What does food cost where you live?

acogg

A couple of months ago hubby and I visited the US southeast to visit family. I was shocked by the high prices!

I live in a small town in the northwest US.

At a Kroger in Savannah, Georgia, store brand white bread was $2.50. At my Walmart and (Safeway is within a few pennies), 94 cents.

A gallon of milk at an alleged "dollar store" in Mississippi was $4.00 dollars! Here, that same gallon is $2.48.

18 pack of eggs where I live is about $2.50.

There were other foods that I was stunned by, but I would like to compare.

ottermotorcycle

I live in New York.
hahahahahahahaha

jms350

It depends on where you buy things. I live in Columbus, GA and absolutely everything is overpriced. Publix costs $4.09 for a gallon of milk. If I go to Sam's Club or the local IGA, I can find it for $3.39-$3.49. I try to keep my eye out for coupons on milk. I subscribe to the baby club at some stores even though I don't have kids just to save money. With a coupon, I can get it for $2.50 not including Ibotta.

For bread, it depends on brand. I buy the Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat 45 calorie bread and it is about $2.50 but I typically make my own to cut cost. A dozen eggs here cost $2.39.

I spend the weekend in Atlanta every other week and choose to shop at the local Farmer's Market. Everything is MUCH fresher and at a highly reduced price. We don't have a Kroger or a Safeway nearby. When I visited my cousin in New Mexico, I really enjoyed shopping at Safeway because of all the sales/coupon match ups.

GothicaAdore

I live in the North East. Things cost more here but the wages are higher too. I don't buy bread, but it costs me $1.69 for bakery bread and about $4.00 for a sliced loaf. Soy Milk is 3.99. Veggie patties run around $4.50 per box, but I tend to shop around as there are four grocery stores I pass in my normal week.

nikkylyn

Midwest here so food is not too bad. I still use coupons and shop sales to save money when I can.

jhmomofmany

If I shop at the only market in town: gallon milk $5.19; store brand wheat bread $2.49; wheat bread from bakery $4.19; dozen eggs $2.19; ground beef $3.69/lb; head iceberg lettuce $1.99; apples $1.79/lb; bananas $.99/lb. That's for a few things I can think of off the top of my head. I can get to a walmart where prices are lower and better selection if I drive forty miles.

brevislux

It depends on the type of food (and where you buy, of course. I'm referring to the cheaper places).

Israel is pretty known for having cheap and pretty high quality vegetables and fruits. Most fruits and vegetables cost about one dollar/kg or less, when they're in season. That's excluding expensive things of course, like mushrooms, asparagus and other special and imported fruits and veg. Most of them are locally grown. You can walk into a store with only 10$ and buy bags full of fruit and veg.
Other staples like rice, legumes, etc. are also cheap. But of course, brown rice is more expensive than white rice, whole bread more expensive than white bread etc.

Dairy is expensive though. Even before I went vegan I stopped consuming it, both because my stomach didn't react well to it but also because it was too expensive for me. One small package of low fat cream cheese was about 1.5$. One liter of milk was the same. One plain yogurt/with fruits is at least 1$. I'm sure now it's higher.

I know meat is very expensive. It can cost up to 10$ per kg normally. Fish are considered more expensive. Since I don't buy these things I'm not sure.


But soy milk is relatively expensive as well. It usually costs around 4$ per liter, depending on the type and quality. Nuts and seeds are very expensive, over 4$ for 100 grams!
I think all the packaged and frozen foods are really expensive too. As a student I could never afford to buy them.

Breads I'm not sure. I bake my own bread and the flour is really cheap. Again it depends, you can get the simple, white, unsliced, basic, supervised bread that costs less than 1$. If you want so-called healthy bread (meaning it has whole wheat flour, but it's still highly processed which is why I bake my own), prices go up to 3-4$.

Dozer561

2lbs frozen chicken breasts 6-7$
stone ground whole wheat store brand 2$
1lb white rice 2$
5lb potato bag, i wait to go on sale for 3$
milk 3.70 gallon$
eggs 18count 3.30$

fruit and veggies are expensive, but bananas are cheap .69 lb

south florida palm beach county

nikibean123

I live in the UK and here we have supermarket cheap brands which are the best for a budget. E.g. A KG of rice might be £2.50 for a branded pack but Sainsburys Basics or Asda Smartprice will do the same thing for £1. Supermarkets do EVERYTHING in these ranges (everything from vodka to shampoo to lettuce).

Meat and fish are the more expensive things - a pack of 2 decent salmon fillets can be £5 and a pack of 5 chicken breasts can go up to £6.50ish. Always best to buy in bulk!

lauren3101

Coming from the UK, I find it odd when you all talk about the differences in food prices. :laugh:

We obviously have 'budget' stores and 'posher' shops than others, and expensive brands and not so expensive brands, but we don't have the extreme differences I sometimes see mentioned here.

Junctionbox

I buy 1lb of fresh turkey breast steaks from Waitrose (UK) for £4.99, which equates to $8.33.

600g of strawberries (1.32lbs) is £3.00, which is $5.01

2.5g of potatoes (5.5lbs) is £2.95, which is $4.93

Dozen eggs is £3.10, which is $5.18.

Waitrose is by no means the cheapest supermarket, so I would think pikey places like Aldi or Netto would be a lot less. I've also found fruit much cheaper in my local greengrocer's, but who has the time to visit different shops for meat, veg, fish any more?

animatorswearbras

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/shelves/Fresh_Milk_in_Tesco.html

£1 = $1.67 $1 = £0.60

This is quite a good tool for comparing food prices in the UK do you have anything like this in the US?

Also are the prices you state what you pay at the till? Last time I was in the US the shop said for example $2 on the shelf and then at the till put the (sales?) tax on top, that was 10 years ago, was very strange having to work out what the extra tax would be every time when shopping, good bit of daily mathematical gymnastics I guess (or maybe it was just a sucker tourist tax or my brains made something up lol).

dancingj2

Here is New England prices do not seem to bad

Dozen Eggs $1.69
Gallon Milk $2.99
Bread $1.29
Ground Beef $3.29

These are all store brand. Brand name is more expensive.

And there is no tax on supermarket food here.

Howbouto

Also are the prices you state what you pay at the till? Last time I was in the US the shop said for example $2 on the shelf and then at the till put the (sales?) tax on top, that was 10 years ago, was very strange having to work out what the extra tax would be every time when shopping, good bit of daily mathematical gymnastics I guess (or maybe it was just a sucker tourist tax or my brains made something up lol).

Sales tax depends on the state. In Ohio, you do not pay sales tax on food but on paper products you do.

I buy all my meat at a butcher so it is hard for me to say but I think
1lb of ground beef (80%) $3.50/lb
3lbs of chicken thigh/legs were $6.50 (total)
gallon of 2% milk $2.50
Store brand bread is always 10 for $10, or a $1 a loaf
Bananas are $.45 to $.55/ pound

animatorswearbras

Waitrose is by no means the cheapest supermarket, so I would think pikey places like Aldi

Oh my god you total effing snobish thunderc*nt I shop at both Waitrose and Aldi thankyou very much (and sometimes my local farmers market when I get the chance as the meat and sauces are brill), Aldi is absolutely fine especially for vegetables and basics, just wouldn't buy wine from there.

To all the people who don't know, pikey is a racist term for the Traveler/Gypsy community and sometimes used as a catch all insult for the poor in the UK.

rondaj05

My husband is from Louisiana but we met in Reno, Nevada... he told me it is MUCH less expensive to live in the south. We moved to Louisiana 5 years ago and I've been shocked by how much higher groceries are here!

eldamiano

Milk sold by the gallon?!

SadFaerie

Waitrose is by no means the cheapest supermarket, so I would think pikey places like Aldi

Oh my god you total effing snobish thunderc*nt

Haha, ain't he a walking talking Waitrose stereotype, right?

Well, I live in London, where everything is badly overpriced, but if you don't mind frozen food, you can always make some savings. 400g of fresh chicken fillets at Morrisons is £4-5, but 1kg of frozen is £3,99. A small cauliflower is £1,5, a bag of 1kg frozen -- £1,19. I cook, freeze and reheat, so I don't mind buying frozen. What appalls me is prices on fresh fruits and vegetables, I'm from a small German town where a kilogram of fresh apples costs about €1,5, here for that price I have have maybe two apples...

lauren3101

Waitrose is by no means the cheapest supermarket, so I would think pikey places like Aldi or Netto would be a lot less.

Oh, beautifully put.

I shop in Waitrose AND ‘pikey’ places like Asda, depending on what they have there that I like. I find Waitrose do the nicest fruit, but you can pick up a gorgeous steak at Asda for half the price. Perhaps I’m a part-time pikey!

Junctionbox

My sincere apologies for that comment, it was thoughtless and you're right, very snobbish.

lauren3101

My sincere apologies for that comment, it was thoughtless and you're right, very snobbish.

Well, kudos to you for apologising. Not many would.

Cathalain

I live in the Mid-Atlantic (think near Washington D.C.).

Produce is actually cheaper than most would believe. Fruit is about 1.70 a pound on sale - usually apples and pears, but sometimes good deals on oranges. Strawberries can run 2.50 a box (usually a pound) on sale. Veggies are also good - mushrooms are expensive when not on sale (about 4.00 a pound) but there are frequent deals, 3 boxes for 5.00 (8 oz. a box). Cheap bread runs about a dollar a loaf (but I don't buy it, though). Milk is expensive - about 3.99 a gallon for regular, 4.50 to 5.00 for half gallons of soymilk. Yogurt runs about 1.00 a cup. Dairy products seem to cost more here than anything else. And large eggs run about 2.29 a carton.

ETA some more: bananas about 49 cents a pound. Ground beef about 3.49 a pound (less if you have a bonus card at my supermarket). Chicken breasts about 1.99 a pound, sometimes less.

I eat a lot of produce so finding it on sale is always a good thing.

animatorswearbras

My sincere apologies for that comment, it was thoughtless and you're right, very snobbish.

Well, kudos to you for apologising. Not many would.

Yeah, kudos from me too, can't be all bad if you can sincerely apologise without excuse. Not a total thunderc*nt after all. ;P

Cathalain

I buy 1lb of fresh turkey breast steaks from Waitrose (UK) for £4.99, which equates to $8.33.

2.5g of potatoes (5.5lbs) is £2.95, which is $4.93

Dozen eggs is £3.10, which is $5.18.

:noway:

Those prices are horrific. The only item you mentioned that would even be on par with the prices here are the strawberries, and even that's kind of high.

It makes me realize just how lucky I am to have access to the items that I do for as little as I spend.