> You really need to optimize for calories. Pasta, dried beans, potatoes, not much meat or dairy, even produce is a bit of a luxury. Pasta, rice, beans, and po

> You really need to optimize for calories. Pasta, dried beans, potatoes, not much meat or dairy, even produce is a bit of a luxury. Pasta, rice, beans, and potatoes are good for calories but time consuming to prepare. They're also difficult to prepare if you've got a shitty stove, a lot of cheap apartments have ridiculously terrible electric stoves. The above food are also bland without some seasoning which is another thing to buy. A microwave a one or two good microwave safe containers is usually much cheaper, faster, and more consistent. If you're on $5 a day to eat you'll get more variety and options just getting canned food. While dollar stores lack fresh produce they usually have a fair amount of canned produce. While obviously not as good it's better than pasta and rice every day.