Try Eating for $4 a Day. Join The Hunger Challenge

I appreciate your taking the time to share your list as well as acknowledging the need for organization and planning.  While the majority of your list is whole fresh foods (great that you're making salads and omelets etc), the first three items are not healthy choices and highly processed (with additives, preservatives, transfats etc).  Italian sausage is quite high in fat, sodium and nitrites.  The Jiffy mix has partially hydrogentated oils (trans fats) and the jarred meat sauce is a mystery (but I wonder about the "meat" and other ingredients).  Also you'd be better off healthwise with making homemade lemonade (or simply squeezing a slice of lemon in plain water - I know not as tasty) rather than drinking a mix of chemicals and aspartame.

So while the bill is under the challenge amount, it shows that health and nutrition sometimes has to take a backseat to cost and budget. 

By the way,  I bought all of the above from a regular grocery store.  I have a local Met Food and several fruit and vegetable markets in my neighborhood.  I don't do shopping at Whole Foods, I think that's just a form of conspicuous consumption.

http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com ( http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com/ )

http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com ( http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com/ )

I thought about eating on $25 a week consistently, here's what I got for $24.64 in my neighborhood.

3 lb of Sweet Italian Sausage (on sale)
16 ounce can of Meat Sauce
1 small box Jiffy blueberry muffin mix
1 quart milk
1 dozen eggs
2 large bell peppers
16 ounce box of dry spaghetti (on sale)
3 plum tomatoes
1 iceberg lettuce
2 heads of garlic
1 yellow onion
1 red onion
4-pack of Activia yogurt (on sale)
5-lb bag of potatoes
1 qt of strawberries
1 cup of blackberries
1 cup of raspberries
1 10-pk box of Wyler's lemonade mix

Looking at the list above, you know I'm already going to make salads, omelets, fruit cups, spaghetti, potatoes and using italian sausages on everything for a whole week.  I think that's a lot of variety during the week.  And I hate beans.  Also, there are some things that you buy once that can last you more than a week, such as sugar, oil, cereal, and coffee and there are normally sales on these items at least one week each month.  Now when I look at that list, I make sure it lasts me a whole week for three meals a day so I'm already planning portions.  However these portions are not going to be small.  I'm a little overweight if I consult the height and weight chart.  So, I'm not saying that it's easy, it requires a whole lot more planning and doing instead of just buying your meal, but yeah, it can be done.

http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com ( http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com/ )

http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com ( http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com/ )

Good points, confusedhomemaker.  Thank you for sharing them.

You might want to consider sharing your thoughts as a blog post for the whole BlogHer community.  You can find directions for how to post here: http://www.blogher.com/using-this-site#blog

This is great challenge & can perhaps cause people to understand the dietary challenges that some people face, particularly those in food deserts like inner cities that lack the ease of being able to purchase a wider variety of inexpensive & healthy foods. Some innercities and poorer rural areas lack access to real grocery stores, only haphazard markets that offer overpriced (for the area), overly processed, & sometimes expired food options.

And while it is true there a lot of foods out there (e.g. various beans, rice, veggies used creatively, oatmeal) that can be made in larger quanties that are healthy & that don't require a lot of mones.  One also on a tight budget learns to shop sales, buying generics, and being very aware of every dollar spent.  As a culture we don't utilize those or find them to be overly restrictive (e.g no extras). Most people don't have the knowledge base to pull from to know how to eat well on a budget, how to grow a small garden (even in a city), and how to use a variety of inexpensive foods to eat well.

Still I think  it would be unwise to think it's easy for many because even with using all these options it is quite difficult to do this on only $4 a day & provide healthy choices.  Increasing the amount of money for food and coupling that with education on how to eat healthy on a tight budget would benefit overall society since lack of healthy food & proper nutrition is a social problem extending to wider society (e.g. education performance, healthcare costs).

beth aka confusedhomemaker

http://theconfusedhomemaker.com/

Hi Flightkeeper- I've love to hear how you eat on $25/week--I could definitely use some tips for how to keep my grocery bill down!

Thinking about it, it would be tough, but a person might be able to eat for $4/day by eating fast food, or eating less food, but it doesn't seem possible to eat in a healthy way according to say, the Food Pyramid ( http://www.mypyramid.gov ), with proper amounts of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, and protein (i.e. meat, beans) each day.

As someone who participated last year in the Hunger Challenge, I am very curious as to what your $25 grocery bag contains for a week of eating.  No matter where you live that will not buy more than a few staples - bread, milk, eggs, oatmeal/cereal, cheese, pasta/rice, beans, fresh fruit and veggies.  Eating 3 meals per day on your $25 weekly budget, takes lots of creativity and planning (especially if you're meeting your nutritional requirements for you and/or your family).  I'd love your thoughts to make the challenge easier this year. 

Many thanks to Britt and BlogHer for supporting the Hunger Challenge.

Everyone is invited to participate. I'd particularly encourage anyone who thinks it would be easy to live on $28/a week to participate. Your tips and experiences would be valuable to share with San Franciso Food Bank Clients.

Please consider that everything you consume (aside from salt and pepper) during the Hunger Challenge week needs to be factored in - including staples like flour, coffee, rice and oil, as well as any food consumed outside your home.

In our experience last year, when the challenge amount was $21/week, it was truly a challenge to eat well and healthily. Take a look at the posts from last year's participants, which you can find at http://www.HungerChallenge.com. 

My budget for food is about $25 a week.  Do you know how much food that is?  And it's not as if I scrimp.  I usually have to throw food out.  Are things super-expensive in California or something.  Do people on food stamps not buy stuff on sale? I live in the East Coast, I don't think the difference in food prices is that great.

http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com ( http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com/ )

http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com ( http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com/ )

That is news to me, also. I can't believe that is what food stamp recipients have to work with. I consider myself pretty frugal, but to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet with a few bucks a day, that would be extremely difficult. This is sad.

Thanks for pointing this out, I guess I can count my blessings in so many ways.

http://raisedqueer.squarespace.com