This is the food we bought for $25 at a grocery store.

The need is strong in the Brazos Valley and while canned goods are directly donated to the food bank, the buying power that the food bank has is almost 5 times the normal consumer.

I went shopping with Teresa Mangapora from the Brazos Valley Food Bank.

The battle between budget and nutrition is fierce. With just 25 dollars, we bought what we thought would feed a family for a few days.

So how did we do?

$25.17 and food for a family for a few days. It's about 20-30 pounds of food, but includes things like milk and bread. The Food Bank doesn't accept things like that.

Compare that with what the food bank can buy.

"We're talking about 125 pounds of food," says Teresa Mangapora, executive director of the Brazos Valley Food Bank.

"We can take a dollar and acquire five pounds of food. So, not only can we get more food with that dollar, but we can get the kind of food that has not been donated, so we can fill the gap in what we don't have here but we know that individuals would love to have," she continues.

Filling the gap and filling pantries across the Brazos Valley.