Loving Less Expensive (and Junky) Food

Be aware that your palate can work against your budget!
For example, I loved and craved chocolate, salt, etc. and that can get expensive. I can now satisfy my chocolate craving with just 2 or 3 frozen semi-sweet baking chips. It is a struggle in the beginning for sure, but with in days... you begin to crave less and ENJOY the few.
The same thing can be said for buying pre-packaged quick fix grocery items. Sure they are fast and easy... but nowadays... who can pay the prices? I am now finding ways to spend time with my kids and spend less at the market. We are making coffee cake, muffins, bread, etc. We aren't learning about the environment we live in and how to keep what we know today.

You might be able to use this strategy of adapting the pallet to a more frugal one to your advantage. Pick some food that you spend too much for and see if you can substitute a more frugal one in your diet. It is important to be consistent here but not extreme. Don't serve home made stir fry (yum) for two days and then go out to restaurant chinese food on the third day. Instead, cut out the restaurant food and work on improving your recipes.

Consider eliminating something from your household that is expensive and unhealthy. Substitute home made lemonade for soda, bags of popcorn you can pop yourself for chips, homemade pizza for frozen, casseroles for take out food.
There may be a bit of resistance at first, but with time, you can change your palate to reflect a more frugal lifestyle.

We won't be changing things in 24 hours or even in a month... but little by little... we are working on our part of the world. :)

My 13 year old son mentioned to me today, "hey mom, its kinda like the oil companies are having to think about better living too... they are making the prices so high, that noone is buying their product. They are going to have to learn that they need to make a better product to bring down the price." I am not sure if he totally gets it, but he is getting there!