I also get about 25$ a day for meals. They accumulate over the month. At the end of the month I just buy shit from the market with them including alcohol and cleaning products and what not. They dont fucking care!!
Have you seen fast food prices recently? $25 is a meal deal with one additional burger/taco because the meal is too small to feed anyone older than a toddler.
Not saying that fast food is the cheapest option anymore, but it is a common option.
I live in a big US city and even before discounts and coupons i can get a 1000 calorie fast food meal for $10 all over town! Here is mcdonald's but the rest of them are competitive with this:
i usually end up at taco bell though they will sub black beans for meat on any item and it makes things super easy.