[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Megan is gonna go 4 weeks without eating out. First, she learned her way around the kitchen, then she struggled through her normal routine. How did her month round out?

At last, the 4 weeks sans eating out have to come to an end!

Thankfully, this week was extra busy for me.  Between work and holiday shopping (I’m one of those last minute shoppers), I didn’t really have much time to even want fast food.  That being said, I can’t say I had much time to cook either. So I enjoyed lots of leftovers, made by my wonderful mama.  I did do a tiny bit of cooking though. This week I experimented with lots of quick, yummy, snacks. Has anyone ever tried the Velveeta and Rotel queso dip? It’s muy delicioso.

As proud of myself as I am for not caving in this week, I am quite excited for this entire experiment to come to an end. Hello, McDonalds! How I’ve missed you! (Have you guys learned I’m a little obsessed with McDonald’s yet? I think I’m the only person who ran out for some Chicken McNuggest after seeing Supersize Me.)  Regardless of if its McDonald’s or elsewhere though, I am more than ready to walk in somewhere, ORDER some food, and enjoy every last bit of it without having to cook it or clean it all up.

That brings me to what month has been as a whole:
AWESOME.
CHALLENING.
LONG. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Megan is gonna go 4 weeks without eating out. She was learning her way around the kitchen last week, let's see how she handled herself this week.....]

At 3 weeks in, the “challenges” within this “I’m not eating any meals out this month” challenge are finally starting to show. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the effects of this challenge; I am proud that I can cook some delicious and edible meals, and the effects it’s had on my wallet have been extraordinary. But there have been total negatives.

Dating is one. And it’s a biggie.

As a single gal, I like to get my date on. However, what’s every single male’s novel first date idea? DINNER! (And he’s not cookin’ it at home for me.) Which leads me to demanding a more creative date, spending an hour proving that I’m not a “challenging” girl, or trying to convince him that I don’t have an eating disorder.  And while some of these dates have been creative and fun, I can’t wait to accept dinner date offers again. Especially, when it is on his dime.

Another downside – this holiday season has been busy.  I didn’t really think about my timing on this challenge, but working 2 jobs, I’ve literally been working 7 days a week.  With so many hours at work and more hours studying for finals, the last thing I want to do is come home and cook.  I’m usually so tired and famished, I have dreams of McDonald’s fries. And not only can I not indulge in said fries, but being more tired, my cooking is getting a lot less tasty than it should be.

And by “less tasty” I mean “Easy Mac is back.” Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Megan is gonna go 4 weeks without eating out. Can she handle the heat of the kitchen??]

After raiding my cabinets this week, and realizing we had, like, no food, I decided I would have to go food shopping if I was going to survive this no restaurant month.  Being that I’m an impulse buyer, I also “attempted” to make a grocery list. And while I bought a majority of items off my list, I found myself coming home with lots of comfort foods: Easy Mac, ramen, spaghetti.

The comfort foods were a good start. They were super convenient, thus keeping me from eating out. Plus, they’re cheap and tasty. Yum.  However, after a couple nights of Easy Mac and ramen, I missed variety, not to mention things that aren’t noodles.  And that’s when I realized, it was time to start cooking something a little more challenging than turning on a microwave.

And I did it- I successfully made tacos!

Not only did I not have to extinguish any fires, but they were actually good!  While most people don’t look at tacos as a challenging meal to cook, it was a huge accomplishment for me.  It was also just the cooking confidence boost I needed.  And so, inspired, I hit the interwebs for even more culinary inspiration and got myself quite a stack of  delicious recipes.  And then I went shopping again (so much for saving money) and before I knew it, I was cooking up a storm. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month, we watched Melanie push herself to work out every day. This month, Megan is gonna go 4 weeks without eating out. Can she handle the heat of the kitchen??]

Sitting here writing this, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve lost my mind.

I’ve decided to challenge myself to not eat out for the entire month of December. And only 4 days in, I’ve already got a hunger for some delicious food that doesn’t require me cooking. Let’s not forget that the only dishes I can cook successfully are Kraft Mac and Cheese and Cup O’Noodles.

So what led me to this crazy decision? No, not a sugar induced high, but Mint.com.  Looking over my Mint account, I started to notice a trend.  My “Restaurants” numbers were always ridiculously high and one of the top things I spend money on, month after month. To be honest, until I was trying to figure out where I could cut spending (thank you, student loans), I had never realized how often I eat out and just how much of my money I spend on food.  What’s even more disgusting is that I know I’ve spent cash (lots of it!) on food as well, I just don’t have the documented proof staring at me from my computer screen.

The other reason I wanted to try this challenge was to force myself to have to cook. I know that one day I am going to be a real human being and I’m going to have to know my way around a kitchen. Unfortunately, that time is coming more quickly than I’d like and I can’t live on microwavable noodles forever.

Being the busy (and lazy) girl that I am, I’ve grown accustomed to coming home after a long day of class and work and just running out to grab fast food or picking up my phone and ordering delivery.  Now that I don’t have that as an option, I’ll finally get around to finding and trying out some recipes.  I always read the awesome recipes posted here on CollegeCandy and now I’ll have no choice but to try some out!

Let’s hope I don’t burn my kitchen down.
Or starve when I mess up every single thing I attempt to cook.

Now, all that being said, I did set one exception to my “no dining out” goal and that involves gettin’ my drank on. Although I’m not eating out, I’m still going to drink out. Going out to bars is a huge part of my social life and if I can’t have food, I’m gonna need some yummy drinks. BUT! I promise no drunken food, at least not until I get home. (Pizza bagels, here I come!)

I can’t wait to keep you updated on this challenge and hope that some of you will join me along the way. It won’t be easy, but I’m hoping it will pay off….literally.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go raid my kitchen and pack a lunch for tomorrow.

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle (and be held accountable for), email us and we could feature you next month. Come on - it's good for you!]

I have been watching my weight for as long as I can remember and am always on the lookout for new products and ideas that will make eating healthy a little bit easier. I love perusing the recipes on foodnetwork.com, learning about fun new products on hungrygirl.com and reading new food research anywhere I can. My years of research have taught me how to maintain a healthy lifestyle every day.

Not that I had a choice. When I was still in school, living a healthy lifestyle was impossible. From the drinking, to the partying, to the daily late night pizza runs; my body was begging for something green. And growing larger and more icky every day. I can’t even believe I made it out alive…and that my blood didn’t turn into some sort of vodka marinara sauce.

But that’s beside the point.

Today I was playing around on Yahoo and saw the headline: “Healthy Dining: Eating Healthy on the Go.” I immediately clicked it. Eating out is one of the hardest things for me; I never know what is going into my food and how to stop myself before downing a giant family-sized portion. I was so excited to read some real tips that would help me make better choices at restaurants.

And then I read it. Read More »