Brown-Bag Challenge: Week 4 Round-Up | Healthy Eats – Food Network Healthy Living Blog

Brown-Bag Challenge: Week 4 Round-Up by Michelle Buffardi in Brown Bag Challenge, September 27, 2011

: Chez Us's Lentil Salad. Image by Chez Us.

We’re teaming up with fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

So an important question has come up during this challenge. If lunch is provided at work — sandwiches ordered for a meeting, a Friday pizza party — does that count for the challenge? Is it cheating if you eat a lunch at work that someone else purchased?

I will say that yes, it does count. If you eat food provided at work, you are still a successful challenge participant. But I say this because I’m guilty. In a 2 hour meeting yesterday that fell smack in the middle of lunch, I ate a sandwich off of the sandwich tray in the conference room. I justified it because I didn’t buy it, and I chose one of the healthier options: raw vegetables and hummus on whole grain bread. I didn’t feel guilty at all.

But did I cheat? What do you think? Have you eaten lunch provided at work during the Brown-Bag Challenge?

Take a look at what our friends packed in their lunch this week:

Chez Us: Lentil Salad

Essentials of Nutrition: Brown-Bag Challenge, Break Room Not Required

The Undercover Cook: Buffalo Chicken-Stuffed Baked Potatoes

This Imperfect Plot: Week 4 (and a BBC side effect: weight loss)

Confessions of a Curious Cuisiniere: What Does Your Sandwich Say About You?

I Brown Bag: Brown-Bag Challenge, Day-by-Day

The FN Dish: Using Leftovers to Create a Brown-Bag Lunch

Carmen Fitness: Brown-Bag Challenge, Going Strong

Family Fresh Cooking: Top Ten Best Lunch-Packing Tips

Canadian Mother Musings: Caught NOT Brown-Bagging It