Human Nutrition for the Hungry:

A 30 Year Experiment on Least Cost Ration

by Paul VanRaden

To hungry people, food is the thing needed most. Millions of people are hungry because they are too poor to buy more food or better quality food. For hungry people, the goal of human nutrition is to get the nutrients they need at the lowest possible cost. When money is very short, good taste is a luxury. Any money that can be saved when buying food can be used for other needs such as housing, clothes, and medicine or other luxuries such as education. Billions of people, mostly in Asia and Africa, still must use half of their income to buy food.

To remind myself of the needs of the hungry, I put myself in their shoes. Each time I go to the grocery store, I buy only those foods that provide me with the most nutrients per dollar. The foods that I eat are called a "least cost ration" by animal scientists. Since 1987, I have eaten only the cheapest foods available with little regard for taste. For the past 30 years, the total cost of my meals, drinks, and snacks always added up to less than $3 per day except when away from home, rare visits to restaurants, or a few leftovers from family members not on the diet. My cost gradually decreased to $2.25 per day in 2005 because some basic food prices decreased and I became a better shopper after years of practice. After some inflation and deflation, the cost of my food, drink, and snacks increased to $2.86 in 2012 but then decreased to a new record low of $2.18 in 2017 for 2,070 calories per day (see Table 1).

When buying groceries, poor people should remember one main point. Foods that provide the most calories per dollar usually are the best deals. Among high energy, low cost foods, those having more protein, vitamins, or minerals should be selected as a secondary goal (see Table 2). The foods that I buy provide close to the recommended daily intake of most nutrients and average 950 calories per dollar. A few foods such as rice, dried noodles, corn flakes, peanut butter, and macaroni and cheese provide >1000. Since 1987, hot dogs with 989 and bologna with 672 calories per dollar have been the only meats that qualified for my diet. At the grocery store, multiply the calories per serving times the number of servings and then divide by the cost of the item to obtain the calories per dollar (or euro, or yen, or other local currency) in your market place. Happy shopping and dining.

The diet helps you avoid both starvation and obesity because the nutrients are so affordable and the standard meals prevent overeating. Breakfast is usually a rotation between corn flakes and raisin bran except for 2 eggs on Sunday. Lunch is a bologna sandwich every weekday. Dinner is a four day rotation between spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, noodle soup, or rice and lentils topped with a little spaghetti sauce. The dinners each include one hot dog. The only snacks are 1/3 carrot per day, peanut butter, and ice cream. The only drinks are a half cup of juice per day, one glass of tea, and tap water. The diet helps you consume less of earth’s resources, leaving more for others. That’s why I have dined on these foods since 1987.

Food is easily available in America and costs very little, about $2 per day. Hundreds of millions of additional consumers could live and eat here if more of us dine on the VanRaden ration. I recommend it.

Table 1. Foods included in the least cost ration as of August 2017 and calories provided.

Food	Price $ / package	Net size (grams)	Net size (U.S.)	Servings / package	Servings / week	Calories / serving	Calories / dollar
Rice	4.99	2268	5 pounds	50	5	160	1603
Lentils	1.69	454	1 pound	8	3	70	330
Macaroni / cheese	0.42	206	7.25 ounce	3	3	240	1429
Spaghetti	1.00	454	1 pound	8	5	200	1600
Spaghetti sauce	2.50	737	26 ounce	10	4	70	280
Margarine	1.25	454	1 pound	32	4	70	1792
Dry noodles	2.00	510	18 ounce	24	4	190	2280
Hot dogs	0.89	340	12 ounce	8	7	110	989
Bologna	1.25	454	1 pound	12	6	70	672
Wheat bread	1.99	454	1 pound	20	10	80	804
Whole milk	3.39	3901	1 gallon	16	12	150	708
Corn flakes	1.47	510	18 ounce	16	7	130	1415
Raisin bran	2.09	530	18.7 ounce	9	7	190	818
Juice, 10% real	1.89	3780	1 gallon	16	5	80	677
Ice tea mix	6.99	1420	50.2 ounce	80	7	80	916
Peanut butter	4.19	794	28 ounce	35	7	200	1671
Carrots	0.79	454	1 pound	5.8	2	30	220
Eggs, jumbo	1.99	851	30 ounce	12	2	70	422
Ice cream	2.39	792	1.5 quart	12	7	180	904
Average / day¹	2.18					2070	950

¹Weighted by number of servings / week for each food

Table 2. Nutrients per serving of food and total daily intake as percent of recommended.

Food	Nutrients (g)				Vitamins¹ and minerals² (% of recommended)
	Carb	Fat	Protein	Fiber	A	B1	B2	B3	B6	C	Folate	Ca	Fe
Rice	35	0	3	0		15		8			15		8
Lentils	20	0	10	11		10			25	4	9	2	15
Macaroni	50	10	8	2								8	15
Spaghetti	41	1	7	2		35	15	20			30		10
Spag. sauce	12	1	2	3	10					10		4	4
Margarine	0	8	0	0	10
Dry noodles	26	7	4	1		10	10	10	10				8
Hot dogs	4	10	3	0								4	2
Bologna	3	7	3	0		2						4	2
Bread	17	2	4	2	10	8	4	4	4			8	6
Whole milk	11	8	8	0	4					4		25
Cornflakes	24	0	3	0	20	25	25	25	25		25		25
Raisin bran	41	7	5	4	25	25	25	25	25		25		25
Juice, 10%	17	0	0	0						100
Ice tea mix	18	0	0	0
Peanutbutter	6	17	8	2									4
Carrots	7	0	1	2	110	7	4	5	7	10		2	2
Eggs, jumbo	0	4	6	0	6	2	15		4		10	2	4
Ice cream	22	12	3	0	6							8	6
Total / day	290	89	66	19	119	111	78	83	75	89	89	81	109

¹Vitamin: B1 = thiamine, B2 = riboflavin, B3 = niacin, B6 = pyridoxine

²Minerals: Ca = calcium, Fe = Iron

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