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This is pretty stunning. It explains in one sentence why obesity and poverty go hand in hand and result in the curious fact that Mississippi is both the poorest state in the Union and the most obese state in the Union.
The other curious fact, for which I have no data, is that when I was poor, I spent much of my day preparing food. I found the cheapest food took the most time to prepare. The way to save was to spend most of Sunday making food for the week. It involved making spanish rice, black beans, salsa, and pressure cooking a whole chicken. Once the chicken was done, I stripped it down to bones, skin, and a back, wrapped those in cheese cloth and re-cooked them into a soup stock. The soup stock was the basis for a dark red chili sauce. The rest of the stock can be re-heated with dried noodles for, you know chicken noodle soup.
The basic dinner was two enchaladas, rice and beans, using pre-fab corn tortillas. and Monterey Jack. Once the basic fixings are in the refig in air tight containers, dinner is ready in a few minutes in the microwave. Chopped cliantro and cumin helps keep the chicken from going bad. Using pork fat helps the flavor of the rice and beans. I used beacon ends.
The cheapest breakfast I found consisted of a three egg omelete, with Jack cheese, onions, mushrooms, served with coffee. It is remarkably filling.
Lunch is a problem. I used to make quesadillas with a lentil soup.
CG