As the winter months approach, many stave off the cold with warm meals and comfort food, so spare a thought for hundreds of people across the region eating on just $10 a week.
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The Oaktree anti-poverty organisation has challenged Australians to feed themselves for $2 a day - the world benchmark for extreme poverty - for five days in May as part of their Live Below The Line campaign.
Almost 250 people in Wollongong alone have signed up for the challenge, including 20-year-old student Tom Wilkinson.
After taking the challenge in 2013, this year he has pooled resources with four friends to buy bulk items such as rice and vegetables to sustain themselves through the week.
"The first time you go into the shops with $2 a day, you realise how expensive everything is," he said.
"You get excited by a special and then devastated you can't get basics like milk or eggs."
Shopping on such a limited budget had opened his eyes to hardships faced by those in poverty. "But as hard as it is, this is not even a true representation of poverty. I still sleep in a bed, drive my car, use my laptop."
His group, the Noodle Ninjas, aims to raise $2300 for poverty campaigns.
See livebelow theline.com.au/team/noodle-ninjas to donate.
