94 94 EATINGWEATINGWELL ELL JULY/AUGUST 2019JULY/AUGUST 2019
Lauren Puryear
Extreme Couponer and Founder of For the Love of Others
Helping the
Hungry, One
Coupon at a Time
A year before her 30th birthday, Lauren Puryear
promised herself she would do something spe-
cial to celebrate the big day. Not the kind of
“special” that most people think of when plan-
ning for a milestone like this—a blowout dinner
party or a trip to somewhere far-flung with
friends. Instead, she decided to fi nd a way to
feed 300 food-insecure people a healthy, sat-
isfying meal. “I wanted to do something that
made a difference,” she says. “It’s our human
duty to help those who cannot help themselves.”
There was just one problem. It took her only
a few days to fulfi ll that pledge. So she made a
more ambitious one: to up the number to 30,000.
By the time her birthday arrived, on September
14, 2017, she had fed twice that many people.
Puryear succeeded by mastering the art of
extreme couponing—a skill she’d been honing
for years. She collects newspaper inserts, sleuths
coupons online and strategically shops sales
so that the price of food is drastically reduced
or even free. Once she’s fi gured out where the
deals are, she stocks up on 1,000 jars of spaghetti
sauce or 200 cans of corn. If the stars align—say,
a brand of soup is on sale for 75¢ and she has a
50¢-off coupon that can be doubled—the stores
actually owe her money, which she uses to buy
items not on sale, like fresh fruits and vegetables.
Then she delivers the groceries to drop-off areas
near her home in suburban Virginia. “I don’t think
I’m the most organized person, I’m just very am-
bitious,” says Puryear. “I asked myself, how can I
feed people without a lot of money? There are
ways, all legal, to make that happen.”
Clipping, collecting, storing: the very idea
would feel overwhelming to many. But the sin-
gle mother, who also has a full-time job as a
mental health clinician, fi nds the work energiz-
ing. She stashes the food she buys “anywhere
and everywhere” in her basement: there are
two pantries for nonperishable items, plus a
chest freezer and two extra refrigerators.
Feeding people is a calling for Puryear. “God
told me to do this,” she says. “This is the vision
he gave me.” In 2018, she topped the 100,000-
meal mark. In addition to her charity, For the Love
of Others, this spring she opened her own food
pantry and expanded her program that provides
meals to food-insecure kids in local schools. She
also began to travel the country, educating others
about the impact couponing can make. Last year,
she went to 12 states. Only 38 more to meet the
goal of visiting all 50 before her 35th birthday.
JANE BLACK is a Washington, D.C.-based writer
who covers food politics and sustainability.
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