Breakfasts vary. Lunches are usually sandwich-based. Dinners always consist of some form of meat, some form of starch (potatoes, bread, rice etc etc) and some form (or 2) of veggies. Desserts? Meh. Sometimes. If we had them every night, they wouldn't be a treat.
And don't get me going on leftovers. I've got leftover pizza for my lunch today. Pizza was made from leftover spaghetti sauce. Made a big pot of sauce this weekend (~$15, fed us one night, plus I froze enough for another night, plus I made pizza (homemade pizza, homemade sauce...one of my favorites!!) last night. And I'm having it leftover for lunch today.
$5.49 / day to eat on for one would be do-able, but bland. For a family would be eeeeeeeeeasy.
Yes, those economies of scale when cooking for a family.
My answer to "bland" is a couple of bottles of really tasty sauce. The cabbage soup last night got a dash of Thai peanut sauce. Tonight it will get mint chutney from India. A little goes a long long way, thank, goodness, because those yummifiers are pricey.