30-Day Homecooking Challenge

Hi lovelies!! 

Sorry I've been on an unannounced hiatus for a few weeks! School just started a few weeks ago and as you can see, I've been majorly struggling on time management. Hahaha~ Besides dying a little inside every time I see the amount of school work piled in front of me, all is well! 

Today, I want to announce that starting tomorrow, September 15, 2014, I will be challenging myself to eat only homecooked foods everyday, whether I or someone else is preparing it. As long as it's made on a stove in a living space by myself or someone I know, I will consider it a homecooked meal. Ever since I started college, I eat out at least 3-10 times a week (or even more so during dorm life of freshman year in which "eating out" was everyday in the dining halls)! This isn't even counting all the packaged snack bars/sandwiches that I mindlessly eat when my days are stacked with classes and activities. I want to do this because I feel a disconnect from my food, environment, people, and myself. What did various packaged foods start as and how did they finally arrive into the neatly displayed item at the local drugstore? Where did my tomato come from? Was it grown locally or not? Who prepared this meal? How did they prepare it? How did they feel while preparing it? 

I hope that this challenge will teach me to appreciate my food more. I predict that this challenge will force me to slow down and be mindfully aware of what I put into my body, energy used to prepare food from beginning to end, and my environment in general. I don't expect that this will be an easy rode, but from hardship comes a stronger person! :) For me, the hardest part will be learning how to navigate around social norms of eating out, but I think I can get around this by cooking for others (QUE: People who live around me should take advantage of this offer now. LOL.) Hopefully, I will also become a better cook out of this too hahaha~!

30-day Homecooking Challenge

Gourds from Filoli Garden

Start date: September 15, 2014

End date: October 15, 2014

Challenge: Eat only homecooked meals for 30 days. Raw produce is fine too! Homecooked meals = Meals cooked in a living space (including fire pits) by yourself or someone you know. Excluded meals include anything packaged and anything prepared by a business. 

In 30 days, I'll make a post (with lots of pictures) of how the challenge went for me. I encourage you guys to join me! If you decide to join me, please connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, or FB and share many thoughts and pics with me! <3

Good luck! :) <3

UPDATE (9/15/14): For food items in the gray and/or not specified, it is up to you for whether you consider it okay or not. :)