I praised the IRS for their useful web site. Today, I’m going to point y’all at the USDA. So don’t tell me I can’t ever find anything nice to say about government agencies.
The USDA has designed, tested, and made available a set of diet plans for different expense levels that are easily-prepared at home and that provide all the healthy, balanced, nutritious meals a family needs. The “thrifty” version of the plan would feed me for about $168 per month (according to their expense estimates, which they dutifully update monthly with fresh data). A family of four could get all of their USDA-approved recommended daily allowances of this-and-that for about $425–$500 per month (depending on the ages of the children).
The purpose of this “thrifty” plan is “to demonstrate how a nutritious diet may be achieved utilizing a modest budget or food stamp benefits.” It can be a help to people who, like me, are trying to lower their budgets but who don’t know a whole lot about nutrition.
A great deal of work went into this. And if you’ve been a taxpayer, you helped pay for it. So go download (or order) a copy of the cookbook, and the companion guide: Preparing Nutritious Meals at Minimal Cost.
