I Tried to Eat Well on $4 a Day; This Is What Happened

I first looked at the stores in my area in San Francisco to see which ones accepted SNAP. There were mostly Walgreens, Target, and Safeway stores. I chose Target and Safeway because I was familiar with those two after a study we did on the cheapest items at grocery stores.

I set a few ground rules for myself. One was to not factor in seasoning in my budget and to just use what I have at home. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford a new bottle of salt or pepper with the budget. Another rule was to not factor in beverages because I couldn't afford to buy instant coffee as well, and I mostly stuck to free coffee from the office. I know, I know — those two ground rules probably made this experience less authentic. However, besides those exceptions, I did my best to stick to a budget of $4 a day, which totaled $28 for the whole week. I did go slightly over my budget. I spent $29.29 on two grocery shopping trips combined and an extra 40 cents on an impulse buy of instant ramen. I initially thought I was going to just shop at one store, but I had to break it up into two trips. You'll read more on that later.

Another thing to note is that I didn't follow the recipes to a T because I didn't have enough to buy all of the ingredients, so I just tried to make it work with what I managed to purchase.

I took one-and-a-half to two hours to figure out what to buy at Safeway, and I shopped for much longer than I usually do. I had to calculate everything in my head to make sure it fit the budget, and I had to figure out which recipes I could make off of it. It actually gave me a ton of decision fatigue as I struggled to figure out what to make. Walking around the supermarket finding ingredients for the recipes, then adding them up in my mind, took up a lot of time as well. It probably took up more time than warranted because I was trying to follow the recipes as best as I could. I had figured out about half of my meals when I finally decided to shop for the rest of the food later in the week at Target.

This is what I bought:

• Eggplant
• Whole-wheat pasta
• A dozen eggs
• Cucumber
• Oatmeal
• Tofu
• Tomatoes
• Bread

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Tomato and eggs on toast
Dinner: Eggplant pasta

I had the same meals and enjoyed them just as much as the previous day. I'm starting to wonder why I never ate oatmeal for breakfast — I actually really like it! It's so simple to make and quite filling. At night, I went to Target to buy groceries for the rest of the week. Breaking it up into two trips made it less overwhelming, and I had a better idea of what I needed to get on the second trip. Again, it took me longer than usual because I had to look at the prices of various items, trekking back and forth to different aisles and tallying the totals in my head to make sure they fit my budget.

This is what I bought:

• A dozen eggs
• Frozen broccoli
• Ground pork
• A can of beans
• Raspberries

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raspberries
Lunch: Egg and toast
Dinner: Bean, cucumber, and ground pork burger with tomatoes

I was a huge fan of the raspberries and oatmeal and feel like I could eat that every day. I didn't really care for the burger because I didn't like the taste of the meat from Target. I added cucumbers to the meat mixture just to add in some vegetables. You'll see a photo of the burger under Day 4.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raspberries
Lunch: Eggplant pasta and eggs
Dinner: Bean and ground pork burger with tomatoes
Late-night snack: Raspberries

I started to realize that I made the mistake of not buying enough vegetables and fruits.

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Eggplant pasta and eggs
Dinner: Ground pork, beans, and egg in instant ramen
Late-night snack: Eggs

I was craving something new, so I ended up caving and buying instant ramen, even though it's not exactly healthy. At 40 cents, I figured I should be able to make some space for it in my food budget. I tried to make it better by adding meat and eggs to the ramen.

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Eggs and toast
Dinner: Tofu, egg, and tomato scramble

The recipe for the tofu scramble didn't exist in the cookbook, so I just made it up. I wish I'd used tofu throughout my challenge instead of the ground pork — it tasted so much better. I was also wondering why I didn't account for vegetables when I was food shopping, but it turns out I had forgotten about the frozen broccoli in my freezer! I heated it up and devoured it. However, I regretted eating it the way I did. I wish I had cooked it with something else, like in soup or an omelet, because it tasted pretty soggy with salad dressing.

As it turns out, I had quite a bit of food left over that could keep me going for a few more days. So yes, it is possible to eat healthy on $4 a day, but it can be hard and time-consuming. I also didn't get to eat as many fresh vegetables and fruits as I wanted. OK, so it was my fault for forgetting about the broccoli, but even if I were consuming that, I don't think it would've been enough. And I much prefer fresh broccoli to frozen.

Personally, I think some tweaks are definitely needed for this cookbook. To be fair, Browne addressed that in the introduction when she said this book is more of a "spark" to get people to pick up cooking skills. And in reference to those who do not have access to kitchen and cooking equipment, she said, "I simply cannot hope to do those issues justice within the bounds of one cookbook."

I'm guessing it may be hard for someone on food stamps to follow this cookbook. It's a lot to think and stress about while you're shopping at the supermarket, and cooking from scratch takes up quite some time. And who needs more added stress when you have bills to pay? Someone struggling to feed a family who sees ingredients such as cumin seeds and fresh thyme in the cookbook could possibly think that it's out of touch with her reality. All the added spices and seasonings are great, but maybe impractical. Thinking back on the conversation about food deserts with my friends, I'm also wondering if the quality of what's available in low-income neighborhoods is even appealing to people. Why would you want wilted lettuce when the boxed mac and cheese looks a lot more appealing?

There obviously needs to be more conversation on what we can do to improve the access of quality food to low-income communities, and this book is a good start — perhaps not a perfect one, but at least it'll get the conversation going.