A ten pound bag of russet potatoes costs $2-3 here (high CoL SoCal), and that's >3,000 kcal. A four pound bag of pinto beans is $4, that's >5,000 kcal. That's four days of 2,000 kcal per day for $7. Likewise 32,000 kCal of rice at Costco is $24 so it gets even cheaper when you buy those 20-40 pound bags. That goes for quinoa, lentils, and all kinds of other staples. Base caloric requirements are really cheap to cover with the basics, and should cost $50-60/mo. The rest can be spent on fresh meat, veggies, and fruit.
Under $200/mo is relatively easy to achieve as long as you know how to cook or can tolerate a repetitive diet. Stretching it to $250-300/mo takes it up a notch and makes it a very balanced and varied diet with whatever fruit and vegetables you want. I only run it up to $300/mo when I buy higher quality meats at Costco and eat an avocado a day.
Definitely highly location dependent. In Hungary we spend ~3 times that for 2 people. And I definitely don't buy the cheapest. So to me, $200 looks realistic.
