An old friend of mine once tried to see if he could eat on 25 cents a day. Let’s say 40 years ago. One of his discoveries was cheese powder, the kind that comes with your macaroni and cheese. You had to order it through the mail. Preppers probably know all about this stuff.
I’ve done it on the WM Ramen noodles. They were $1.92 for a 12-pack of chicken or beef.
I could eat one twice a day. So 16 cents each.
I also could get 4 - 12 packs of Coke Classic for $10. So $2.50 for 12 - Almost 21 cents per can. 2 of those - one with each meal.
So 42 cents plus 32 cents. I could do 74 cents per day - but that was 10 years ago.
Today Ramen is about $2.08 at WM and Coke is rarely 4/$10 BUT the local grocery store has a fake Dr. Pepper which is often 4/$10 and once in awhile 5/$10 in 12-packs. Really good deal.
They have canned veggies for 38 cents and 49 cents often. Beans, corn, carrots, green beans, peas. So do 1/2 can per meal and you’re at $1 a day. It’s not great eating but you can easily survive on it. If you can handle the sodium and HFCS that is.
I have found their cheap mac and cheese for 33 cents a box at WM or the grocery store (forgot which). You’ll need milk and some butter. But there are many servings in that. 1 gallon whole milk is about $2.65 at WM. Butter 4 quarters are $2 on sale. You’d have a lot of milk left over.
WM also has bagged cereal sometimes for $1 bag. Grocery store runs it for $1.49 a box about every 3 months. Got that in the prepper supplies, too. Along with cheap pasta, and jars of pasta sauce, tomato sauce (26 cents a small can) and diced tomatoes (some crushed too).
Most everything is good for a year past Best By dates.
Ate all my WM Chef-Boy-R-Dee (whatever) a year after dates. About 24-36 cans used around that time frame. Absolutely fine and not one bad can. It was 68 cents/can and had them for two years. Now it’s 88 cents on rollback.
I’ve eaten on 1/2 can, twice a day, of peas and corn. It’s pretty thin but you can do it. And I’m a pretty good-sized guy so I know other people can do it. You’re hungry, of course, LOL. But you CAN do it.