How much does food cost where you live?

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I had this idea while at the store, what does food cost where you live?

It would be interesting to see what some members from nations with a smaller GDP might be.

You can get both of these 50 pound bulk bags for US $30, beans and rice, 100 pound total and feed yourself for a very long time. I have never eaten just beans and rice, I have no idea how long it would feed you. You would probably want salt too.

Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Also just a note for two adults and two kids, 3 and 4 and a baby we spend about $300 a month on food, and we don't eat a lot of meat or fancy stuff, most people probably spend twice that.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Rice got really expensive here a while ago. It got up to about $3.50 for a kilo (2.2 pounds)

We have 2 adults and 2 kids in our family and we eat meat about 5 times a week (usually a mixture, i.e 1 meal of fish, chicken, pork, lamb and beef) and our grocery bills usually average about NZ$150 per week (about US$410 per month) It would be a lot higher but we grow most of our fruit and vegetables at home.
For 2 adults and a small dog we spend about US $400 a month but we always have things like vitamins and paper goods and toothpaste and shaving stuff (one of the adults has a sweet tooth contributing a good bit to the total), as we do not go shopping more than twice a month. We always stock up when things are on sale so we could easily go 6 weeks without shopping. We do not buy big bags of dog food but the small cans for about 60 cents and we can get 3 or 4 meals out of a can for the dog. I don't know what the small bags of Kibbles and Bits run. And the dog gets Beggin Strips and dental bones regularly as well as store brand equivalent of Cheerios (a bowl every day) and small salt-free pretzels. He also loves canned tuna, about 90 cents a can. Eggs were the last thing to shoot up in price here, due to bird flu.

Will
Half a gallon (yes, for some reason the milk companies here use half gallon bottles, but also have 1 liter ones) of milk costs me $1.25 dollars, a liter of gasoline costs $0.70. Rice I think it is at $0.45/Kilo, but we eat a lot more beans than rice, along with corn they are our primary grains; beans are at $0.6/Kilo and corn at $0.4/Kilo. You get 12 bananas for $0.60. A kilo of machine-made tortillas for $0.65; hand made for about 25% more.
Normal (corn, sunflower, soybean) cooking oil costs around $1.4/Liter; olive oil costs a lot more because most is imported as we aren't used to cook with it here.
We have mostly cheap basic food; the disparity shows in imported goods like electronics and such
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Interesting, milk here in South Carolina is $4 a gallon, and gas is $2.70 a gallon, about 3.8 liters so about the same on gas.

Will, that's pretty good budgeting, do y'all eat out alot? We eat out about $80 a month separate from our grocery's.

Neil, that's awesome that you grow enough to help your budget, can you take a photo of your garden? I am growing Kale at this time (winter crop) and I harvest wild mushrooms, but not enough to really effect my budget.
Next year I want to hunt pig.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Quote: "redsmithstudios"​Interesting, milk here in South Carolina is $4 a gallon, and gas is $2.70 a gallon, about 3.8 liters so about the same on gas.

​Will, that's pretty good budgeting, do y'all eat out alot? We eat out about $80 a month separate from our grocery's.

​ Neil, that's awesome that you grow enough to help your budget, can you take a photo of your garden? I am growing Kale at this time (winter crop) and I harvest wild mushrooms, but not enough to really effect my budget.
​Next year I want to hunt pig.
​Gas is $2.70/gal in South Carolina? I am near Charlotte is it is roughly around $1.89/gal, and we (NC) have one of the highest gas taxes in the country.
I wanna cry....

a single banana is about 60 cents (80 yens) at Starbucks a bit cheaper if you buy the 3-4 packs in the supermarket but not much difference.

rice I paid the other day 1200 yens about 10 dollars I think it was a bit more than 1 kilo but not 2...

eating out is not bad near my work a lunch a day cost me around 900 yens which is 7.5$ and it's at a restaurant (no tips in Japan) I hate the whole tipping culture sorry I pay the price and that's it, you want more charge more...

I do feel a big difference from some food here, specially fish and chicken, yogurt and bread are below what I pay back in Houston. One thing for sure is the quality is top, but I would not mind a bad looking vegetable for a quarter of the price...
JustforFun...
For sure, I'm always happy to show off my garden. This is our main plot, 8 meters x 2 meters. It looks a bit bare at the moment because the weather meant we had to plant a few weeks late, but in a couple of weeks time it will look full. It's got carrots, parsnips, beetroot, onions (about 10 rows of onions, we eat onions in pretty much every meal) garlic, spinach, silverbeet, coriander and radishes



This is in behind it and has black currants, red currants, raspberries and strawberries



I'll post some more pics in a second of the rest of it
Here's some more, these are 4 metres x 2 metres and we've got peas, beans, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and corn



Here's another 4x2 garden with potatoes and the glasshouse I built that we grow tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, capsicum and lemons. The cucumbers grow especially well. last year we got a cucumber every second day

Here's our fruit trees, one apple and two plum trees



And I put in a little plot beside our house which is perfect for gooseberries and New Zealand cranberries



On top of this there is a big strip of City Council owned land behind our property where we go to raid the wild blackberries, gooseberries, plums, elderberries and apples.
How do I get permanent resident visa or green card or whatever to move to New Zealand? 8)
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In Romania we pay 0.75 $ / kilo of rice and 2 $ / kilo of white bean. Also we eat very much bread and meat. The prices might look low but the feeling of the people in general it's that food is very expensive relative to salary. Minimum wage per economy is around 300 $ and most of people gain every month around 400-500 $.
I live in The Netherlands now where food is much cheaper than in Finland. In Finland a lot needs to be imported and taxes on consumption are heavy. Still it's cheaper than Norway but there prices are outrageous for nearly everybody in the world.

Dutch supermarkets are pretty cheap, pretty comparable to the US I would say. It's daycare that forms by far the biggest cost for young Dutch families, even more than the mortgage. Plenty of well-earning double incomes with young kids spend all their money and save nothing. On the other hand, education from 4 year old is a bargain compared to Anglo-Saxon countries. It really is the first years that are tough for Dutch families.

All in all nothing to complain. The country is run relatively efficiently (equal to Finland) and has a great geographical location with plenty of job opportunities (better than Finland).
Food is dirt cheap in Florida but only if you shop smart. Big name grocery stores are pretty much the same as elsewhere so we don't shop there. We give our custom to the local independent growers who have roadside stalls at almost every other intersection and farmer's markets. We buy food in bulk when prices are low and freeze it. Even better, our largest fleamarket has four complete rows selling nothing but produce. It gives me a great excuse to go coin shopping under the guise of buying cheap carrots.

Anything locally grown can be bought fresh for a tiny fraction of the cost of buying GMO crap pumped full of chemicals to extend it's shelf life. Capsicums, red and green peppers can be found easily at ten for a dollar. They come in all ugly shapes and sizes because they are not grown with the supermarket shelf in mind. There are huge trays full, you pick out the best. Tomatoes, onions, potatoes, apples, pears..... you name it and you can buy them for about 10-20% of supermarket prices and the taste and freshness is priceless. Of course Florida is famous for it's citrus fruits, especially oranges which appear on our state licence plates. These are pretty much given away free year round. Every house has a few citrus trees in the yard. Tamarinds grow everywhere, you can just pick them right off the tree in many places.

Fish is also cheap, having water on three sides and lakes, ponds bayous everywhere. I love blackened grouper, right off the boat and into the pan.

Meat is expensive all the local climate isn't suitable for large herds so we try to buy steaks and beef cuts when there is a seasonal glut.

Even better, dining out is still pretty reasonable because of the large number of restaurants and diners competing with each other. It's not at all hard to find two for one dinner offers, a steak and eggs breakfast is under $5 and the seafood places (away from the tourist nightmare of Gulf Boulevard) are unbelievably good value. Steak and two lobster tails for $10 anyone?
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Unleaded - £1.0222 (£4.65 per gallon) ABOUT US$8
Diesel - £1.0604 (£4.82 per gallon
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Meat and dairy is really expensive here for some reason, I read somewhere that it's cheaper to buy New Zealand lamb in the UK and the USA than it is to buy in New Zealand, which is really perverse. It sells for about NZ$25 per kilo for the decent cuts and NZ$17 per kilo for the cheaper cuts unless it's on special. From a land of 4 million people and 40 million sheep that's just wrong.

Even though we're a tiny country New Zealand accounts for 40% of the worldwide dairy trade and yet we still pay about $8.80 per gallon for milk. The big dairy company Fonterra when asked why New Zealand doesn't get cheaper milk said it would be unfair to charge different prices for the local and foreign markets.

That is just stupid because every other country you can pick up what they produce dirt cheap. Go to Saudi Arabia and you can get petrol for cents a litre, Phil said, in Florida oranges are cheap, Australia you can get wheat products cheaply, It's dirt cheap to buy rice in the countries that produce it, etc.
Neil, do you have small local farmers? I buy lamb from a guy across town who raises them on the side, and we buy raw milk from another farm for $3 instead if 4 plus its not watered down or pasteurized or homogenized. Most local meat is more expensive but thats because its rased better. One day l will rase pigs and partner with someone on cows.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Canadian 2 Adults and 2 teens approx $750 a month or $540 US
Trying to complete my large cent collection right now. Any help would be appreciated
Quote: "redsmithstudios"​Neil, do you have small local farmers? I buy lamb from a guy across town who raises them on the side, and we buy raw milk from another farm for $3 instead if 4 plus its not watered down or pasteurized or homogenized. Most local meat is more expensive but thats because its rased better. One day l will rase pigs and partner with someone on cows.
​Yes, but the problem is you usually have to get a whole animal, and we don't have a big freezer. My sister does, she usually buys half a cattle beast and a whole lamb at a time, cuts it up and freezes it. I have picked up goats, pigs and deer occasionally when going hunting, but again, the lack of freezer space means I usually end up splitting it up with family and friends.
Quote: "69coinguy"​Canadian 2 Adults and 2 teens approx $750 a month or $540 US
​Where in Canada? Big city, or small town?

2 teens....$$$
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Quote: "EMS911"​​​Gas is $2.70/gal in South Carolina? I am near Charlotte is it is roughly around $1.89/gal, and we (NC) have one of the highest gas taxes in the country.



​You're right, it's only $1.70 today, I got it mixed up.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Some statistics from BBC - minimal wage salary versus essential needs
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20151215-the-best-and-worst-places-for-people-on-minimum-wage
There is a time for everything - Il y a un temps pour tout - Всему есть свое время - Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
In Sweden the prices varies a little, but mostly it's like this:
1 litre milk: 1.4 USD
A loaf of bread is about 2.4-3.3 USD
1 kg chicken fillet costs 10.60 USD
1 kg chicken breast costs 12 USD
Lamb (since everyone talks about it) is 16.5 USD for 1 kg
1 kg meatballs is 1.2USD (if you want some 'class' it'll cost about 9.7 USD). Organic meatballs costs 12.66 USD/kg.
Petrol is 1.50 USD/litre, that is about 5.7/gallon (that's why we don't have a car, lol!)

In average my wife and I pay about 355-415 USD/month for food.
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Quote: "glykan"​Some statistics from BBC - minimal wage salary versus essential needs
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20151215-the-best-and-worst-places-for-people-on-minimum-wage
​There is a lot of propaganda about poverty and minimum wage, but this article looks pretty good, and interesting, thanks for sharing.
When I was in Mozambique and also Cuba 2000-2001 "they" said that they were the poorest country's in the world. At $5 a day, but that's not a very real comparison, but that's silly because they could pay for their living expenses and three meals a day, In the US you couldn't pay for lunch. This chart makes it a lot more relative. However its sad because Kenya was once one of the most successful/wealthy African nations but now its one of the worst/poorest. I could go into why, but that's not what this post is for.

I am hopeful that we will get some more diverse info from some other members from a good variety of the world.

Neil, your garden looks great, I love how you have so many berries, I'll come for a visit when the gooseberries are in. I assume you built your greenhouse out of salvaged windows.
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
Just finished my 4th meal of the day, 1AM in Thailand. :` (Actually I counted as a half-meal.)




I bought it from a branch the most common 24-hour-store near my home, paid 45 Baht (1.25 USD|1.16 EUR).

Net weight of 185 gr. It's my first try of this Spicy Squid Ink Spaghetti with Sausage. The taste is lovely enjoyable.

Oh, this is not food review topic, isn't it? :D This box of microwave-food costs around the average price of an ordinary meal in Thailand (40~60 Baht), but for me, there is several places around my home that I can finish a meal around 20~40 Baht.
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Quote ​Oh, this is not food review topic, isn't it? :D This box of microwave-food costs around the average price of an ordinary meal in Thailand (40~60 Baht), but for me, there is several places around my home that I can finish a meal around 20~40 Baht.
​no, its not but I have been wondering that also? I'll start one
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
This post is for Neil, New Zealand lamb cheaper than you can get it in New Zealand?
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
I immediately thought of the "Big Mac Index" when I saw this post.

Back in 1986, The Economist developed this model to gauge whether world currencies were at their "correct" level based on Purchasing Power Parity.

"For example, the average price of a Big Mac in America in January 2016 was $4.93; in China it was only $2.68 at market exchange rates. So the "raw" Big Mac index says that the yuan was undervalued by 46% at that time."

Food for thought.
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2L of milk here costs about $3.25 USD, converted by today's standards.
Quote: "MonaSeaclaid"​2L of milk here costs about $3.25 USD, converted by today's standards.
​And where are you located?
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins

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