Could you buy a week of groceries with only $18?

The annual Welfare Food Challenge kicked off Sunday.

More than 100 participants from across B.C. have signed up to try to eat on a total of $18 for the week.

Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer, MP Jenny Kwan and union leaders Victor Elkins and Glen Hansman were part of the Vancouver group who will take the challenge.

Organizers of the event said it’s held each year to show how tough it is to survive on $18 worth of groceries for seven days. That figure is calculated on the basic welfare rate, which hasn’t been increased for 10 years. After rent and other expenses, $18 a week is what organizers determined is left to buy food.

NICK PROCAYLO/PNG Fraser Doke lays out a nutritious $70 diet Sunday at the start of the Welfare Food Challenge in which participants are expected to buy all of the food they consume for a week with only $18.