An American cabinet secretary has sparked widespread derision after outlining a bizarrely frugal $3 dinner she claims demonstrates how families can eat healthily on a budget.
‘It can cost around $3 a meal’
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on NewsNation last Wednesday, arguing that despite rising prices, affordable meals are still possible. Her comments came after the White House introduced a new food pyramid prioritising protein, vegetables, and fruit.
‘We’ve run over 1,000 simulations,’ Rollins stated. ‘It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing.’ She insisted this approach could save the average American consumer money.
This claim directly contradicts recent data. The latest Consumer Price Index found grocery costs rose by 0.7 percent in December. However, the White House maintains that food prices are falling, with Rollins presenting a chart labelled ‘Trump’s making healthy food affordable’ in the Oval Office.
Online backlash and AI mockery
The reaction on social media was swift and merciless. Online commenters ridiculed the suggestion, with some using artificial intelligence to generate images of the meagre proposed meal.
Democratic Representative Ted Lieu posted an image representing the dinner, using a single M&M sweet to signify Rollins’ vague ‘one other thing’. The Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee shared a visual on a school lunch tray, featuring a tin-foil-wrapped ‘mystery item’ labelled ‘MAHA!’ – a sarcastic acronym for ‘Make America Healthy Again’.
Progressive activist Jordan Uhl compared the meal to the infamous fare served at the disastrous Fyre Festival. ‘One whole tortilla?!’ exclaimed Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth, while others described the suggestion as ‘dystopian’.
A political feast of affordability debates
The episode taps into a potent political issue. President Trump has promoted the idea that Americans are living in a ‘golden age’, but many voters cited affordability as their top concern in the 2024 election.
The anti-Trump Lincoln Project mocked the proposal on X: ‘In Trump’s America you all get 1 piece of chicken, 1 piece of broccoli, 1 corn tortilla, 1 doll and maybe 1 or 2 pencils. Golden Age!’ This referenced Trump’s past suggestion that consumers could buy fewer dolls and pencils to offset tariff costs.
According to the USDA Economic Research Service’s 2026 outlook, the average home-cooked meal costs about $4.31 per person, making Rollins’ $3 target a challenging benchmark. The issue of living costs helped Democrats win several key elections last year, and they hope it will aid them in the upcoming midterms.
As the political battle heats up, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has urged Trump to take his economic message on the road. Recent trips to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Michigan, however, have been overshadowed by the President’s controversial remarks and confrontations, rather than detailed policy discussions on kitchen-table economics.
