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This thesis develops the first extension of least-cost diet calculations from individuals to whole households of differing compositions. Assessing whether individuals can and do meet their nutrient needs is empirically challenging. This thesis is among the first to comprehensively tackle these issues by assessing the affordability of nutrient-adequate diets in a low-income country setting, in this case Malawi. To do so, it expands the literature by first establishing aggregate nutrient requirements at the household level by defining the level of diet quality needed when meals are shared within the household, as they are in Malawi and many other settings. The resulting (normative) diet is denser in nutrients than any one member would need on her own, but sufficient to satisfy the nutrient needs of the neediest member consuming sufficient energy from the shared meal. Second, it applies linear programming models to …