Cheap eats: During their experiment in low-cost eating, Kerri Leonard and Christopher Greenslate blogged and helped raise money for charity. They bought in bulk to meet their budget of $1 a day apiece. (The San Diego Union Tribune/ZUMA)
Dining on a dollar a day
A California couple’s experiment in extreme food budgeting taught them a lot about how the poor eat.
By Eilene Zimmerman | Correspondent / December 29, 2008 edition
Encinitas, Calif.
Encinitas, Calif.
At first glance, there’s nothing extraordinary about the kitchen in Christopher Greenslate’s house: plenty of cabinets, colorful tile countertops, an island in the center with a few stools, and the requisite KitchenAid. It’s not until you see several green bins with bright orange lids lined up against the wall labeled “cornmeal, $.51 per lb. 1 cup = $.19” and “rice, .51 per lb., 1 cup = $.22,” and the large sacks of potatoes, onions, flour, and pinto beans, that you realize something unusual is going on.
Those bins and bags – as well as a handful of clear plastic storage containers inside the cabinets – are what remains of an experiment Mr. Greenslate and his partner, Kerri Leonard, conducted in September. The couple, who are both teach English and social justice in southern California high schools, tried to live for one month eating no more than a dollar’s worth of food a day each. (That required buying in bulk; hence the green bins.) Although the project ultimately raised the public’s awareness of poverty and hunger, it started out as a way to lower the couple’s food bill.
“Kerri noticed it was pretty high, about $100 to $150 a week. We were buying prepackaged foods, frozen foods, soy milk, lots of organic fruits and vegetables,” says Greenslate. (He and Leonard are vegans and do not eat animal products.) When they compared their own food costs with the international poverty rate – $1.25 today, according to the World Bank – Greenslate says they were astonished. “Here we were spending all this money on food every week, and the contrast between that and what those in poverty live on was stark. I wondered if we could actually feed ourselves on a dollar a day,” he says.
In September they began eating less and blogging about it on their website. In the beginning, Greenslate was hungrier than Leonard. But after the first three or four days, “I had more energy, and my appetite decreased,” he says.
By the second week, however, it had become much harder. “There were days where I would hold onto my lectern in class because I felt too lightheaded. It became harder and harder.”
Leonard daydreamed about food. “I would look through my cookbooks thinking, ‘I wish we could have that tonight.’ It was like window shopping,” she says Greenslate lost 14 pounds that month; Leonard lost five.
Preparing meals could take hours. Almost everything had to be made from scratch, including bread, tortillas, refried beans, and wheat gluten steaks.
These “steaks” are a meat alternative, about the size of a sand dollar, made from flour, water, and a splash of white vinegar. Leonard opens the freezer and takes a lumpy steak out of a plastic bag to demonstrate. She and Greenslate would fry them in water and soy sauce, with chili flakes and chopped onion.
Many people who heard about their experiment mistakenly believed the two were actually eating more healthily than before, because of the lack of processed food. “No way,” says Greenslate. “We were eating from the white group: white flour, white rice, potatoes. There’s no diversity.”
They could not afford fruits and vegetables. Other than some lemons pilfered from a neighbor’s tree, the only fresh fruit or vegetables they ate came from Costco, and that only after a heated 20-minute debate about whether they could shop there, because it requires a membership fee of $50.
“How do you calculate that into the price of food?” asks Greenslate.
In the end, they bought a six-pack of romaine lettuce hearts for $2.79 and a 10-pound bag of carrots for $4.49. To stay within their budget, the couple could eat a “salad” each day consisting of a quarter of a heart of romaine and a quarter of a carrot.
Greenslate and Leonard have gotten a fair amount of media attention in the past three months, even appearing in December on the CBS television show “Inside Edition.”
Greenslate says the producers asked them to go to Smart & Final, a warehouse grocery store where they shopped while on the diet, and re-create what they did in September. “It felt a little silly,” says Leonard. “We were pushing the cart down the aisle looking for food we’re not buying anymore.”
Their story took hours of filming, including an in-depth interview about poverty, but ended up as a short segment inserted amid stories about Britney Spears’s birthday party, a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, and a walrus playing a saxophone. Yet any publicity about poverty is good publicity, Greenslate says, and the couple’s project has inspired others to try to live on less, to shop more wisely, or to give more to charity. One of Greenslate’s students decided to forgo showering until he raised $1,000 for the homeless. The comments on their website – which has had more than 700,000 visitors – are overwhelmingly positive. Many continue to share recipes and money-saving tips.
There are some critics, of course. One chastised the couple for living off peanut butter and Tang (which they drank for the vitamin C) when they could “forage for really wonderful things” instead. “Pine needles are a better source of vitamin C than oranges, which are everywhere!”
On a more somber note,“Carleeny” wrote, “The only thing that disturbs me about this is the idea that you think this is ‘inspirational’ and ‘new.’ I’ve been living off about $20 a month for food. It’s called ‘welfare.’ ”
Carleeny has a point. Greenslate and Leonard may have tried living in food poverty for a month, but they did not live in true poverty, says Susanne Freidberg, an associate professor of geography at Dartmouth College who studies the political economy of food.
“They were able to do research and then get in their car and buy a 25-pound bag of cornmeal at the right store for the lowest price. I think if you are that poor, you are buying one cup of flour, an eighth of a head of cabbage, and a little baggie of vegetable oil. On that scale, you’re not getting the food as cheaply,” she says. In many poor countries it’s not just the food people cannot afford but also the fuel for cooking, says Freidberg. “There is such a vast variation worldwide in terms of how people live that ‘eating on a dollar a day’ isn’t really meaningful.
“If you live on a dollar a day and you have land and enough hands to work it and the rains are good, the dollar is irrelevant. If you live in a city and depend on the market for food, then you are really suffering.”
Undeterred, the couple has moved onto their next project, a book about the cost of eating well in America. Research will involve a series of experiments including eating on $1.50 a day. The last one, says Greenslate, will involve meeting with a nutritionist and devising a diet that permits him and Leonard to let go of budget constraints and eat whatever is good for them.
As for the experiment that started it all, they say it has changed their relationship with food. “Overall we eat less now. I realized I was raised to overeat my whole life. Now our meals are much smaller than they used to be,” says Greenslate. “And so are our grocery bills.”
2. Steve vermeulen | 12.29.08
Well….you don’t dineon a dollar a day…you survive on a dollar worth’s of food.
I have been living in Nicaragua for the last few years and here many many people get by on a dollar’s worth of bought food a day but they have tree fall fruit,pigs and chickens out back and fresh fish in the lake.
Not to mention a support system of friends and family to share a meal with….
3. ChrisMarks | 12.29.08
Sadly most poor people are not as wise in their food spending choices as this couple. They tend to eat less healthy and processed foods far too often. There is a reason that obesity in this country is inversely related to income.
4. Jean | 12.29.08
Reminds me of the time we “forewent meat; not because we were vegetarians but because meat [and sugar!] were so high. That was in the mid-seventies. Have never been healthier, but we did eat from the “Diet for a Small Planet” cookbook.
However when it comes to high prices, we don’t know what we’re talking about. Our Taiwanese renter said his dad sells 8 oz. steaks for $100 apiece in Taiwan.
5. Marilyn | 12.30.08
Having been through the welfare system here while raising two children, I think one of the big differences is that you can’t ever get enough money together to buy in bulk, even if you can find a way to transport it.
The fact that you have to buy such small portions of things if you want any variety just means that everything just costs more.
And while working in South Africa, the same problems manifested with the orphans living in child-led households. The monthly orphan allowance was 200 rand, about $24 US at the time (2007). No child can get to town, buy a sack of rice or samp and get it home, so the teachers dole it out, R50 per week, and it goes on a fried chicken dinner, or a burger and soda, and the rest of the week they depend on the school lunches as their only food.
6. NatashaPR | 12.30.08
Living on a $1 a day sounds more like an alternate activity bored couples do. If you want to see poverty take a flight to any 3rd world nation. Live like them for 30 days with no ATM’s or credit cards. This whole proyect is does not merit attention simply because it’s realization for those involved. I have not heard anything shocking. As far as day dreaming with food and one being more hungry than the other - I just think that coming from a high calorie/ high cost diet to “a poor man’s diet” will definetly have a high impact on your body. Ofcourse you will loose weight, but if you live on it for your whole entire life, than discomfort won’t be so acute.
7. Catherine Fitzpatrick | 12.30.08
I find this sort of yuppie feting completely annoying. I don’t care what these California yuppie vegetarians can do when they pose and care about “social justice”. It’s irrelevant and doesn’t teach us a thing about poverty or survival or anything of the sort, except what fictions people will mount at their own expense for attention and ego-gratification.
I want the CSM to come out of the politically correct tower and see how real Americans live.
I used to be able to feed my family of 3 on $20 or 25 a day — modest indeed, when you see that goes to basic dishes like spaghetti, chicken, hamburgers, soy stir-fry, etc. I don’t subscribe to any vegetarianism; that would simply be too costly. The only organice/vegetarian sort of thing I could get for cheap is soy blocks at the Korean deli, about a dollar. I didn’t have the option to go to a Costco because I don’t have a car and don’t live near suburbia, but in a big city, where the food in the stores costs more. I shop around for bargains, buy generic, look for opportunities, and occasionally get a gift, like a truck overrage of spaghetti boxes or a box of apples from out of state.
But, with the world food crisis and recession, the same items cost more like $35-40 a day, because the cost of cereals, milk, bread, etc. has skyrocketed. It’s impossible to pay, because there is also the cost of health care, rent, etc. to fit in too. So I am left trying to re-do the already-pared-down rice and beans dishes, hoping that the free school lunches will be more sustainable, and picking up extras from work receptions. And I’m a lucky, normal person, really, hardly in the Third World, and working, and not poor. But…look at the costs. They fed 2 organic nuts on $150 a week; I was feeding 3 people eating hotdogs.
There’s a lot more hunger and hardship in America than you seem prepared to realize. It’s silly to compare the dollar a day that you’d spend in Tanzania to California; the cost of living is obviously far different.
Please, get out of your PC bubble and go report on real people trying to do real things, not just your imagination about the third world, and not just celebration of faux-poverty posing yuppies. Unimpressed.
8. ShawnD | 12.30.08
“The couple, who are both teach English and social justice in southern California high schools, tried to live for one month eating no more than a dollar’s worth of food a day each.” BUHAHAHAHAHA! Oh Eilene Zimmerman, they would be proud of your English.
9. Renee | 12.31.08
I would love to read more about this! We are a family of four and we spend
roughly $200.00 a week including paper and cleaning products.
I know a few families that have less than us and they always reached for the cookies and chips first. I have always wondered why….your article has shown me that we are all a like we always want something we can not afford.
10. Claudia | 12.31.08
Best news coverage on these two I’ve seen so far. Also interesting comments to contemplate. Thank you all.
11. Stephan | 01.02.09
I eat once a day. I don’t need to eat anymore than that. I eat locally raised, grass-fed meat and eggs only. With others, I raise chickens and pigs. The agricultural revolution is what is responsible for all the wars, greed, consumer frenzy market systems that are wiping out life on this planet. This planet has been overpopulated with humans, to the detriment of not only large numbers of other species, but, humans themselves.
The agricultural revolution was the biggest mistake we ever made, and it will cause our species to go extinct in time. In the meantime many will suffer and die. The pinnacle of this destruction has been the gigantic multinational conglomerates like Monsanto and Cargill shoving people off their native lands and into the worst slums on earth. These people ate animal foods primarily, and now their land has been ruined to raise grains to make these huge corporations extremely wealthy. This is and has been the real problem for the last 10,000 years that nobody wants to think about, or are too ignorant of historical reality to fathom.
This earth has seen way too much destruction in the name of agriculture. Vegans are not any solution. They are a big part of the problem. We hunted our food for millions of years, and were strict carnivores, until the game ran out. The adoption of animal husbandry is what kept our natural diet in tact. All the rest has created massive destruction to the ecosystem of planet earth.
Going back to grass-fed farming can help reverse global warming, and give us the nutrients we need. Humans have become so ill because of poor diets. We need animal food to be healthy. Period. The rest is merely starvation food. We as a species need to drastically reduce our numbers and get back to our natural diets if we are going to continue our existence. Otherwise we will become extinct. It’s that simple.
12. Debra | 01.04.09
Four years ago, I became severely ill, spent my life savings and retirement nest egg on medical bills, and began collecting Social Security Disability and Medicaid. Managing my illness requires not only medication and gentle exercise, but strict adherence to a healthy diet. For the last 3 years, I taught myself to eat well on my $3.00 a day grocery budget. I supplemented the cash with $30 a month in non-perishables from the local food cupboard. They allowed me to take more than that, but since most donated food has added sugar, salt, fat and preservatives, I couldn’t use the majority of what they had available. They don’t carry fresh food. I am also too young for senior centers, where you can get a balanced meal for a $2.50 donation. I have a friend who is a senior with almost $500,000.00 in the bank. She got her lunches Monday through Friday for that $2.50.
During the last year, rising prices have affected my budget, just they have everyone else’s, so my food allowance has dropped to $1.75 a day. I can no longer afford most fresh produce. I certainly cannot buy bulk, which requires an upfront outlay of cash. Low income people don’t have that. I now obtain most of my food from the food pantry. So my health is suffering again, and my medical bills are increasing — paid for by the taxpayers. That’s far more expensive for the country, terrible social policy, and hardly good news for me, either. I was doing well a year ago, starting to work part time, exercising more, gaining strength. I do buy a few inexpensive produce items, like bananas and apples, and feel lucky to have them. And I make soup, lots of it, and I dilute it 50% from what the recipes specify, to fill me up and make it last longer. And I have a pretty good supply of beans to put in it.
I want to be healthier. I want to be less dependent on others. And though I will never be as healthy as I used to be, I certainly can improve, with some reasonable effort on my part. But it also takes healthy food, which is out of reach right now. Instead of assisting me with an extra dollar or two a day for fruit and vegetables, we as a nation are devoting thousands of dollars each month for medical treatment that, at best, slows down my rate of deterioration.
I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. My hope is that this year, we will shift our social policy in that direction.
13. Allison | 01.27.09
It’s a myth among the non-poor that poor people are less wise about food than people with money. Wealthier people are able to make choices that poor people do not have the luxury to make. When it comes to preserving fresh, whole foods, wealthier people have more space and more efficient storage methods. Wealthier people have more choices on when to shop, how often to shop, and where to shop, among other luxuries.
Don’t look at the diet of a poor person and judge his or her knowledge negatively; instead, educate YOURSELF by learning about the circumstances that lead to this type of diet.
14. Faucet | 02.24.09
I was really surprised that Ramen noodles weren’t a part of their diet. At only 15 cents a pack (plus a little water from your faucet) it’s a great way to add variety to your diet. Our family has Ramen noodles at least once a week. It helps keep the grocery bill and taste good too! I respect this couple but they could have added quite a bit of variety to their diet, it seems Ramen should be a part of everyone’s diet at least once a month. To make a low sodium alternative make 4 packs with only 2 packs of spice, it’s Ramen at 50% less sodium.
15. Kate | 03.02.09
I started university in the mid ’90s eating $30 a month of food, about what this couple tried. There were several quick lessons to be learned. One was that produce was expensive. The second was that potatoes were extremely expensive for the vitamins and calories they provide, while also heavy to carry. I reserved them for microwave lunches when necessary. The third was that it was worth taking my half day free of work and homework a month to travel an hour by bus to the bulk store to buy the largest bags of oats, lentils or whatever bean was cheapest, onions, and cabbage I could get. A large bottle of veg. oil will last months if you never deep fry, which is healthy to do. Also, you need some kind of animal protein if you are too frugal to buy b12 supplements, and something dark green or orange (kale or carrots) with vitamin a. Baking your own bread is cheapest, and so you need yeast, flour, and salt, no matter how much the price of flour has gone up (50% in the last year), it is less than the cost of premade bread… Bread can be set before work and kneaded and baked after work, before bed.
The diet is monotonous, but if you eat 2 cups of cabbage a day, extremely cheap and relatively healthy. We really scrimped (no new clothes for almost a year — luckily students don’t need to look very sharp) for the bulk at first, but it really paid off. Peanut butter toast every morning and lentil/rice/cabbage stew for most dinners and lunches with oat bread are healthy if predictable, and saving so much on scratch foods allows you to splurge on the odd new veg or pork roast sale or jar of salsa or spice rack addition. People really do spend an amazing amount on eating out and convenience foods that save very little time, like instant oatmeal.
Now that I’m better off and no longer a student, the tricks I learned like soaking all staple beans and grains overnight to speed cooking have really helped me to learn to be a better cook. Diet for a small planet is invaluable if you are worried about meat-free nutrition. Your health will also improve if your only fat intake is fried onions in lentil stew, peanut butter, and a glass of milk or slice of cheese a few times a week. You also become much more appreciative of the odd strip of bacon or boiled egg, and of natural flavours.. Everyone should at least try a frugal meal once a week or once a day - it’s why our parents’ generation is so healthy, being brought up on efficiently made food from scratch - not so hard or slow to make, really.
16. willoughby | 03.19.09
what screwed up californians these two are. this is what’s wrong with our society, not what’s right with it. for starters, they teach h.s. courses titled english (i’m fine with that) but then one titled “social justice” - come on, is there really an h.s. course offered in california dealing with social justice??? i am simply dumbfounded, i thought that level of irrelevance was only found in colleges and universities where the profit motive has driven them to offer such ridiculous courses.
if you want a course in social justice, then get involved in something.
17. Jamierae | 03.19.09
I am dissapointed by how many people are chastising this couple for raising awareness. So what if they aren’t ACTUALLY following a perfect third world country diet? So what if they have the opportunity to go back to a lifestyle that most of us already enjoy? So what if their methods weren’t scientific method perfect? I don’t think it’s fair to name call when these folks have encouraged a lot of people to think about those less fortunate. Could we focus less on the means and simply celebrate the ends?
18. InF | 03.19.09
In response to Faucet’s comment regarding why Ramen wasn’t apart of their diet, it is because most Ramen noodles are not vegetarian (vegetarian Ramen cost substantially more than 15 cents, >$1). A few girls at my university (University of Michigan) did a similar thing to this couple (one-dollar-a-day.blogspot.com), their diet consisted mostly of Ramen, oatmeal, rice and lentils.
Personally I’ve never tried to live off of a dollar a day, but when thinking about it, I’m not sure if it will really be as monotonous. When I started graduate school, I slowly switched from a mainly Chinese food diet to a more western diet mostly just to explore different food options. I’ve found western cuisine is fairly expensive in my opinion. There are many Chinese dishes I can think of that require very simple and cheap ingredients. You can pickle vegetables for relatively little money, they last a long time and you can vary the flavor greatly depending on what you use as pickling agent. Soybeans can be braised in soy sauce, sugar and star anise to create surprisingly good flavors. If soy milk is too expensive to buy, make your own soy milk. A cup of soy beans can produce a gallon of soy milk, all you need is a blender, cheese cloth, and a pot. A block of tofu costs $1? Not if you make it your self, and you’d be surprised at how easy it is to make tofu too.
Granted I don’t know how much money making these things will cost. My point is, there have been lots of poor people before us and in many parts of the world. Their food is not boring, nor is it monotonous.
19. c.e.kestner | 03.19.09
I notice that not a single respondent mentioned anything about container gardening - which costs very little if you grow food from seed. Beans, rice, pasta - yes, those’re the choices for the poor because they fill the belly. Pasta sauce made from container-grown tomatoes costs little. Home-grown bell peppers and beans make a good meal. I also noticed that many of the respondents didn’t seem to hit on the idea of making group buys - i.e., making a shopping trip with one’s neighbors to buy food in bulk. Someone is feeding her three-person family on $ 20-25 day?!? $ 600-750 a month. You can eat pretty darned well on $ 600/month.
20. c.e.kestner | 03.19.09
Oh, as for NON-vegan diets, let’s see. 1-1/2 pounds ground beef, $4. One pound of pinto beans, $0.70. One-half pounds of onions, $0.50. $5.20 = 8 bowls of chili at a cost of $0.65 per serving.
21. raised eyebrow | 03.20.09
For years I lived on one meal a day and spent $70 per month on food. ($26 per week/$2.25 per day) Now, my boyfriend and I eat 1-2 meals per day and live on $335 (for food) per month. ($42 per person per week/$5.40 per person per day.)
This includes the cost of going out and groceries combined. These also include special foods, since both of us are on special diets (low sodium, low dairy).
22. Kenneth Hecker | 03.21.09
The intent appears honest; to learn. There are many available conclusions that can be drawn from this effort. Each of us should be sympathetic to the idea that smaller quantities of decently prepared food can be healthy, satisfying and economical at the same time. I am older, partially disabled and have lived alone for a good number of years. I love to cook and always prepare very large quantities of a dish I like. Then I enjoy the benefit of refrigeration and freezing to preserve my excess, so I can parcel out a few ounces of a protein filled main dish per day. I have learned to eat about 14 ounces of food per day. My main entree usually costs out to less than 60 cents per serving but the produce for salad and fruit add substantially to the days cost. My total meal costs end up $10 per day including my terrible habit of drinking beer in lieu of water.
23. dick bohanon | 03.23.09
comments which try to belittle the couple’s efforts are worthy of ignoring.
what have you DONE lately to improve the situation?
shopping for food takes some “work” to get good deals,
but a dollar saved is always worth more than a dollar earned.
eating less wont exactly hurt us.
24. Mom’s smart daughter | 03.23.09
To Debra who is on SSI: You are eligible for the senior meals which in our area are known as “Peace Meals” served at the Senior Center. Generally,the same meal is served to the Meals-on-Wheeels recipients. There is also a Catholic Charity program (subsidized by the government) which allows you to buy a large box of food for a fraction of the cost whether or not you are in need, provided that you provide help to the regular workers at the site. You are eligible for Thanksgiving baskets and Christmas or other holiday baskets from either your synagogue church or the Salvation Army. I live in a rural area and until becoming disabled myself I was a social Security attorney. I found lots of resources for my clients. Senior Centers are generally flll of produce that the seniors or other hobby gardeners donate. There are also cooperative gardens in some areas. The senior center in our area also provides free exercise classes. Good luck
25. D Outlaw | 04.05.09
Thought provoking Banter…I thought it was very informative…everyone contributed something…collectively we can see a pattern of concern and careing…a very good thing…I am glad I read this and live in america. I hope we continue on the path of openeness and diversity of .
26. Steve Slater | 06.15.09
I’ve been doing something similar while my wife is visiting her family in Europe for a month. I’m not trying to exactly stay under $1 per day, but I am close. Buying organic buckwheat, barley, red lentils. I test them for quality by making sure they can sprout. Even the hulled buckwheat sprout in two days, the pearl barley gets a little beginning of a root. Pearl barley soaked over night and then well cooked with most of the water cooked away, is great cold a whole different consistancy the next day. I’m not spending that much time cooking, it is tasty and I fell very nourished. I wish there was a website to help people eat healthy, simple & cheap. For fast food, I tried putting buckwheat in the coffe grinder then boiling for less than 5 minutes, the red lentils worked that way as well. Got my inspiration from reading about Tibetans roasting whole barley, then grinding it and mixing it with boiling tea and Yak butter.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Ted | 12.29.08
I am so glad that you folks did this experiment. Sure it has its flaws, but it at least starts the conversation about how we in the first world over consume at the expense of others. I say well done!