New Year’s Resolutions: Ideas That Fit on a BINGO Card!

This New Year, we’re all about making easy, sustainable improvements to our routines, and not going for broke with drastic changes. Not only are small changes a lot easier to commit to, they’re also the way to build new habits that actually last.

Oh, and the other thing? We want our New Year’s resolutions to be FUN! Gone are the days of slogging through a resolution in hopes of getting a result at some vague point in the future. If it truly is about the journey and not the destination, then we want that journey to be a care-free road trip, not a boring business trip. 

That’s why we decided to turn some kitchen-related New Year’s resolutions into a game of BINGO! Each BINGO card has a different theme related to cooking or eating. There are three total cards for grown-ups and three for kids. By aiming to get BINGO in your preferred category or categories, you and your kids will learn cooking skills, practice old skills, try new foods, and help turn behaviors into habits. And whether alone or with others, we hope you’ll have fun doing it. 

How to Use These Cards

The six BINGO cards that follow will help you to make small upgrades in your eating and cooking habits. Our basic instructions are this: Choose a prompt to follow, then make an “X” through the square when you’re done. When you have five in a row in any direction, you win! The sky’s the limit on the prizes you choose for the winners in your household, or you can simply enjoy the achievements you all have made.

That said, there are plenty of ways to customize your BINGO experience. Here are a few ideas:

• Follow your interests: Your New Year’s resolution could be to get BINGO one time in your preferred category, or you could aim to get BINGO in each category.
• Go all in: If there’s a particular category you really want to focus on this New Year, try going for blackout (marking every single square) on that card. 
• Keep it going: If you enjoy these BINGO cards and they’re helpful to you, no need to be one and done. You could try to get BINGO at least once a week, all year long!
• Make it social: You also have the option of filling out the card by yourself, or racing a friend, group of friends, or your family to BINGO. 

And you have choices when it comes to which squares to mark off.

• Your choice: Read each square and choose your own to follow.
• Random choice: For a bigger challenge, try numbering your squares and using a random number generator to tell you which action to take — or go the old-fashioned route and pull numbers from a hat. You could try to fill out your whole card in a day, or draw a new number each morning. If you’re competing with friends or family on the same card, be sure to number your squares randomly, not in order, and do the numbering differently for each person’s card. 

However you choose to play, decide your BINGO rules in advance, print out the cards, and start playing!

New Year’s Resolutions BINGO for Kids 

1. Cooking Basics

It’s never too early for kids to learn cooking skills! This BINGO card will help them practice essential skills like measuring ingredients, prepping produce, assembling a dish, and learning how to safely cook with heat. We’ve designed this card to work for kids of all ages, but younger children will, of course, need much more supervision and assistance. Some tasks, especially heat-related tasks, may need to be performed by an adult while younger kids learn by watching. Other tasks can be done entirely by kids. 

2. Trying New Foods

Make adventurous eating fun with this BINGO card! Kids will get BINGO by trying new foods, eating the rainbow, and exploring their foods with their senses. Prompts include “Eat a food that ends with the letter ‘O,’” “Eat something red,” “Mix together some spices for popcorn topping,” and more.

3. Chores

Prep and cleanup are essential parts of cooking, and this BINGO card aims to introduce these tasks to kids in a fun way. While filling out this card, kids will help with meal planning, grocery shopping, and meal prep, as well as post-meal tasks such as washing dishes, putting away leftovers, and cleaning the table and the kitchen.

New Year’s Resolutions BINGO for Grown-Ups

1. Cooking Skills

Up your cooking skills with this BINGO card that will have you learn new techniques, practice less common ones, and cook foods from scratch. After getting BINGO or blackout on this card, you’ll have improved your confidence in the kitchen and will have expanded your cooking repertoire. Prompts include “Memorize a basic vinaigrette recipe,” “Make a tomato sauce from scratch,” and “Learn how to poach.”

2. Eating More New & Whole Foods

Even as adults, we tend to get into eating ruts, gravitating toward the same foods over and over. This BINGO card will help you improve your diet and try some new flavors and foods. You may just find your new favorite dish! Prompts include, “Cook a dish you’ve never heard of before,” “Visit the farmers’ market,” and “Prepare a meal with lentils.”

3. Get Organized

Mastering kitchen organization will pay dividends all year long by saving you time, ensuring you’re prepared for the unexpected, and creating a clean and tidy cooking environment. If you’re having a hard time finding the motivation for a large organization project, this is the card for you! While working toward BINGO or blackout, you’ll clean (and clean out) your kitchen, create some lists and cheat sheets for future reference, do some meal prep, and find more efficient ways to organize ingredients and leftovers.

Download your BINGO cards here! And be sure to share them with friends and family who might want a fun way to practice their kitchen-related resolutions this year.

If these BINGO card New Year’s resolutions ideas are useful to you, stay tuned for more infographics and how-to articles by signing up for our weekly email below. Or sign up for a free 14-day trial of our meal plan service for a variety of delicious, fresh, and healthy dinner ideas!