Eat in Month Challenge – January 2010

Hubby and I have been spending too much money eating out! In an effort to save money and eat more healthfully, we are vowing to eat in for the entire month of January.

We use “eating out” like a crutch when we’re tired after work or don’t have anything at home to cook and don’t feel like going to the grocery store. Well, for the month of January – no more excuses! We’re eating in…every. single. meal.

The Eat in Month Challenge Concept

Eat every single meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, snacks…whatever!) “in” to save money and eat better. (Hey, this may even fall in line with the New Years Resolutions some of you have made!)

How to Play

• Cook or prepare all meals at home
• If you’re away from home for a meal, plan ahead and bring something from home with you (i.e. to work) to eat
• If you got it at a grocery store, it probably counts, unless you bought it at the grocery store cafe. The only exceptions to the cafe rule include: 1. if you create a side salad to accompany a meal you’ll be making at home or 2. prepared meats, i.e. rotisserie chicken.
• *Updated to add* grocery-store-prepared dishes are ok if they accompany a meal put together at home. We all have busy lives and taking help from the grocery store shouldn’t be a crime. Example of acceptable use of grocery-store-prepped item: you want to eat sandwiches this week but don’t have anything to go with them. You pick up some bean salad at the grocery store deli to go with your lunch. Another example: you want to make chicken salad sandwiches, but you don’t have or want to buy all the ingredients. You buy grocery-store-prepped chicken salad, take it home, make sandwiches and enjoy lunch. NOTE: Personally, I feel that buying pre-pared side dishes, etc at the grocery store (esp at Whole Foods/Earthfare/etc) are sometimes healthier and more cost-effective than buying all the ingredients to make yourself. Why not use the help once in awhile?
• Frozen meals count (meals from scratch are better but frozen meals are still cheaper than eating out (more affordable meals and you don’t have to pay tip) and can be actually cooked at home/work/etc.)
• Challenge starts January 1, 2010 and ends January 31, 2010
• Play for a month if you can, or feel free to join for a week or two, or a day…whatever you can do.
• Those playing for a month will get ONE cheat pass – one meal (not a day) you can eat out during the month of January.
• Have a blog? If you’d like, post photos and/or descriptions of your meals. If you have a food blog, you very well may be doing so already! Remember, this is totally optional. I’ll probably post all mine, but that’s because I’m the host of the challenge!

Tips

• Get your pantry ready – A lot of times, I have good intentions to eat meals at home, but after a long day of work, if I don’t have any easy meals to whip up, I’m more likely to pick up the phone and order takeout. Having easy meals that come together quickly makes me more likely to put “pantry-meals” together instead of calling someone.
• Click here to read my Eat in Month Pantry Tips + Ideas post
• Have snacks ready – If I’m hungry at work, especially when there are lots of quick options around, it’s easy for me to take a 15 minute walk to pick up a snack. By keeping snacks in my desk and in the office fridge, I can just nosh on those instead of seeking snacks elsewhere.
• Plan ahead – Prep your pantry, create a meal plan for the week. If you have a meal schedule ready, you’ll be more likely to stick to what you already planned ahead to prep/cook/eat. You’ll probably also utilize those leftovers more efficiently, too!
• Keep it Simple – It’s nice to try to cook fancy-schmancy meals every night, but if you’re as busy as me, you just can’t do it every day. Allow yourself to put together simple meals, even if it’s heating up a frozen dinner. We know you may have better intentions, but just do the best you can while still being reasonable. Sometimes the simplest meals (spaghetti anyone?) are the best!

The Badge

You guys know I love my challenge badges! I’ve created one you can put on your blog for this challenge:

You can get the code here:

<br /> <a href=”http://thechiclife.com/2009/12/eat-in-month-challenge—january-2010.html” target=”_blank”><br /> <img src=”http://thechiclife.com/wp-content/themes/tcl/images/eatinmonthtcl170.gif” border=”0″ /></a><br />

The Players

Are you playing along in the Eat in Month Challenge? If so, leave me a comment, whether you’re playing for the whole month, a couple weeks, a single week, a couple days, etc. and your URL if you have a blog.

• Me I’m playing for a WHOLE month!
• Anna of This Was Supposed to Be My Symphony
• April of The Artchics – month
• Emma of Becoming Emma – month
• Erica of Itzy’s Kitchen – month
• Heather of Then Heather Said – month
• Jaime of Not Just an Ordinary Girl – month
• JennA – month
• Junghwa of An Apple a Day – month
• Kansasamy of A Quest for a Balanced Life – month
• Kat – month
• Kristen of Eating RD – month
• Lindsay of {the glamorous life of a} Designer Wife – month
• Lys of Cooking in Stilettos – month
• Michelle of Pinque – week
• Peggy of Serendipity Smiles – month
• Rebeca of All Vegged Out – month
• Rosy of 100 Days of Food – month
• Serendipity of Serendipity’s Guide to Saving – month
• Shannon of My Life as I Live It – month
• Stacy – month
• Tiffany of This Bliss Life – month
• You! A month? You can do it!

Who’s In? It’s never too late to join! If January is halfway over and you just found out about the challenge, feel free to join in on the festivities! Better late than never!