Fighting the High Cost of Food (Part 3)

As promised, I am finalizing my progress on how we would cut the grocery budget for the month of June.  I needed to do more than dabble in freezer cooking and cut coupons.  But I just didn't see a way to cut much more, especially with the kids at home for summer.  I predicted endless requests for food.  This movie clip kept popping in my head as I watched my family plow (yes, plow) through dinner one night.

Fortunately, we did not have to resort to such drastic measures.  Instead, we came up with a little motivation to take the focus off of food.  Here's what we did:       

• Give it a purpose  We have a big goal we want to save for.  We came up with a specific amount to save for the month, and talked about it with the kids.  No more did I say, "We spend too much on food."  It was, "We're saving for ____________."  Or "remember ____."  The kids were on board because it benefits all of us.
• Compromise  My children have been on me to quit drinking Diet Coke.  "Cokes are bad for you!" my six year old cries.  Diet Cokes have been a way for me to treat myself, to make up for all the other things I've given up, like, oh, I don't know - sleep.  So I compromised with the kids.  I would give up my drinks if they wouldn't complain about eating PB&J.  They resounded with "Yes!"  They didn't know what they were asking for, but I did it anyway.  I stopped buying Diet Coke, and made the switch to tea.  That way, I still get my caffeine fix.  But if you offer me a Diet Coke, I sure won't turn you down.  (Bless you, Sonya!)    
• Sacrifice  I love to eat out, but for a family of six, it can be a budget buster.  I dread the cleanup, because dishwashing in our home is labor intensive.  While everyone moves on to other activities, I usually spend another hour in the kitchen.  Since we decided to eat at home more, the two older children are now in charge of dishes.  I don't mind the cooking so much now either, especially when I do the math on what we saved.    
• Versatility  We've been fortunate that several grocery stores put their eggs on sale for $0.99 or less several times this month.  At the end of last week, I counted five dozen in the fridge (which will be gone by the end of this week).  My teenage son will fix three scrambled eggs for a "snack."  We have eggs for breakfast, fried egg sandwiches for lunch, omelets for dinner, and I use them in mixing up double batches of pancakes or waffles.  A bag of potatoes is a real stretcher too.  We've had baked potatoes, oven fries, and potato egg burritos.    
• Patience  After another breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes, my husband looked at me with all seriousness and asked, "Did they stop selling bacon at the store?"  I assured him I would watch for a good deal.  When we run out of something, I evaluate if we really need it or if we can hold off on replacing it. We also have had a nice bounty from the garden that we started back in February.  The hard work is paying off.  The kids love tomatoes, and we had our first watermelon over the weekend.                       

All in all, it was a successful month.  We cut almost $200 off from our May food spending, and we event went out to eat a couple of times as a family.  We saved a nice amount of cash toward our goal, and I even managed to drop a couple of pounds.

Will this happen every month?  I don't think so, but it was a nice break to give me some optimism for the future.  And by the time my younger two become teenagers, the two older ones will be out of the house.  I hope.