Eat In Month Challenge

So, here's the deal. Diana at The Chic Life has challenged anyone who wants to join in with her on her Eat In Month Challenge. The premise is pretty simple: All your meals must come from home. The idea is to make things at home in order to save money. Check out all the rules on her site.

Honestly, it seems pretty easy at first glance, Nick and I usually eat dinner at home since we are big proponents of sweatpants and well, it's frowned upon to wear those in public. And we usually take leftovers for lunch. But the more I thought about it, I started thinking about the bagel I got one morning when I ran out of cereal. I remind myself of the morning I was too lazy to clean the coffee filter and went out for a cup. The sushi we picked up at the grocery store because we were too tired to cook. It adds up.

The rules of the challenge were not really as stringent as I feel I would have them for it to actually be challenging for us. Sooo, we've added a couple of our own to really make it tough.

1. No prepared grocery items (from the sushi bar, cafe, bakery, etc.) excluding breads.

2. No store prepared frozen meals. (Making ahead meals and then freezing at home is okay though!)

I'll try and post as many pictures and tips as I can as we go through the month,  and I'll keep you posted if there's any cheating. If you are interested in signing up to take part in the challenge, just click the button at the top of the post to go to Diana's website to sign up!

Here's our meal plan for the week:

Monday
Breakfast - Clementine Cranberry Scones, Coffee
Lunch - Apples with Crackers and Cheese, Salad
Dinner - Green Enchiladas

Tuesday
Breakfast - Smoothie, Coffee
Lunch - Green Enchiladas
Dinner - Coffee Crusted Steak, Artichokes and Macaroni and Cheese

Wednesday
Breakfast - Clementine Cranberry Scone, Yogurt, Coffee
Lunch - Grape & Almond Chicken Salad, Crackers, Apples
Dinner - Rustico Pasta

Thursday
Breakfast - Smoothie & Coffee
Lunch - Rustico Pasta
Dinner - Cranberry Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Friday
Breakfast - Yogurt & Granola, Coffee
Lunch - Enchiladas or Chicken Salad
Dinner - Teriyaki Salmon, Brown Rice, Veggie or Salad

Saturday
Brunch - Eggs, Bacon, and Crispy Potatoes
Dinner - Jalapeno Pyrohi with Caramelized Onion