Feeding a Family of 5: ICDS Food Budget Estimation

A district nutrition officer must estimate the minimum monthly food budget for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) under ICDS guidelines — by hand, using per-unit market prices and recommended dietary allowance (RDA) targets, before touching any spreadsheet or calculator app.

# Aplly.xyz Case Study Submission

## Title
Feeding a Family of 5: ICDS Food Budget Estimation

## Type
Data Analytics

## Difficulty
Intermediate

## Estimated Time
60 minutes

## Overview
A district nutrition officer must estimate the minimum monthly food budget for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) under ICDS guidelines — by hand, using per-unit market prices and recommended dietary allowance (RDA) targets, before touching any spreadsheet or calculator app.

## Case Details

Function Focus: Manual estimation, decomposition by food group, per-unit cost scaling

Scenario:
The ICDS program officer for Guntur district needs to calculate a realistic monthly food budget for a benchmark family of 5 to inform the next quarter's cash-transfer pilot. She has the ICMR RDA tables for each age-gender group, current wholesale market rates from the district supply office, and a 15% buffer requirement for price volatility. She must decompose the total by food group — manually — before verifying with any tool.

Dataset Structure:
- Family composition: 2 adults (1 male, 1 female) + 3 children (ages 4, 7, 10)
- RDA table: daily requirement (grams/ml) per person for 7 food groups
- Market rate table: per-unit wholesale price (₹/kg or ₹/liter) for each food group
- Buffer: 15% added to subtotal for price fluctuation
- Constraint: total must not exceed ₹12,000/month (district benchmark)

Tasks:
1. Compute the total daily gram requirement for each food group across all 5 family members — show per-person and per-group subtotals
2. Convert daily group totals to monthly (30 days), then multiply by per-unit price to get a monthly line-item cost for each of the 7 food groups
3. Sum all line items and apply the 15% price-volatility buffer
4. Check whether the buffered total exceeds the ₹12,000 district benchmark — if it does, identify which single food group contributes the most to the overage (sensitivity check)
5. Only after submitting your manual answer, re-derive the numbers using a spreadsheet or AI tool and note any discrepancy

Expected Output:
A one-page estimation memo containing: per-food-group daily gram table, monthly cost line items, buffered total, overage flag (if any), and a sensitivity note naming the most cost-sensitive food group.

Evaluation Criteria:
Correct decomposition by person and by food group, explicit unit math on every line item, proper application of the 15% buffer to the subtotal (not per-item), and quality of the sensitivity check.

## Data Sources

Family Composition:
| Member | Age | Gender | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Father | 38 | M | Adult male |
| Mother | 35 | F | Adult female |
| Child 1 | 10 | F | Child (7-12) |
| Child 2 | 7 | M | Child (4-7) |
| Child 3 | 4 | F | Child (1-4) |

Daily RDA (grams/ml per person) per Food Group:
| Food Group | Adult Male | Adult Female | Child (7-12) | Child (4-7) | Child (1-4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cereals (rice/wheat) | 350g | 300g | 250g | 200g | 150g |
| Pulses (dal) | 60g | 55g | 45g | 40g | 30g |
| Vegetables (leafy + other) | 200g | 200g | 175g | 150g | 100g |
| Milk & milk products | 200ml | 200ml | 300ml | 300ml | 300ml |
| Oils & fats | 30g | 25g | 25g | 20g | 15g |
| Fruits | 100g | 100g | 100g | 80g | 60g |
| Sugar & jaggery | 30g | 25g | 25g | 20g | 15g |

Wholesale Market Rates (₹ per kg or per liter):
| Food Group | Rate (₹/unit) | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Cereals (rice) | 38 | kg |
| Cereals (wheat) | 32 | kg |
| Pulses (dal - toor/moong) | 115 | kg |
| Vegetables (mixed seasonal) | 45 | kg |
| Milk | 58 | liter |
| Oils & fats (refined) | 175 | liter |
| Fruits (seasonal) | 60 | kg |
| Sugar & jaggery | 42 | kg |

Constants:
- Price volatility buffer: 15%
- District monthly benchmark: ₹12,000
- Month: 30 days

## Solution Frameworks
Fermi-style decomposition, unit-cost scaling, single-variable sensitivity analysis

## Solver Guidance & Tutorials
Link to: "Manual Estimation for ICDS Budget Planning" tutorial

## What You'll Learn
- Structured estimation without spreadsheet crutches
- Per-capita RDA-to-cost translation for nutrition programs
- Identifying the most cost-sensitive line item in a multi-variable estimate
- Manual arithmetic discipline for field conditions (no device required)

## Tags
nutrition budgeting, ICDS, RDA estimation, food security, public health finance

## Registration Links
- Register as Solver
- Register as Evaluator

Family Composition:
| Member | Age | Gender | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Father | 38 | M | Adult male |
| Mother | 35 | F | Adult female |
| Child 1 | 10 | F | Child (7-12) |
| Child 2 | 7 | M | Child (4-7) |
| Child 3 | 4 | F | Child (1-4) |

Daily RDA (grams/ml per person) per Food Group:
| Food Group | Adult Male | Adult Female | Child (7-12) | Child (4-7) | Child (1-4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cereals (rice/wheat) | 350g | 300g | 250g | 200g | 150g |
| Pulses (dal) | 60g | 55g | 45g | 40g | 30g |
| Vegetables (leafy + other) | 200g | 200g | 175g | 150g | 100g |
| Milk & milk products | 200ml | 200ml | 300ml | 300ml | 300ml |
| Oils & fats | 30g | 25g | 25g | 20g | 15g |
| Fruits | 100g | 100g | 100g | 80g | 60g |
| Sugar & jaggery | 30g | 25g | 25g | 20g | 15g |

Wholesale Market Rates (₹ per kg or per liter):
| Food Group | Rate (₹/unit) | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Cereals (rice) | 38 | kg |
| Cereals (wheat) | 32 | kg |
| Pulses (dal - toor/moong) | 115 | kg |
| Vegetables (mixed seasonal) | 45 | kg |
| Milk | 58 | liter |
| Oils & fats (refined) | 175 | liter |
| Fruits (seasonal) | 60 | kg |
| Sugar & jaggery | 42 | kg |

Constants:
- Price volatility buffer: 15%
- District monthly benchmark: ₹12,000
- Month: 30 days

Fermi-style decomposition, unit-cost scaling, single-variable sensitivity analysis