Part II: Spend up to two pages, double spaced, reflecting upon the cost of your standard diet. Are you getting enough calories and sufficient nutrients? Are some of the nutrients too high or too low?. Also reflect on the total cost of your daily meal plan. How much was it? Was it close to what you think you spend on food per day? What seems like a key expense?

Part III: Now try to decrease the price of your daily meal plan to $6.00/day, making a table with identical headings and cited sections as Part I (Food, Cost per serving, Calories, Fat, Sugar & Added Sugar, Sodium, Vit. C, Vit. D, Calcium, Iron), but substituting and omitting foods as needed to reflect your individual preferences and priorities while staying within budget. Note that while in this table you will need to report the nutrient make up of each of the foods you select, the intent is not to increase the nutritional value of your meal but rather decrease the cost. Try your best to stay within the $6.00 limit. Hint: Does shopping at different stores/distributors change the cost?

Part IV: Using the table from Part III as a starting point, try to remove “empty calories” from your $6 meal plan and eat nothing but nutrient rich foods. In this table, you will want to stay within the $6.00 limit but will need to omit unhealthy food items and include healthy foods only (defined how?). Can this be done? What are the principal difficulties that you face?

We will not deduct points if you are unable to either a.) stay completely within the cost limits or b.) create a menu plan that is lower than 75% RDA in two out of 4 micronutrients [Vitamins C, D, Calcium, and Iron] and no higher than 125% of the recommended total fat, sugars, and sodium. However, if you describe what tradeoffs you had to make and why, we will allot one bonus point.

Part V: Reflect upon the challenges you faced in Part IV, where not only did you have to cut costs, but also stay within recommended nutrient parameters. Did you find anything particularly challenging? Does this new diet seem feasible? In the context of what we’ve learned in class, do you feel like your diet is affected by the food environment around you? What could you change in your food environment (i.e. travel to different grocery stores, buy generic, etc.) that would affect your diet cost? This reflection should be two to three pages.