Avocado Toast Really Is Making Us Broke

Over the past few years, a debate has raged over the idea that avocado toast is keeping millennials in the poor house. The debate was originally spawned by Tim Gurner, the Australian business magnate when he appeared on 60 minutes.

“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for 19 dollars and four coffees at 4 dollars each,” he said. He wasn’t alone however as fellow Austrialian Bernard Salt said: “I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle-aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn’t they be economizing by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.”

Keep in mind we are talking about Australian money, so $22 would be $17 in US dollars.

Are these rich business magnates right though? Well, the debate isn’t really about avocado toast, it’s about the costs of eating out. When you really do the math, things get interesting.

Is eating out making people poor?

Using US-based prices the average avocado toast price seems to be around $8. We won’t get into the efficiency of the calories involved…