To this day, I can still remember my first big grocery bill after we got married. It was about $200 and I cried on the way home. I didn’t get anything fancy, just the basics. We were poor newlywed students and food expenses were a necessary evil that I couldn’t get around.

Shopping for groceries was my responsibility in the marriage, and I was determined to live within our meager budget. I dove into the challenge and years later found myself teaching community classes on “coupons” (“yes,” I had to tell my sisters, “coupons is a word”).

I no longer spend hours searching, printing, cutting, and organizing coupons, but there are some invaluable shopping principles I learned from those studies that I’ll never change. My favorite is to buy more to save more.

The simple idea behind the strategy is to buy more of something when it’s on sale so you don’t have to pay full price later when you need it. Applying this principle will look different in everyone’s home. Please take time to consider the following questions in order to maximize your savings.

* How much space do you have for food storage?

This may seem like an obvious question, but it has put me in jeopardy more than once when it comes to frozen foods. I’ve gotten a lot more organized (and creative!) with my freezer space out of necessity. While this is obviously not the answer for everyone, we did invest in a deep freezer as a result of one of the best sales I’ve ever seen on cheese and meat. I convinced my husband that after a few upsells like that, we would pay for the freezer with whatever amount of money we saved.

*How much of this item will we use?

No matter how good the sale is, it’s never a good deal if the food goes to waste. Make sure you don’t buy more than you can use. Consider the expiration date and your schedule and meal rotations. I always try to make meals where most of my ingredients are things I already have in stock so nothing is wasted or forgotten, but that’s a whole different principle.

* How good is the sale?

This is something that will improve over time. The worst feeling is when you stock up on a favorite item because it’s on a great sale, only to find out the next week that the same item is selling for a significantly better price at a neighboring store. You will become familiar with prices in your area and begin to know what is a good price for different items. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people! I have talked to my butcher at my grocery store several times about pricing. I don’t know of a grocery store where they pay their employees commissions on sales to tell you honestly if you should expect a better sale or when to expect an upcoming discount. Be nice and friendly to the employees, they have a wealth of knowledge!

* How often is it on sale?

This question is one of my favorites because it is a game changer. Sales are in rotation. Not only can you expect certain items to be discounted at certain times, but you can also plan your food storage around them! For example, my grocery store has meat sales on a two-week rotation. This means that I only need to buy enough chicken to last my family for two weeks before I know it will be on sale again. It also gives me a reason to never have to buy chicken at full price in between those sale prices because I can just get it out of my freezer.

Another sales rotation that is extremely useful to know and watch for is seasonal sales. For example, barbecue sauce is usually dialed in at its lowest point around the 4th of July and nutrition and health bars are normally at their lowest point in January for everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. Often these items don’t expire for more than a year, so if you have room, buy enough to last your family that long.

Once your stock reaches a successful rotation, you’ll find that you’re shopping in a completely different way. It’s not uncommon for you to come home from the store with 25 boxes of cereal, 10 bags of cheese, and then just a handful of other basic items like bread, milk, and bananas. I don’t need to buy all the ingredients on my list for that week’s meals because I already stocked them when they were on sale. As a result, I am able to make the same tasty meals at a much lower price for my family. Buying more to save money is all about timing your biggest purchases with your sale prices, and ironically, you’ll soon discover that buying more can help you spend less.