Comparing basic Food and Staple Prices from around the World (Part 2)

originally posted by: tsingtao
here in HK the "wet" markets offer a better price than full blown supermarkets but you won't find any real dairy there.
all chinese food stuffs.
people went nuts a couple years ago, when fresh ginger went way up in price!

western imported foods are pretty expensive but local fresh vegs and pork and fish in the wet markets are a lot cheaper.
they also eat parts of animals i never knew they had! lol. (wife is chinese)

i have a butcher shop i go to for real quality meats, run by aussies. good prices for what you get. stuff you won't find in the either markets.

paper goods are cheap, i get the store brand TP and tissue for myself, the wife gets the high end 3ply scented stuff, i can't stand it.

so i mix up dinners between chinese and western. keeps the monthly bills down.

Nice to hear from Hong Kong and if its possible could you post some prices for whatever.....eggs....bread.....usual stuff you buy.

You are posting from an exotic area of the world and In am sure a lot of members on ATS would love to read your post with prices for stuff.

Many thanks,
Regards, Iwinder

a reply to: Iwinder

Who is going to pay that?

People with food subsidies? You oughta hear my old man complaining lately!! A fixed income will do that to ya.

In the end ... it's all about wealth redistribution.

The big money that's being taken is all in expenditures of $10 - $20. You've got to do the numbers and take into account how many hands hold small sums.

a reply to: tsingtao

HK here,I feel the "wet" markets are disgusting and the price are not cheaper.

My God, I thought prices here in Japan were high. Milk here is usually sold in quarts, and it runs between $1.60 to $2.60 a quart. Chichen is mostly sold by the piece and not the whole chicken, so ground chicken is about $1.20 for 100 grams Bread, well here they sell it by the "slice", 6 slices seems to be the norm, prices vary from .80 cents to about $1.70 for the high end stuff. Bananas from the Philippines when on sale go for 6 for $1.00, been that price now for 20 years. Gasolene is about 162 yen a liter, don't know what that comes out to a gallon, but it now cost $50 to fill our Toyota Vitz car. Never have I paid so much for gasolene.

a reply to: musicismagic
Great post from Japan, your cost for bread is steep but I am supposing here that bread is not a big thing in Japan?
Your chicken costs a lot as we can buy a whole 3 pounder for about 6 bucks and change.
Gas for us today is or was $1.39 per litre not so bad but our truck holds 100 litres so not so good. LOL
Thanks for taking the time to post and add quality to the thread.

Regards, Iwinder

originally posted by: Biigs
If you wanted to buy a single bacon cheese burger in burger king (not that you should anyway hehehe) in London....

You will have to pay over £5 for it. ($8.40). One single burger. 4 bucks in the states.

Wow thats steep, lots of bucks for a preformed heart attack :-)
If we do burgers its "Harveys" and no fries or anything we just bring them home and have soup or whatever with them.
www.harveys.ca...
Cooked on a grill not a griddle so not too greasy, but still not an ideal meal.

Thanks for posting.
Regards, Iwinder

originally posted by: Snarl
a reply to: Iwinder

Who is going to pay that?

People with food subsidies? You oughta hear my old man complaining lately!! A fixed income will do that to ya.

In the end ... it's all about wealth redistribution.

The big money that's being taken is all in expenditures of $10 - $20. You've got to do the numbers and take into account how many hands hold small sums.

Yep I hear you loud and clear Snarl, I have been on a fixed income for 20 years and not a increase to speak of, fortunately my wife works and has enjoyed pay raises and therefore we are not too bad off.
Thanks for adding to the thread.
Regards, Iwinder

a reply to: Iwinder

Here's one for you: the price of one Krispy Kreme doughnut -$1.00 ($8.00 for a dozen).

Not sure if that counts ... ... but it's all the food price info I can supply from Korea that someone else can relate to.

Ten years ago, I could buy lunch for less than $5. Now I'm lucky if it's less than $20.

a reply to: Snarl

Yeah cant reallly get hold of any Beondegi or Live spoon worms in the UK..... how sad

originally posted by: Iwinder

My God, I thought prices here in Japan were high. Milk here is usually sold in quarts, and it runs between $1.60 to $2.60 a quart. Chichen is mostly sold by the piece and not the whole chicken, so ground chicken is about $1.20 for 100 grams Bread, well here they sell it by the "slice", 6 slices seems to be the norm, prices vary from .80 cents to about $1.70 for the high end stuff. Bananas from the Philippines when on sale go for 6 for $1.00, been that price now for 20 years. Gasolene is about 162 yen a liter, don't know what that comes out to a gallon, but it now cost $50 to fill our Toyota Vitz car. Never have I paid so much for gasolene.

a reply to: musicismagic
Great post from Japan, your cost for bread is steep but I am supposing here that bread is not a big thing in Japan?
Your chicken costs a lot as we can buy a whole 3 pounder for about 6 bucks and change.
Gas for us today is or was $1.39 per litre not so bad but our truck holds 100 litres so not so good. LOL
Thanks for taking the time to post and add quality to the thread.

Regards, Iwinder

I'll just ask quickly, but where are you?

originally posted by: Biigs
a reply to: Snarl

Yeah cant reallly get hold of any Beondegi or Live spoon worms in the UK..... how sad

AHHHHhahahaha ... I'll leave it to you to explain those delicacies to inquiring minds!!

It would be nice for us here to list the prices at McDonalds.
I go to McDonalds when I get their free coupon for coffee, but coffee cost 100 yen or a $1.00. The coffee is good.
I do buy the single hamburger for ￥100 or $1.00, but that maybe about 3 times a year.
I don't know the single prices of stuff since they seem to sell everything at set meals. (sand, frie, drink), but looks like the lowest prices are around $6.00 for the set meal. I don't drink soda and I know the markup on it is close to 90% or more, actually the cup may cost more than the soda.

I have several comments to make here.

1. Prices are going to be variable by locality and you seem to have an interest in comparing, yet I don't see a reference to your locality where your prices are obtained. Is it there somewhere, and I am just too blind to see?
2. Your 'trouble' with the package size would be solved by calculating the price per unit (gram, milliliter, piece, etc).
3. Calculating the percentage change of the per unit price would expose the changes more clearly.
4. Comparisons across countries would be aided by using an average price across multiple popular brands in the local market, not one particular brand that may not exist in another country.
5. Different countries actually need to have different baskets of goods. Israel, for example, is unlikely to have much bacon in the average consumers grocery basket.
6. Different basket items should be weighted as to their importance. For example, does the price of eggs affect the consumer basket more than the price of peanut butter or toilet paper?
7. Without some of this rigor, your 'study' is just an anecdote.
7. Much of this work is actually done for you by the World Bank's calculation of the CPI for each country. See: Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)

a reply to: musicismagic

Good point. I believe that there was a student economist that proposed that the price of a Big Mac could be used at the world wide base currency conversion rate.

In Australia, Big Mac prices vary from store to store in the same town so there would need to be an average price taken.

i love this thread. its a bit too late at night to do the food and staples but i will try to list the australian prices soon.

on a similar thing....we have been seeing stories lately of just how much is added on to international goods sold here in australia compared to other countries. in many cases we are paying double here. my son recently bought an iphone and i have been told that we pay a lot more here.

iphone 5s - 16GB - $869.00 this is the price from the australian
apple store.

my question is...how much are people paying for this in other countries.

something like this would be easy to compare the difference. please list the price for the exact same product from an apple store only. please state the country you are from.

originally posted by: rnaa
a reply to: musicismagic

Good point. I believe that there was a student economist that proposed that the price of a Big Mac could be used at the world wide base currency conversion rate.

In Australia, Big Mac prices vary from store to store in the same town so there would need to be an average price taken.

Just make Big Macs the new world currency.

originally posted by: Biigs

originally posted by: rnaa
a reply to: musicismagic

Good point. I believe that there was a student economist that proposed that the price of a Big Mac could be used at the world wide base currency conversion rate.

In Australia, Big Mac prices vary from store to store in the same town so there would need to be an average price taken.

Just make Big Macs the new world currency.

yeah, food the newest currency, like that idea

originally posted by: Iwinder

originally posted by: tsingtao
here in HK the "wet" markets offer a better price than full blown supermarkets but you won't find any real dairy there.
all chinese food stuffs.
people went nuts a couple years ago, when fresh ginger went way up in price!

western imported foods are pretty expensive but local fresh vegs and pork and fish in the wet markets are a lot cheaper.
they also eat parts of animals i never knew they had! lol. (wife is chinese)

i have a butcher shop i go to for real quality meats, run by aussies. good prices for what you get. stuff you won't find in the either markets.

paper goods are cheap, i get the store brand TP and tissue for myself, the wife gets the high end 3ply scented stuff, i can't stand it.

so i mix up dinners between chinese and western. keeps the monthly bills down.

Nice to hear from Hong Kong and if its possible could you post some prices for whatever.....eggs....bread.....usual stuff you buy.

You are posting from an exotic area of the world and In am sure a lot of members on ATS would love to read your post with prices for stuff.

Many thanks,
Regards, Iwinder

ok, we just got a new refridge today and will have to shop very soon.

Just went shopping 2 days ago.
Southern Illinois USA

Green onions (small bundle) 1.10
Bacon (I bought the cheapest / lb) 5.50
sausage links ( generic) 5.98
Bratwurst 6 links 4.58
edys ice cream 3.88 1 QT
Rice Crispies 3.88
applesauce 3.28
Bananas 1.67 / lb NOT organic
Bell Pepper .82/ea
cucumber .64/ea
mushrooms (little box) 2.38
Eggs 12/ 2.94
Rice 20lbs 8.98
Bread/1 pkg 3.98

I noticed quite a few things that were higher..that's the only thing I purchased that day though. Food cost are really hurting us right now..we eat scrambled eggs and rice a lot and tuna patties..which I know isn't the best..but all we can afford. Just a few years ago..you could fill up a cart so high that sh!t was falling out and pay around 130 bucks. Now shopping cart full is around 300 bucks

originally posted by: candlestick
a reply to: tsingtao

HK here,I feel the "wet" markets are disgusting and the price are not cheaper.

wow, where are you shopping? why disgusting?

i go to park n shop or taste. welcome doesn't have the western variety. i choose my stuff carefully at anyplace i shop. (retired chef)

have you been to 360 in kowloon station? talk about expensive!

a reply to: musicismagic

I'll just ask quickly, but where are you?

South Western Ontario, not too far from Detroit Michigan but on our side of the river.
Regards, Iwinder