I felt good to plan out my meals and to put an effort into sticking to them.

The most challenging aspect of attempting to create zero waste for an entire day was the significant amount of time and energy that was required for cooking meals, especially when opting for ingredients that were not prepackaged. This challenge helped me learn about meal preparation and increased cooking times. When preparing the meals, I had to think about the ingredients, I needed to buy for a balanced meal that can't come in a type of box or bag. Then when I started cooking the meal, I didn't realize that washing, peeling or chopping, and preparing the vegetables myself, would take me longer than the times I would use a precut can of vegetables or instant potatoes. If I wanted to try this challenge again, I would give myself more time to cook.