We are currently on 400 euros/month which comes to about 13 euros/day and it’s for two people. It’s pretty much 6.50 euros/day per person. Things like shampoo, dental floss, toothpaste, soap, etc. come out of this budget too. It really depends on where you live how restricted this budget will make things for you. It would be impossible to eat like we do in Spain if we lived in Japan on this same budget.

We buy extra virgin olive oil in 5 liter containers for about 15 euros and bake our own bread, make our own pizza crust, flour tortillas, tomato sauce, etc. all from scratch.

We look for vegetables that are in season and will buy things like artichokes going for 1 euro/3 kg or oranges for 1 euro/2 kg. If you make a huge vat of tomato sauce – it can really go a long way and it’s much cheaper than ready made tomato sauce and will taste much better. I made my own starter so all we need to buy to bake bread is flour and a little honey and salt. The starter gets fed whole wheat flour, but we bake bread with AP flour. Natural sea salt is luckily dirt cheap in Spain and you can buy 1 kg for something like 50 cents. Herbs? We try to buy potted plants for 1 euro each and keep them alive for as long as we can. We use lots of spices and it’s painful when we have to restock.

Sometimes there are certain fresh foods that are cheap in one area that aren’t in others. I think it’s important to know what these are. Radishes for example cost 4 times more in Spain than in Germany. Ice cream costs 2-3 times as much in Spain than in Germany.

We don’t buy organic vegetables because we can’t afford to. We do not buy steak very often (twice a year?) because it messes-up our restricted food budget. It’s basically impossible to eat out on 6.50 euros/day. I will also try to walk somewhere instead of taking the train if I can to save a few euros.

That said I can’t know what it’s like for people on food stamps because I do have some savings and I know I can fall back on this should an emergency come-up. That said I’m not eligible for welfare in any social system so if my savings ran out I would not be eligible even for food stamps. That’s why I’m on this self-imposed budget.

Sorry – I really wrote way too much!

How great for you that you’ve managed to do that, and keep up with it! I know I won’t be sticking to $7 per day forever… but I do think that this challenge has inspired me to reduce my food costs overall which should enable me to donate more to others who really need it.

Matt – I can’t believe I haven’t been to PFI yet. What am I waiting for????

Lauren – Yes, although I think that food banks really prefer to get things like canned soup or other cook and eat items. But, maybe by providing those things through the food banks, that can free up some of the food stamps for things like other pantry items.

Thanks Jak!

Tea – yeah, I thought so too. But, then I found no shortage of meat, free-range even, at reasonable prices. It’s no Skagit Valley, but I’m glad there are some good, budget-conscious choices out there.

KT – yes… my experience with those “coupons” are that they are usually for things I wouldn’t normally buy… so they aren’t really saving me any money. I understand the appeal though!

Thanks all!

I came across an article written by a man who had done the challenge. He was a Friend and chose to live a simple life. Choosing organic vegetables and fruit, bulk grains and spices, and very little dairy, he was able to feed himself and server his co-workers lunch on $21 for a week.

I chose to take the challenge but making it $50 for a week’s worth of groceries for two due to the allergies. That was two years ago and it is still our current budget. It reminds me everyday what other people may be facing. I have skills in the kitchen that allow me to make a creative varied menu. Without those skills, it is difficult to eat for that little.

Lauren, I appreciate what you are doing here. It shows that you can eat well for very little.

It is really good to see someone that has a true love for cooking attempting something like this. If anything you are certainly showing that it is possible to eat very well, with a creative and diverse menu and a pretty low amount of cash. Love the little touches like the herb salt, which really costs almost nothing, but adds a good sum of flavor.

I saw a little while ago that Big Johns PFI has whole dried hibiscus flowers, which I have actually never seen – most of what I see is the shredded petals. Hibiscus is rapidly becoming one of my favorite little “spices”.

The whole reason we’re doing this is to raise awareness around the cause of hunger in King County (though, in times like these, you can replace “King County” with your own town/county/state). We wanted to bring it to the forefront of people’s minds and get them talking about the difficulties that come with living on a tight budget and how we can change that as a community.

It’s impossible to say that, after these five days, you’ll know what it’s like to live in poverty or on food stamps. Instead, we’re trying to get people to empathize. What kind of lifestyle changes did you have to make on such a tight budget? Were you no longer able to get coffee? Could you not catch dinner with friends?

Obviously, food bloggers and the like have the advantage of time and skill in order to prepare great meals on the $7/day. We wanted them to have fun and be creative about it.

As long as the end result is people thinking about hunger, recognizing how much of a problem it is, we are happy with that.

It seems like Lara is doing that. Also, she’s making this challenge-taker very hungry! (I ate pasta 2 nights in a row.. I can’t cook, lol)