81 Meals, A Bingo Card, and Learning To Cook

There was a time not too long ago when I thought I was the worst cook imaginable. Well…turns out if I had tried to make anything at all, I would have realized I’m not as bad as I thought. This year I decided to create a bingo board. To explain this simply, you have a square board with about 20 or more pieces, and those become your goals for the end of the year. The goal of the board? Try to wipe out all your cards and get bingo by December 31st. Of course I was feeling quite confident at the beginning of the year as most do…so I decided to make one of my goals “cook 81 meals at home in one month.” (P.S. I’ll share the full bingo card story in December, so keep your eyes open if you want to create one for 2026!)

To explain where I came up with the 81 meals, I basically decided I wanted to spend 90% of my month eating home-cooked meals. I gave myself two eat-out meals a week (you heard that right, meals, not days), and the rest had to be made mostly from scratch to help break my habit of takeout.

So, naturally I put this goal off till the very end of the year… as I’m sure most people who despise cooking would. Former me, the girl who’d rather get fast food than think about trying a new recipe, was confronted with the travesty that was this goal, and it seemed better to wait till December than have to think about it in March. But the stubborn girl in me who loves a challenge, knew deep down I had to complete this goal or no BINGO for me :(. So, on October 13th, I set off on my one-month-long journey… and I’m sure, as you’d expect, it changed a lot in my life, or I wouldn’t be writing about it.

At first, I was a mess. I would stare at my fridge and wander through Pinterest, wondering what the heck I could cook for 81 meals.

Until the first week ended, and I realized it wasn’t so bad. I started to enjoy meal planning.

My boyfriend even started to fall in love with all my recipes and baked goods. It was like something clicked in me, and I learned to cook overnight (or, if I’m being honest, it’s because I was actually trying to cook for once in my life and not just getting takeout… who knew!).

Thinking back on this month, I can’t picture a day in my life where I lived without all my delicious recipes. For once, I stopped feeling like I was missing out on something by eating at home; it was finally better… and if you grew up knowing me, this would truly shock you.

Cooking became a natural way to express my creativity and try something new, and thank gosh for Instagram Reels because I follow those recipe videos frame by frame. My body started to feel so good, no more bloating and fatigue after I’d eat. I felt brighter, like I could skip through my day. Thanks to a simple bingo card goal, cooking has now become my happy place… and not just a chore.

And lastly, I can’t forget about my coffee! There was nothing I dreaded more in this challenge than the idea of going a day without my favorite coffee shops. But to make this sound even crazier, I now LOVE my at-home coffee even more than the places I used to go to. I saved so much money by just making my coffee at home… who knew not buying a coffee for $7 every day could save you money?!!

This bingo square wasn’t just about losing my love for takeout; it showed me cooking at home is my way of living with purpose. It’s not always easy to prep everything for breakfast, lunch, and dinner… but it is very rewarding… and bonus, my boyfriend loved this goal too! 😉

From my heart,

Hanna