I was recently having an on-line discussion with some people that were
complaining about how AU$100,000 per year is a very hard amount of money
to live off.
Considering this amount is almost double the average salary in Australia
and well above the poverty line I thought that it was interesting to see
people struggling to live.
After a number of posts it became clear what was going on. They were
living well beyond their means.

Usually when you think why people would be struggling big things would come to mind such as
a big expensive house or a expensive car, or even wasting money on the latest gadgets like big TV's and such.

But with these people it was quickly apparent that it was even the basic things that was
causing them problem.

Apparently they were eating out EVERY meal of the day!

A break down of what one person spends was

Breakfast: $5
Lunch: $15
Dinner: $20

$280 per week on food. Thats $14,560 per year just for one person to eat.

To compare with my situation I will assume this person has a partner and also does the same.

That gives a grand total of $29,120 per year on food for two people. $30,000 is what a lot of people earn in a year.
My starting rate as a programmer was $28,000 and they are throwing it away on food.

Now I will compare that to my situation.

My girlfriend lives with me. We split the grocery shopping 50-50.

We are able to keep our weekly shopping to about $100. Keeping in mind that this includes toiletries, cleaning products and cat food.
If you take that out our food bill is probably more around $80. We then do go out at least once a week and spend at most $20 each.
To keep things simple I will say we spend $150 per week which is an over estimate but still that is for two people.

For comparison its $75 per week vs $280.
Or $3,900 vs $14,560 per person. This gives a saving of $10,660 per year!!
Or for a couple $7,800 vs $29,120 with a saving of $21,320 per year.

I would so love to eat out for every meal. But for one, I can't afford it. Second I can't justify the cost.
I could think of a lot better things to do with $10k than spend it on food.
Also a lot of the food you make yourself is better quality and healthier than the crap you can quickly pick up.