The dollar a day challenge?

[Lil0]

Have any of you looked into this dollar-a-day for food challenge? I had not heard of it until yesterday. A couple of news announcers were talking about it, so I went online to see what I could learn about it. Apparently this has been "going around" for at least a couple of years. Prompted by the realization that millions of people on this planet subsist on less than a dollar a day, a number of folks have challenged themselves [for a given period of time] to eat on $1 per person per day.

I thought "hey, I can do that". Ha! Assuming I would need to rely heavily on things like dried legumes and rice, I went to the local store and bought a pound and a half of dried pinto beans and one pound each of rice, lentils, and garbanzo beans. Grand total of $9.89!!! That's more than a week's worth of ration, and I have not yet added in some veggies. Hmmmmmmm. This will really be tough. Oh, and I may have to give up tea all together, since one tea bag costs me $.20. Yowza!

Have any of you tried this? If so, I'd love to hear how you managed.

 

[Lil0]

Update: I soaked all of the legumes over night, so I now have a pretty good measure of how much food I have. Once they are cooked, I should have a total of 30 cups of food. If I used two cups per day [one each at lunch and dinner] that would come to $.66 per day so far. Hmmmm One wouldn't have to starve. Now let's see how creative I can be with veggies and seasonings.

 

[mandamiee]

I would try, but I think it would be too hard on my family. I actually sort of used to eat that way when I was single, lots of tuna, peanut butter, and bread. Although back then food was a lot less expensive and I shopped at Aldi with their rock bottom pricing.

 

[Lil0]

I recall a friend telling me of her experiences as a "starving" college student. She would go to the bakery at the end of the day to see what kinds of deals she could get on day-old baked goods -- since they were going to be tossed in the dumpster. One night her dinner was a whole cherry pie she got for 26 cents.
I'm trying to keep this plan as nutritious as possible. Something that could be sustainable. We'll see. It will be an education, at least.

 

[katmouse]

Good luck