We did it!

On March 1st, I convinced John that we should go the entire month without eating any of our meals out in restaurants, drive-thru's, etc. All meals were to be taken in our home, or the homes of others. I knew it would be tough. I've never gone a month cooking every single meal at home. Have you?

At first I thought it was just a silly challenge with a few benefits, namely to our health and on our wallets. I'm pleased to say that since we have now reached March 31st, we succeeded!! While, I probably did benefit from avoiding fried foods, excess salt, butter, cream, full fat ingredients, sugar, etc. I don't think I lost any weight. Still working on that one. And also, contrary to what I first believed, eating all meals in was not necessarily cheaper. In fact, some weeks at the grocery store were way over our normal budget. You wouldn't think adding one meal (Saturday night in our case) would blow the receipt but it certainly did.

So, what did I really learn? The cheesy answer is that you can do anything you put your mind to. The more realistic answer is that we really missed eating out. We don't have a lot going on most weekends and going out to eat is often our main form of entertainment. This month off certainly didn't break the habit. We're already planning our return to restaurants this Saturday with a birthday meal observed at a new restaurant nearby for a big fatty burger. I think this challenge would really benefit folks who eat out more than 3 times a month (our norm). So, if you're one of those people, do you think you can hack it? I bet you can.....if you put your mind to it!