The $100 Diet

An offhand comment by Sacha on how cheap food is led to a discussion on how it is possible to eat healthily for $100 a month.

You hit the nail on the head with pasta. I even was able to splurge and buy whole wheat pasta about 1/2 the time (typically twice as expensive). One of the biggest costs was sauce, but I bought it already prepared which added to the cost. Only a little bit of meat and fish, as it is expensive (a little can go a long way with, say, a sweet and sour dish with lots of cheap vegetables). Using inexpensive but full protein-complement alternatives makes it easier. If you eat 3 meals a day, each one on average needs to be <= $1.11.

I never would have guessed that it could even be done; my monthly food budget is something like $200 - $250, and that doesn't even include the inevitable eating out.

Sacha and Tony are smart, patient, and like to cook - all necessary attributes to maintain a diet like this. Unfortunately, I figure that excludes 90% of the population from succeeding at this (I hate cooking), and 99+% of those that would most benefit from the financial savings and improved nutrition.

I wonder if there are any charity groups that teach these kinds of things... kind of along the lines of "teaching a man to fish".