I learned that I can muster up the will power to make small meaningful changes in my lifestyle.

I decided to stop using my heater at home, and to bundle up to stay warm instead. I was surprised by how much condensation accumulated on the windows on cold nights. During the days I was pretty comfortable, but after 10 PM I sometimes took a while to warm up under a pile of blankets. Overall it was an interesting challenge!

Already almost out of the DIY freezer burritos. They're delicious and I need to make more. Considering finding a way to add more veggies. Experiments will continue after this challenge.

Today I finished the DIY instant ramen portion of this challenge. Last Tuesday I made 5 mason-jar DIY instant ramen cups based on the recipe here: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-diy-instant-noodle-cups-222560

Challenges and Successes: This method of meal planning worked very well for me in that I felt like I had a quick, healthy, and un-wasteful meal multiple days this past week. I will try to continue this habit in perpetuity. The most challenging aspect however was that the ramen became luke-warm very fast after adding the hot water into the cold mason jar. This also meant i wasn't able to add a raw egg and let it cook in the hot water, as I usually do with ramen. My solution to this was to microwave the jar before adding the hot water, and then to microwave the jar again after adding an egg until it was cooked. For the future I plan to create different flavoured ramen cups, because eating the same flavour was pretty boring.

Now I'm moving onto the DIY freezer burrito aspect of my eco challenge. A few hours ago I prepared 8 burritos total, and ate 2 for dinner. I look forward to seeing how these go! I loosely based my burrito recipe on the one from this link: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/freezer-burritos

I am deciding not to buy any food or other products that have palm oil in them. The palm oil industry contributes to rain forest deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems. It also forces many indigenous communities to relocate. I hope that this challenge will influence my consumption habits beyond the two weeks and I am excited to hear about how others are challenging themselves.