A few weeks ago, my office had a United Way fundraising campaign. One of the events, and perhaps the most interesting, was a lunch event where contestants had to bring a meal they had prepared for under $10. It had to feed a family of four and was suppose to demonstrate how difficult it is to feed a family on a low income.
I thought it was a pretty cool idea but I didn’t hold a lot of faith in the $10 cap. I wondered if it was a convenient number or was based on research. The contestants noted that it was difficult to buy stuff under $10 at the supermarkets because they couldn’t take advantage of bulk purchasing (such as buying 12 chicken breasts at a lower cost per unit than 3). I figured that it cost us under $5 per person to eat in and so I decided to crunch the numbers, understanding that we are only a family of two.