Flavor does not matter, presentation does not matter but the food shouldn’t make you sick, and should ideally have enough calories per day for the average person to survive (2000 kcal min).
Edit: I am not in any danger of starving or malnutrition, nor am I insolvent. I’m mainly asking this question out of curiosity on how people would approach a solution :)
Soylent. Comes down to $3.42 CAD per meal if you have a year long, *pre-paid subscription (I have that price grandmothered in). All the amino acids and all the vitamins. I suggest having a normal meal once a day though, even if it’s just a sandwhich. I think not chewing anything really bums one out.
Maybe there are cheaper meals with beans or something, but those estimations don’t include the cost of travelling to and from the store or the energy it takes to actually cook it. On average it costs 35 cents to cook a meal and assuming one drives to the store; that’s another 78 cents for a 5km roundtrip. Soylent is shipped to your door, and you just mix it with water, so no cooking or travelling.
https://www.calculator.net/fuel-cost-calculator.html?tripdistance=5&tripdistanceunit=kilometers&fuelefficiency=10.7&fuelefficiencyunit=lp100k&gasprice=1.45&gaspriceunit=liter&x=Calculate
https://natural-resources.canada.ca/sites/admin/files/documents/2025-05/2025-FuelConsumptionGuide.pdf
https://www.directenergy.com/en/learn/home-energy-management/how-much-energy-does-oven-and-electric-stove-use