How much food can you buy for Rs. 600 a month?

Here's my grocery list for this month. I've come up with this list trying to find the cheapest things with the best nutritional profile. The ghee is the only indulgence. I may need to sacrifice this if other more essential items are being compromised.

The calorific content of all this food is about 51000 kilo calories. That's 1700 calories a day. Honestly, it's more than I expected I could get for this amount. We'll have to see how this works in terms of a daily food plan. It's possible I've forgotten some essentials and will need to dip into the buffer or throw out the ghee.

Item	Quantity	Purchased at	Cost
White rice	2 kgs	Fair price shop prices for APL families ( I am simulating this because I don’t have a  ration card)	Rs. 21
Chana dal	0.5 kg	Rythu Bazaar Mehdipatnam, Hyd	Rs. 30
Masoor dal	0.5 kg	Rythu Bazaar Mehdipatnam, Hyd	Rs. 29
Gram flour (Besan)	0.5 kg	Rythu Bazaar Mehdipatnam, Hyd	Rs. 38
Assorted vegetables	3.5 kg	Rythu Bazaar Mehdipatnam, Hyd	Rs. 50X4 weeks = 200
Cooking oil (Palm oil)	1 kg	Reliance Mart	Rs.61
Masqati Ghee	100g	Kirana store near home	Rs.33
Wheat flour	3 kg	Fair price shop prices for APL families ( I am simulating this because I don’t have a  ration card)	Rs. 19.5
Milk	1.5 L	Kirana store near home	Rs. 54
Sugar	150 grams	Kirana store near home	Rs. 7
Salt	150 grams	Kirana store near home	Rs. 2
Tea dust	100 grams	Kirana store near home	Rs.20
Miscellaneous spices	200 grams (turmeric, chili powder, dhania powder, etc.)	Kirana store near home	Rs. 34
Buffer			Rs.51.5
Total			Rs. 600

What's the APL Nutrition Project all about?

In 2011, the Indian Government defined those families that earn at least Rs.28/day/head in urban areas or Rs.22 in rural areas as living above the poverty line (APL). Anyone earning less than that is defined as being below the poverty line (BPL)

I know this because I read about it in an article about two Indian Americans who tried to see if they could live in a rural area and eat at Rs. 18 a day. These guys said they could barely eat anything at that cost. The exact words of the article were these: "They ate parboiled rice, a tuber and banana and drank black tea: a balanced diet was impossible on the Rs. 18 a day which their briefly adopted ‘poverty' permitted." 

Kudos to these guys. Theirs was a praiseworthy experiment. Thanks to them, I got thinking and I am sure several people have been similarly inspired. 

This experiment made me think of many things, primary among which was the question: "What is the absolute best diet that someone can get at Rs.18 a day in rural India?".

My husband made a valid point that the experiment did not take into account the fact that the government provides rice, wheat, oil and sugar at subsidized prices in fair price shops and most people in rural areas holding an Above Poverty Line (APL) card can get these food items at half the market price. 

The next thing to consider was the disparity between prices in rural and urban areas. Since I live in a urban area, I arbitrarily assumed that the rural Rs. 18 would be my Rs. 20. It is arbitrary because I cannot find a scientific way to estimate it. 

So my question acquired more criteria and became this: "What is the absolute best diet a typical urban APL Indian can get at Rs. 20 a day, assuming he/she avails of all subsidies offered by the government?" 

That's what this project is about. I don't seek to simulate the experience or the diet of typical Indians living exactly on the poverty line. I seek to find the best possible nutrition for them with the money they can afford. Best nutrition here means, calorie-dense and macro-nutrient rich.

Aim:

Plan a diet for Rs. 20 a day that maximizes calorie and macronutrient intake. The diet should consist of easily available foods.
Stay on the diet for a minimum of 2 weeks
Record the following:

• Was the amount of food sufficient?Did it leave me feeling sated or hungry?
• Were my needs for macronutrients such as carbs, proteins and fat met?
• Were my needs for micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals met

Extrapolate my findings to find the ideal diet for an adult male/adult female who does hard labour. I am leaving children out of this because their needs are very different and I cannot extrapolate my experience to get a reasonable estimate for them

What are my credentials?

I'm logical and I am good at making sense of data. I have no qualification in nutrition, but I do understand it fairly well. 

What's the plan for the next couple of weeks?

I will post the diet plan here soon and for the next two weeks I'll maintain a daily log of what I eat, what it feels like and what kind of nutrition I'm getting.

Watch this space.