One Dollar A Day

I had a conversation with a friend a few months ago dealing with poverty and how much villagers here could afford to spend on food on a daily basis. By the end of the conversation we settled on a figure that seemed correct. It was one U.S. dollar a day. I thought then that I should give it a try and see if I could do it. On a typical week, I spend roughly 35 U.S. dollars a week on meals.

Because of some circumstance of which I will blog about later, this weekend seemed to be an appropriate time to start my week long experiment. I just got back from the market where I bought some groceries. I returned home and tallied up the damage. I bought 4 medium sized potatoes, 1 small pumpkin type squash, 1 small cabbage, 2 small zucchini,2 red peppers, a weeks worth of rice, a package of noodles, and 3 eggs. I have already spent over half of my 7 dollars, roughly $3.75.

I will go to another market in the morning to pick up a few more veggies, and a small piece of meat. I will also weigh in to see how a week of eating like a villager works on the waste line.

I challenge you to give this a try too. Here are some guidelines I am following. I am not counting items such as cooking oil, salt, or other dried spices as villagers probably have these items on hand from a bulk purchase done annually. If you have some items growing in your garden or items you grew and preserved by drying you don't need to count those as most villagers will have a garden. Also, drink all the green tea you can stand. 1 dollar a day per adult in your household. Yes, some of the vegetables are cheaper here, but at least you will not have to gather firewood and build a fire to cook your food on, so it works out about the same.

? of the day for some hunger pains, who will give it a try?