Four dollar and fifty cents a day. That is what the average single  person with 1000 per month income and 500 dollar a month rent with no other assets would get in food assistance. The amount would increase to a maximum of $6.50 if there is no income.

In the next few days I am going to attempt to eat no more than the 4.50 per day limit.

Day 1- Starting from scratch on 4.50 per day is hard. I attempted to buy 5 days of groceries with $22.00. That did not include condiments. So I will have to eat without condiments until I see if any food carries over. My shopping strategy was to buy items on sale. It was pretty haphazard as you can see.

• 3 apples= 1.16
• Rice cereal 8 oz box= 2.69
• 8 oz cheese= 2.5
• milk qt= 1.69
• bread (18 slices)= 1.39
• 18 eggs= 2.5
• 2 potatoes= 1.00
• tuna can= 1.00
• peanut butter= 2.5
• (ground beef .5 lbs) meat= 1.75
• (.75 lbs boneless breast)chicken= 4.00
• Total= $22.18

Menu Day 1

Breakfast

• bowl of cereal with milk

Lunch

• 2 peanut butter sandwiches
• apple

Dinner

• hamburger with cheese/ 1/2 baked potato