Ready 4 a CHALLENGE?

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If you have been with this blog since the beginning you know that we started eating healthy at the first of the year.  We also made a family pact that we would only eat out 1 time per month.  We were doing really good on both of these until the sickness and death of my Grandmother.  When I got home from the funeral I got sick and I am still fighting the symptoms even now- two weeks later.  We have just been eating whatever was easiest and we have been eating out WAY too much!  It's time to get back on the wagon.

So, are you ready to join me?  The challenge is for the family to eat out only 1 time per month.  I know that my husband will have to eat out some with work but this is excused.  I am allowing myself 2 dinners a month at Mom's Night Out. Anything else is off limits!

The second part of the challenge is to eat healthy!  What does that mean?  It means different things to different people.  At our house it means no sugar, no white flour, no sodas.  We increase our vegetable and fruit intake and cut down on fats.  It's time to start drinking water and exercising. 

One personal goal that I have is to not have any processed foods in the house.  The only thing allowed is cereal and we are very choosy about what cereal comes in the house.  I know that this will create more work for me but I think it is worth it.

Now, I will tell you that it is harder to save money on foods when you eat healthy.  Take a look at the next set of coupons that you get.  Most of the items are for processed foods.  I don't even cut these out anymore because if I have the coupons, I am tempted to buy them.  I cut out all coupons for rice, beans, meat, nuts, etc.  These are staples that I can use in many ways.  There have even been some coupons lately for oranges which I have certainly taken advantage of.

I guess what I am learning is that I don't want to just see how many groceries I can get for the least amount of money.  I want to feed my family healthy foods and try to save money doing it.  I don't want to feed my family junk just because I didn't pay much for it.

So, are you in?  Can you cut back just 1 meal out this week? Will you put the soda down and pick up a glass of water?  Make one step in the right direction this week.

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