Their name is Economides, and to their delight they have been labelled the "cheapest family in America".
Steve Economides, 46, and his wife Annette, 43, are the new darlings of the television chatshow circuit. The couple from Arizona, whose income is about $33,000 (£16,700) a year, have five children but spend just $350 (£200) a month on food.
They do not use credit cards and have almost paid off their $140,000 mortgage on a five-bedroom house that they bought for $220,000 seven years ago but which is now worth $500,000.
At the supermarket, the couple and their children - who range in age from 10 to 21 - prowl the aisles armed with walkie-talkies so that they can compare bargains and hunt down what Mrs Economides calls "the buy price".
If carrots are down from their usual price, as logged in the family's "price book" - buy! If the store has discounted dented cans of tuna fish - buy!
Their monthly food budget for seven mouths compares favourably - if not from a gourmet's point of view - with the Department of Agriculture's official estimate that on average it costs $709 a month to feed an American family of four. Revelling in their Scrooge-like status, the Economides dispense tips on frugal living on a website, www.homeeconomiser.com, and in homeeconomiser, their monthly newsletter - but you have to pay for the service via a subscription.
Their advice is to shop only once a month, to buy and freeze so much cheap Christmas turkey that you're still eating it in August, and to turn bargain-hunting into an occupation.
"This is the strategy. Spot the bargains!" says Mrs Economides, whose row of chest freezers runs the length of her four-car garage in Scottsdale. "Did you know that people buy more ham at Christmas time than at any other, so it is cheapest then?"
Mr Economides is a graphic designer and his wife looks after their children, convinced that she can save more at home than she would earn if she went to work.
A spontaneous purchase, in the Economides' world, is death to the bank account. Planning the monthly shopping trip is an exhaustive process. The family watches the ebb and flow of prices like commodity brokers, pouncing when the price is right. Mrs Economides plans menus for every meal a month in advance, writing them down in a ledger.
And then there are the coupons. The whole family clips and cuts, compares and saves. They wait for the "double coupon" moment when, for instance, they can cash a coupon for two cans of tomatoes rather than one, and then go for the "special" to claim a third can free. "Three cans for $1.39!" crows Mrs Economides, the excitement rising.
Judging by tips sent to the website by fellow scrimpers ("Here's a great way to get a tasty meal for just a few bucks - try out your local hospital cafeteria," writes Syl Meola, also from Scottsdale), Americans cannot get enough of the Economides' economics.
Interest rates and inflation are rising after a 10-year consumer debt spree, and personal bankruptcies went up eight per cent last year to a record 1.66 million. Consumers are tightening their belts, and the Economides are telling them how.
"If you don't budget, you just go from one financial emergency, like the car insurance bill, to the next - the back-to-school kit," says Mr Economides.
"Anticipate, prepare. Be thrifty. Stretch what you have. And never, ever, go into debt. That way, you just spend everything paying the debt and your whole life becomes an emergency."
Their thriftiness began early. He didn't earn much, and she wanted babies. At "marriage class" in their local church, they learnt to manage their finances with an old-fashioned envelope system: dividing the pay cheque into separate envelopes for rent, food, petrol, clothes and so on. They never spent more than 80 per cent of the total in the envelopes. Now, the family runs 19 "accounts", the equivalent of those envelopes.
The family buys cars that are four years old - trust Mr Economides; he has done the research into the perfect balance between a car's remaining life expectancy and its price depreciation - and then runs them into the ground.
At Christmas, Mrs Economides bakes pumpkin bread and spice nuts as presents, and decorates paper lunch bags for wrapping.
"It's a way of life," Mr Economides says. "In this society we are told to consume, that the consumer lifestyle is freedom. You are free to get it now - just use the credit card. And then be chained by debt.
"We have found freedom from the consumer society and from debt. And doing it our way, we have everything we want."