“Normal” meals in Thailand are food stalls, $2 per meal if not less.
If you’d eat out twice a day in Switzerland, you’d go bankrupt.
Same with renting. Short term leases in Switzerland would be astronomical in price.
The way you air-quoted “super cheap Thailand” implies that it isn’t cheap to live there at all. It is, as long as you don’t go out of your way to spend extra.
I gotta disagree here, that's what low-skilled staff eat on their lunch break. It's usually not very tasty or hygienic (depending on what you order), so westerners only eat this once or twice to try it out before learning their lesson. Then they stick to restaurants which cost $5-12 per meal.
Your average western expat spends 30 euros per day on food in Thailand, if they eat out. I know this because a friend did a survey.
- Cheap first meal: $2-$3 - 2-3 Espresso from Supermarkets: $4 - Coffee or tea to go: $3 - Water: $1 - Eating out: $6-$30
So my average day in Food was about $16 - $41 per day. I rarely spend this much in Switzerland when buying only organic food and mostly from farmers. I save a lot on coffee by having a proper coffee machine.