Yuppie beans are around $3/pound, so $1/day should do for protein. Carbs in the form of rice or potatoes are cheaper. Veggies and fruit are about the same.

In other words, food can be about as expensive as cable tv.

you're changing the topic. the point is that people's baseline expectations keep rising.

your point is spurious because you reason that because a month's worth of food costs more than a month of cable tv, one should not sacrifice cable tv for food