Nutritional Challenge!!!!

I wanted to post a Nutritional Challenge for CZ members, and beyond.  It's a very simple challenge, but it requires strong committment and serious consideration.

The Challenge requires that you use $5 USD per day, per person, to provide food and beverages for 3 months.  There are a few "rules" for this Challenge and they are as follows:

• no "energy" drinks or alcoholic beverages are covered under the $5 allowance
• no "prepared" foods like rotisserie chicken or salad bars from grocery stores
• only foods and beverages are covered by the $5 allowance
• allowance may not be used for takeout, dining out, fast food, or convenience store food items
• no currently stockpiled groceries, supplements, minerals, or cooking oils in your pantry are permissable with the exception of condiments, herbs, and spices
• vitamin and herbal supplements, coffees, teas, bottled water, juices, milk (cow's, almond, otherwise) are all covered by the $5 allowance
• spices, roots, vegetables, fruits, herbs, meats, canned foods, bagged foods, etc., are all covered by the $5 allowance
• the allowance is $5 PER PERSON, PER DAY in your household and you are encouraged to use coupons to stretch the allowance as far as you can
• the challenge runs a total of 3 months - you have the option of using all of one month's allowance at one time, or spreading your allowance out throughout the month, but you cannot use 3 months' of the allowance to buy in bulk, etc. 
• the types of foods that you choose to purchase and where you purchase them from is your own choice
• "cheating" on this challenge is your own responsibility - either you're going to do this, or you're not
• after making this committment, post your successes, your strategies, and your recipes for stretching your allowance to create healthy and well-balanced meals for yourself and your family (if there are family members involved)

Food/beverage allowances:

• 1 person = $150 USD per month (30 days)
• 2 people = $300 USD per month (30 days)
• 3 people = $450 USD per month (30 days)
• 4 people = $600 USD per month (30 days)

This is a serious challenge that you are either going to accept and attempt, or not.  THIS CHALLENGE IS NOT A PLATFORM FOR ANY POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS OR PERSONAL LECTURES ON NUTRITION, PERSONAL BELIEFS, ETC!!!!  This is simply a challenge.  There is no prize for completing this 3-month challenge.  There are no kudos.  There will be no collection of data. 

This challenge is to provide a personal frame of reference so that we have experience in living under conditions of poverty that are typical (not atypical) in the United States. 

Again, this challenge is a serious invitation to experience what most people in the U.S. do on a daily basis.  It is solely for personal experience and growth and NOT a platform for any political discussion, personal lectures, or other agendas.