quickly that those little 8-pound angels cost a lot of money,” Faye announced in the bakery aisle. “So we started looking at how we could cut our budget. And groceries (were) really the big thing we could cut.”

Faye said it all starts with cutting coupons.

“I have my coupons organized in a three ring binder,” said the mother of two.

She lets her daughter do the cutting and then neatly organizes her coupons by product in baseball card holders. But all her coupons aren’t clipped from the Sunday paper. Prosser prints coupons off the Internet and even gets them mailed to her from the manufacturer.

“I highly recommend contacting the manufacturer,” said Prosser. “Let them know you love their product, that you really need to stay within your budget. And ask if they can send you a coupon. You’d be amazed at how many companies will do that.”

The next step is matching the coupons with the weekly specials at your favorite grocer. Today, Dave’s Supermarket is running a special on Wishbone salad dressing. You could buy two bottles for $5. Prosser then pulled out her coupon file and a coupon for 75 cents off one bottle of dressing.

“This coupon will be doubled to a $1.50,” says Prosser. “So now this product that was originally $2.99 will end up being a dollar.”

Prosser said when you find a deal like that, stock up. Salad dressings, pasta, and canned goods can be stored for a long time. She says even dairy items like milk can be frozen.

Prosser says don’t look at it as shopping for a week; look at it as shopping for six to eight weeks.

“Coupling the coupon with the sales, that’s an excellent way to cut grocery bills significantly," she said.

Another shopping tip involves looking for locally grown produce.

“Because there’s less shipping cost incurred from the store,” said Prosser. “They can offer the product without the cost.”

NewsChannel5 found locally grown plums for 99 cents a pound. That’s 60 cents less than the name brand plums.

Then, once a week, Prosser makes a weekly meal plan. And she tries to plan each meal for just $5.

“You’d be really surprised at how much food you can provide at $5 a meal,” she said.

Prosser said the key is using the products you already have in your cabinet, the ones you’ve already stocked up on.

“So I’m going to do a meal plan with what I already have,” said Prosser.

Prosser said she then makes a shopping list of what else she needs to buy,

“I’m going to look for items on sale to make it complete,” she said.

Prosser then pulled out her receipt from her trip to the grocery store the day before and said, “So my sub-total was $54 and I paid just $4.54.”

And then she pulled out another receipt where she paid just $1.58 for $70 worth of groceries. Call it written proof that filling the fridge doesn’t have to cost you the kitchen sink: “It’s your money, so spend it wisely.”

Faye Prosser is the author of The Smart Spending Guide. She also has a Web site with tips on how and where to get online coupons. www.SmartSpendingResources.com.