Whole-Food, Plant-Based on $5 a Day—Day 1

Posted in Past Blogs

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:

Affordable Vegan Shopping LIst

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:

Potato Salad

Vegan Potato Salad

Black Bean Stew

Affordable Vegan - Black Bean Stew

Ginger Brown Rice

Ginger Brown Rice

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.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Leave a Reply