A photo of a packed café offering discounted meals to struggling Australians highlights the severity of the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.

Hare Krishna Food For Life’s Crossways Vegan and Vegetarian restaurant on Swanston Street in Melbourne‘s CBD has been providing meals at a low cost since it opened in 1983.

All-you-can-eat meals are offered twice a day, six days a week for $9.50, with discounts provided for students, pensioners and concession card holders.

‘Generations of tertiary students have relied on Crossways’ meals to fuel their studies: we hope you’ll call in, whether you’ve returned to on-campus classes or are still studying from home,’ its website reads.

‘If you’re a pensioner or a concession cardholder, just show your card to receive a discount. You can relax at Crossways.

‘If you’ve fallen out of the welfare safety net, you can find a place here.’

A picture of the busy restaurant shared to Reddit on Wednesday highlighted how the restaurant was increasingly relied upon by many due to tough financial times. 

‘Celebrating Gopals Hare Krishna food charity on Swanston St: the only thing keeping me from starving on the streets of Melbourne,’ the pictures caption read.

Others agreed, claiming the low-cost meals helped them through financial difficulties and were delicious too.   

‘If you are hungry they don’t care about your [religious] affiliation, have some food friend. Mind blowing kindness given the state of, well everything,’ one person wrote. 

‘If you’re waged, def pop in and drop in a few more dollars than asked for the food, it’s worth it, and the extra bucks help them give food to folks that can’t really spare any,’ a second commented. 

‘The food there is utterly amazing – I dare anyone to find similarly priced meals that are a fraction of the taste and substance of this place,’ a third person added.

A fourth added: ‘When I was a child, after my mum & dad divorced – mum would take us here frequently. We thought it was such a treat. Discovered years later the only reason we went was because mum couldn’t afford to feed us some weeks.’

However some online commenters said they would not attend a Hare Krishna facility regardless of how cheap the food was.

Hare Krishna is an offshoot of Hindu theology, and had long battled accusations of cult-like mental capture of its adherents. 

It comes after Foodbank – which is the nation’s biggest food charity – found 3.7 million households in Australia experienced food insecurity.

Nearly half of those surveyed reported reducing their purchasing of fresh produce and protein to cope. 

The organisation’s Victorian hub was forced to launch an emergency food driver in August to restock its shelves amid unprecedented demand and spiralling donations.

Foodbank Victoria CEO David McNamara said working families were increasingly needing support from the Foodbank.

‘The middle class, what we all aspire to be, are the ones feeling this impact,’ he told the Herald Sun.

‘We have got mums and dads working two jobs to put families first and to put food on the table, and unfortunately they are putting themselves to bed without food, they’re sending their kids to bed without food – and that’s not our society, that’s not who we think we are.’