That's enough for 50 servings, meaning you could feed yourself for $0.20 a day. Of course this ignores PPP, malnutrition and other factors, but don't underestimate how cheap food actually is.
A few years ago, I realized that several Asian cuisines are actually very cheap. Indian dishes are a great illustration of how you can make wonderfully tasty meals with very little of the expensive ingredients, and cheaper than fast food—not to mention way healthier.
It's not hard to be cheaper than fast food, other than possibly dollar/value menus.
All of the "staples" are insanely cheap - potatos, rice, etc. Most vegetables are as well. Toss in som emeat of whatever was on sale and you can easily cook a meal for 4 for 10 dollars, if not quite a bit cheaper.
Exactly. You just have to look past the 'big steak with some chips' meals, and appreciate something with staples plus a smaller portion of meat (e.g., stirfry, pasta, curry/stew bulked with potatoes).
Frozen veggies are healthier and cheaper. Plus you get to cook them to your taste, rather than what the canner decides (cooking too long, adding salts, etc.)
Frozen veggies definitely win if you have access to refrigeration -> access to energy. Canning is a revolutionary preservation technique in that it allows for long-term storage of perishables at room temperature.
1lb of raw rice has ~1200 calories, so 5lb has ~6000 calories, so a person needs about 2.5lbs per day.
At 200 calories per cup of cooked rice, you'd need 1.5 servings to get close to a "cheeseburger equivalent" meal in calories, and my "cheeseburger equivalent" system gives you 6-7 cheeseburgers per day at about 350 calories each. This means a person is eating 9-10 cups of rice per day.