GeoffreyLevens wrote:Looking at it more closely I must say a lot of the costs for food given are pure fantasy. A jar of marinara sauce for $2? I don't think I have ever seen it for less than about double that for a small jar. 1/2 a large watermelon for $1.50? Again try doubling that then adding a surcharge for buying it cut. 24 oz box of whole wheat pasta for $2? Even if you don't mind glyphosate drenched conventional wheat, I have never seen it priced even close to that. Too bad. I had high hopes.
These are all good points as I was trying to analyze it and found some similar things. In addition, several of the descriptions are not very clear so we don't know what exactly or how much was bought. I am not exactly sure how to analyze 1 bottle fat-free salad dressing (which one, what kind and how many oz?), a large container fat-free hummus (?), a large bag of carrots (3 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb?), a large container spinach (6 oz, 10 oz, 16 oz, 32 oz?) etc etc.
Also, showing that one can eat this way inexpensively is important but virtually any diet can be made to be inexpensive. What it also needs to be is calorie and nutrient sufficient too for the price point achieved, otherwise, what's the point. There are many vegan books based on eating inexpensively but their not always healthy or nutritionally adequate.
FOK did this a few years ago showing it can be done for 1.50 a day. As the amounts were very clear I analyzed it and it was both fairly low in calories and very low in some nutrients.
That's one of the points I make with my SNAP program, it's not only very inexpensive based on national averages and for the price point, it is also both calorie & nutrient adequate meeting or surpassing our needs for all nutrients other then Vit D & B12. In addition, the recipes are simple and quick as explained in this video clip
https://youtube.com/watch?v=GQe8JdsMmaIIt would be good to see more specific measurements of the items & an average nutritional analysis.
In Health
Jeff