The Challenge

My flatmate and I are undertaking a culinary challenge: to each live on less than $20 worth of food for one week.

Here are the rules:

1. If you spend over $20 for the week's food, you must pay $20 forfeit.
   Further, if you go over $25, you must put on a balaclava and walk through a shopping center.
   
2. You may add seasoning you already own, but no more than 1 teaspoon per meal of an item
   (e.g. oil, salt, sugar, spices).
   This only applies to things you would never eat by themselves.
   
3. All food eaten must be paid for, and at the price that Joe Public would pay.
   No gifts, loans, bartering, or asking for special treatment.
   
4. No sharing/split food purchases—your food should be separately prepared and purchased.
   Receipts or witnesses required.

 This challenge is an exercise by two people with plenty of money, for a short period, with a focus on cooking (which we are bad at). It's not about a frugal lifestyle or a balanced diet; it is a curiosity for the internet and an interesting departure from the status quo.

About Me
I am a terrible cook.
The few times I have attempted rice, the resulting congealed mess was rendered interesting only by the blackened base providing the morass with structural integrity. I once cooked a chicken dinner by frying frozen chicken, and then—when nothing good came of it—placing the frypan and its contents in the oven. The chicken was largely cooked, though it was flavored by the aroma of the wooden handle, which came out well done.
I subsist largely on sandwiches, fried eggs, oatmeal, fruit and coffee. Every once in a while I throw some spices at frying beef and hope that it somehow influences the taste through processes unknown.
I bought some cheese a while ago. What color is new cheese?
In short, I need this challenge to drag my culinary skills, like a caveman's knuckles, out of the grim wilderness and into the warm hearth of civilisation.


PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.ojbratland.com.ar/