Can You Eat For $5 a Day? Food Desert Challenge

This is a refreshed post from a few years ago. It was sponsored by Y-USA

The YMCA is committed to keeping kids healthy. As part of the Y’s Summer Food Program, kids will get nutritious meals and snacks as well as physical and mental activities. 5 million meals will be provided to 250,000 kids at 1,500 locations.

Child hunger exists year round in every county in the United States and affects one in five kids. Empty bellies and poor nutrition make it difficult to concentrate at school, which causes lower academic achievement compared to their peers.

The Food Desert Challenge was created to spread awareness of the Summer Food Program.

The Food Desert Challenge is challenging the public to eat on $5 a day for three days to see how limited access to food impacts lives.

I decided to take on the challenge and see if I could feed myself and my family for just $5 each per day.

The Food Desert Challenge

I had been worrying about the shopping trip. I had a hard time thinking of cheap meals to buy that my family would eat and that provided enough nutrients to get through our days.  That made me think about the families that truly worry about food everyday.  

I can’t imagine how difficult that must be.

While shopping, I realized how hard this challenge would be. I would not be able to complete the challenge with our usual food purchases.

Of course prepared foods were way over the daily limit. I prefer to eat low carb (often gluten free meals), fresh fruits and vegetables, and organic meat and diary. I quickly realized these preferences would not work with $5 per day.  

For example, when choosing a rotisserie chicken, the organic chicken was $9.99, but the regular one was $6.99.  That would have put us over today’s limit.

Here is my attempt at the Food Desert Challenge.

Day 1:
Me:
Egg with frozen asparagus and cheese (10 cents for the egg + 41 cents for portion of frozen asparagus + 18 cents for cheese) = 69 cents
Half of sweet potato = 42 cents
Apple = 83 cents
Rotisserie Chicken = $1.75
Roasted Cauliflower = 50 cents
Fruit salad made at home = 60 cents
= $4.79

The kids:
Cereal = 27 cents
Sandwich (11 cents for bread + 42 cents turkey) = 53 cents
Crackers = 25 cents
Nilla Wafers = 25 cents
1/2 apple = 42 cents
Rotisserie Chicken = $1.75
Rice = 45 cents
Fruit salad made at home = 60 cents
= $4.52

The Husband:
banana = 20 cents
yogurt = 58 cents
leftover fajita meat from dinner the other night (? + 13 cents for tortillas + 18 cents for cheese) = 31 cents + ?
Rotisserie Chicken = $1.75
Rice = 45 cents
Fruit salad made at home = 60 cents
= $3.89 + ?

Day 1 was a little stressful for me.  I would usually eat more fruits and vegetables during the day and possibly a granola bar or some type of protein snack in the afternoon.  I really struggled at the grocery store trying to come up with items to buy to meet the $5 challenge.

Day 2:

Me:
smoothie (26 cents for almond milk + 10 cents for 1/2 banana + 30 cents for almond butter) = 66 cents
scrambled eggs (10 cents for the eggs + 37 cents for spinach) = 47 cents
1 peach = 33 cents
Kale and chia chips = 62 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
= $4.01

The kids:
Cereal = 27 cents
Turkey stick = 61 cents
carrots = 13 cents
berries = 31 cents
Crackers = 25 cents
Twinkie = 25 cents
Goldfish = 38 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
= $4.13

The husband:
banana = 20 cents
yogurt = 58 cents
hot dog = 38 cents
hot dog bun = 31 cents
leftover rice from last night = 45 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
= $3.85 + $3 fresh squeezed juice he got during a work meeting at Central Market

Day 3:

Me:
smoothie (26 cents for almond milk + 10 cents for 1/2 banana + 30 cents for almond butter) = 66 cents
salad ( 38 cents for spinach + 20 cents for carrots + $1 leftover chicken/pork) = $1.58
1 peach = 33 cents
Kale and chia chips = 62 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
= $5.08 … oops, over by 8 cents

The kids:
Cereal = 27 cents
Sandwich (11 cents for bread + 42 cents turkey) = 53 cents
Crackers = 25 cents
Nilla Wafers = 25 cents
1/2 apple = 42 cents
1 peach = 33 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
ice cream = 42 cents
= $4.36

The husband:
banana = 20 cents
yogurt = 58 cents
pasta = $1
1 peach = 33 cents
tacos (16 cents for tacos shells + 76 cents ground beef + 18 cents for cheese + 5 cents lettuce) = 1.06
raw veggies (13 cents for carrots + 20 cents for snap peas + 20 cents peppers) = 53 cents
fruit (15 cents for watermelon + 15 cents for strawberries) = 30 cents
= $3.92

These prices are estimates.  I tried to divide certain items by the number of servings to get the cost per person.  Some items we already had in the house, so I estimated the prices.

On day 3, we chose to have leftovers rather than pick up something to eat for dinner.  Normally, an evening like this, we probably would have picked up food.  

We were busy, running around.  I made an airport run to pick up my parents.  We had to scrounge around for leftovers.   Usually Thursdays are clean-out-the-fridge days.  We stuck pretty well to the $5 per person per day.  

Normally, we would go over that amount by a little.  This week I choose cheaper options for protein.  Often, we have higher priced meat and seafood such as steak, corned beef, salmon, shrimp.  We did not have any of these over the three days.  

If I had to do this all of the time, I would probably get tired of chicken and ground beef.

It is also more work to eat on a budget.  I tend to buy some prepared foods such as bagged salad.  With the $5 budget, I had to choose a head of lettuce and rinse and cut it myself.

Here are a few pictures I took during my grocery store trip to H-E-B.  You can see current prices for the Austin area and some price comparisons.

So, what do you think?  Do you think you can eat for $5 a day?

For more information about the Y and the Summer Food Program visit:

• Y-USA Website
• Y-USA Summer Food Program Website
• Y-USA Facebook Page