HOW TO FEED THE HOMELESS FOR CHEAP (LESS THAN $4 USD PER PLATE)

Looking to do some grassroots community outreach by giving meals out to the homeless?

Here's exactly how you can serve eight plates of the below-pictured spaghetti meal (plus water and utensils!) for approximately $3.77 USD per plate.

1. Spaghetti - costco wholesale

This spaghetti retails for $16. It's a bundle pack that includes eight individual packs of spaghetti.

You only need one pack out of the eight packs you get to make eight plates.

$16 / 8 packs / 8 plates served per pack

= $0.25 per plate.

2. GROUND BEEF - COSTCO WHOLESALE

A photo of this item isn't available online right now, but as of September 2023 Costco has 4 lbs of American Wagyu ground beef retailing for $15.99.

All 4 lbs are needed to make 8 of these plates. So,

$16 / 8 plates

= $2 per plate.

3. tomato sauce - costco wholesale

This three-pack of Prego tomato sauce retails for $11. You will only need to use one of the bottles to make enough spaghetti for eight plates. So,

$11 / 3 bottles per pack / 8 plates per bottle

= $0.46 per plate.

4. Sweet kale salad - costco wholesale

This two-pack of Sweet Kale salad retails for $5.99. You will only need one of the bags included in this two-pack to make enough salad for all eight plates. So,

$6 / 2 bags per pack / 8 plates per bag

= $0.38 per plate.

5. kirkland brand water bottles - costco wholesale

This case of water contains 40 individual bottles and retails for $5.99 including tax. That's $0.15 per bottle.

6. plastic forks - costco wholesale

This pack of plastic forks retails for about $16.13 including tax. That's about $0.03 per fork.

7. napkins - costco wholesale

These napkins retail for about $13.98 including tax. If you provide 2 napkins per plate, that's about $0.12 per plate.

8. food containers - smart & final

I can't find the exact product online right now, but a 100-pack of large 3-compartment styrofoam containers retail for about $18 at Smart & Final. That makes these containers about $0.18 each.

10. creme savers - michaels

These Creme Savers candies retail for about $4.30 including tax. There are 42 candies in this pack. If you include two candies per plate, that's

$4.30 / 42 candies per pack x 2 candies per plate

= $0.20 per plate.

grand total - $3.77 per plate

Please note that the brackets used below do not signify multiplication:

$0.25 (spaghetti) + $2.00 (ground beef) + $0.46 (tomato sauce) + $0.38 (sweet kale salad) + $0.20 (Creme Savers) + 0.03 (fork) + 0.12 (napkins) + $0.15 (bottled water) + $0.18 (styrofoam container) = $3.77 per plate

Happy community outreach!