I Only Ate Out Of Jars For A Week — & I Didn't Hate It

The meals-in-jars trend was ready-made for Pinterest. Easy recipes, plus meal prep, plus mason jars? Photogenic, delicious gold. Refinery29 has even gotten in on the trend over the past couple years, sharing recipes for just about every meal and occasion. (Breakfast, anyone?)

But, as someone who nearly always forgets to pack lunch, I am lucky if I get a leftover slice of pizza in my workbag before rushing out the door in the morning. So when my editor challenged me to eat only out of jars for a week, I was game. Mostly because I figured it would be a good way to hold myself accountable to actually packing my lunch for a change, and also because I would have ample excuse to complain along the way.

For the challenge, we agreed on some ground rules: dinner was excluded, since part of the point is to help with packing lunch, and I don't need to pack food between the kitchen and the dining room table. Everything else, however, from breakfast to snack time, would need to be stored in a jar.

Ahead, the grand results of my experiment — fellow serial take-out orderers, there's hope out there.