Food shopping was different for me today. That’s because I approached it with a few new ideas in mind.

For starters I read in Sunday’s Parade Magazine about clever ways to save money. Most of the stuff in that article was old news to me. But one of the suggestions was, as magazine editors like to say, fresh and surprising.

The article’s author suggested bringing a calculator with you when you go shopping. However, rather than add up your purchases as you go along, start with the number you want to spend and subtract your purchases from there. When you hit zero, you’re done.

So I did that. I went to the store, knowing that I didn’t want to spend more than $150. I kept the calculator out, and an amazing thing happened as I wheeled my cart up and down the aisles: I didn’t reach for things automatically, because I didn’t want to have to “minus out” from that $150 spot. Clearly, I needed to buy something, otherwise why had I gone food shopping? And I did end up getting items. But by the time I was done shopping and was at the checkout line, the calculator read “97.39,” meaning I’d spent only $52.61 on my trip through the store. True, I didn’t buy any meats and very few processed foods, but those weren’t on my list to begin with.

Here was another difference with today’s supermarket jaunt: I decided not to bring all of my coupons with me. Quel horror! Sacrilege, you say! No, here’s what I was thinking.

I knew that if I had coupons with me, I might end up buying stuff that I didn’t really need but wanted to get because the price seemed OK and, hey, I had a coupon. (Isn’t that what the coupon folks are hoping we’d think?) The one coupon I did bring was for dishwasher detergent. We were out, so buying it was a must.

Speaking of dishwashing, I’ve become a huge fan of these gel-packs and dissolving blocks of dishwasher detergent that you can use instead of pouring powder or squirting liquid into the dishwasher detergent compartment. Sure, buying these pre-packaged “servings” of dishwasher soap tends to be more expensive upfront, but I think you’ll find savings down the road. Here’s why.

Whenever I used regular dishwasher detergent, I always end up overfilling the little cup anyway. By how much do I overfill it? I’m not exactly sure, but if it happens with each wash–which inevitably it does–then I’m wasting detergent. And by wasting detergent, I don’t get as many washings from a box or bottle, and I have to replace it sooner.

With a product like the Electrasol Finish Quantum blocks (which I love love love and have been buying regularly), I just plop the block in the soap cup, close it and press “start” on the dishwasher. There is no mess, no overflow and no wasting. In fact, there’s even less waste when you finish the package: with the Quantum product, it comes in a package that is easily recyclable–a plastic insert and a thin cardboard box.

Here’s another product I’ve become fond of, from a value and less-waste point of view: those prepackaged containers of deli meats in reusable storage containers. My daughters have been asking for the over-roasted turkey from Hillshire Farm Deli Select to make turkey sandwiches for lunch–and sometimes dinner–and I have no problem honoring that request. I find the price to be comparable to the deli–about $5 a pound–and I get a free Gladware storage container in the deal. Again, from a waste perspective, the only thing that ends up in the trash is the little plastic baggie the turkey came in.

Have you come up with other tricks lately to save at the supermarket? Let me know.