If you had $3 to spend a day on food...

If you had $3 to spend a day on food... what would you eat?

Well I saw the link to a new movie called "A Place at the Table" and apparently there're a lot of Americans who can only afford to spend $3 a day on food. Think about it, that's just 21$ a week. Reading a lot of healthy living blogs, you realize just how much some people spend on food. Think about it, can you even buy a can of protein powder for 21$? What about all of those organic veggies? Crazy ha? I see the grocery bills of those people who shop at Whole Foods, they're ridiculously high. Plus I've heard that the American Whole Foods is more expensive then the Canadian one.

This topic is quite personal for me because once upon a time I actually did spend 20$ a week on groceries. I'm not sure how did I develop this fear of spending money. I guess it was all the study loans I had and always worrying that I will need to pay those back. Thank goodness I've realized that food is not something to be cheap about. You really can't provide proper nourishment for your body at 3$ a day. Who cares if I'll be another $1000 per year in debt, it's better then ruining my health.

 

Just to give you an idea of what I'd eat in a typical day, I'd be something like:

Breakfast- 1 cup dry oatmeal + some milk+ very brown banana from the discount produce section ($0.6)

Lunch- bagel from reduced price section+ peanut butter+ apple from discount produce section ($0.6)

Dinner- plain cheap white pasta+ cheap tomato sauce+ cheap 1/2 can of tuna or beans or 2 eggs ($1.2)

Snacks- whatever I could scavenge at school clubs, 1/4 of a cucumber, a chunk of cabbage aka the cheapest vegetable ever, cookies/ treats my housemates would share with the house, more peanut butter. (leftover money)

Water- free!

As you can tell this was probably only 1700 calories, so I shed weight like crazy :( I barely ate any vegetables, most of my food was from the reduced or not fresh aisle, and there's little protein. When I came back home for Thanksgiving, my parents were in shock by the way I looked. After that, they started bringing "care packages" every so often and left me money :D Thank goodness I'm over this phase!

Going to the grocery store was a challenge, a major one. What can you buy at Whole Foods for $3? Like 3 organic apples? Well the grocery store beside the university was a bit pricy but I would make good use of sales and coupons. I remember one day oatmeal being $2 per kg, so I bought a few packs. Other days I'd find bagels being $1 for a pack of 6 so I'd buy a few packages and freeze some for later. Pretty much all my vegetables or fruits weren't fresh but those were the only ones I could afford.

Yeah, I was hungry. My thoughts did revolve around food. It's not even so much about the calories, as if you feel like shit when all you eat are carbs. Whenever there would be some sort of an event with food left over after people left, I would hoard the food and take it home. When I went to events myself, I would pile my plate with fruits and vegetables because I knew I was lacking my vitamins. I really feel poorly for anyone who lives like this.

It's really hard to spend so little money and get proper food as you can see. I really can't imagine how people go their whole lives living like that :( Now I knew a thing or two about nutrition before living on my own, but what about people that don't? Well they just end up buying things like chips and other junk that has even less nutrients.

 

However, not everyone gets student loans like me. I can say whatever, I'll just be another $1000 in debt but eat proper food.

What if someone else has nowhere to get those $1000…