How easy is it to make a healthy dinner for $3?
When the new U.S. dietary guidelines came out last week, food economist William Masters emailed a few colleagues with a fun exercise — or at least what passes for fun among economists. (It was, after all, a spreadsheet.) The challenge: Design your own diet to figure out how affordable, and healthy, following the new guidelines would actually be.
The question of affordability, now a major political buzzword, is top of mind for Make America Healthy Again leaders and critics alike as President Trump and Democrats debate higher costs of living and who’s to blame for them. Trump administration officials have been promoting the new guidelines, which emphasize protein more than previous versions and for the first time urge Americans to limit or avoid ultra-processed foods, as healthier than previous versions as well as budget-friendly.
