Whole-Food, Plant-Based on $5 a Day—Day 1
Today I’m starting a 10–day personal challenge of only spending $5 a day on food!
According to the USFDA, the average food budget for a single person on a thrift plan is approximately $202 a month, which is about $ 6.73 a day.
So each day I’m going to challenge myself to create a variety of new dishes using limited resources and ingredients. They will, of course, be whole-food, plant-based and oil free! We’re talking healthy, affordable vegan!
Here goes!
The rules I set myself:
- I’m going to limit myself to $5 a day. A girl likes a challenge. And round numbers!
- Each day I’ll only spend the days allowance, and any money leftover from the previous day’s budget.
- In order to mimic the shopping experience of a typical American, living anywhere in the country, I’ll shop in average priced supermarkets, small mom-n-pop shops, specialty grocery stores and farmer’s markets.
For my first day, I shopped at the local Mexican market and this is what I got:
1 lb black beans $ 1.69
1 lb brown rice $ 1.09
1 stalk celery 99¢
1 bunch green onions 50¢
1 lemon 15¢
.32 lb potates 32¢
.64 lb tomatoes 32¢
1 serano pepper 13¢
fresh ginger 15¢
Total: $ 5.19 But the shopkeeper insisted I pay only $ 5 as that was my budget.
The menu for Day 1:
Celery sticks for snacks
Notes:
Grains and beans are the most fantastic foods because as well as being delicious and nutritious, they’re super affordable.
- 1 lb (2 cups) of dry black beans gives 6 cups when cooked (4 servings). So that’s $1.69 for four servings.
- 1 lb (2 cups) of uncooked rice gives 7 cups of cooked (4-5 servings). Which is $1.09 for 7 servings!
I cooked the whole pound of beans. But I only used half of it (about 3 cups, 2 servings) in the bean stew. I froze the other half. This is a great way to save time and money.
The Bean Stew recipe was enough for at least two meals so I’ll eat the leftovers tomorrow.
A good first day, I’d say!
Darshana
XX
PS: Here’s the link to Day–2.
