We went for groceries yesterday. We go about once a week so try to buy what we need to last us. It had been a long while since I priced out our food and other in CAD/USD, today seemed like a good day to do it. We spent about $90 USD or $120 CAD (roughly 2x old age pension). The table below is incomplete but was all the items I could read or figure out.
The pork ribs were actually pork loin as we just had it as chops for dinner. The coffee beans were the most expensive in the store. Tanya says I am the only one who drinks it so I should get the good stuff. Dobrodar cheese is a hard Polish cheese which is as close to cheddar as we can get. We prefer Old but they did not have it this trip. There are three or four kinds of blue cheese available in bulk and a couple as prepackage. Regular bread is highly subsidized, as is flour. Good flour is hard to come by, i.e. that will rise well.
The pork ribs were actually pork loin as we just had it as chops for dinner. The coffee beans were the most expensive in the store. Tanya says I am the only one who drinks it so I should get the good stuff. Dobrodar cheese is a hard Polish cheese which is as close to cheddar as we can get. We prefer Old but they did not have it this trip. There are three or four kinds of blue cheese available in bulk and a couple as prepackage. Regular bread is highly subsidized, as is flour. Good flour is hard to come by, i.e. that will rise well.
that is surprising. almost everything is cheaper then here. What about vodka?
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
You can buy top of the line domestic vodka for $5 per litre, domestic beer for 75 cents for 500 ml. Imported beer is double or triple that and imported vodka double or triple. Good domestic wine is $3 to $5 per 700 ml bottle. Cognac same. Other imported alcohol eg good Scotch is same price as Canada
DeleteVery interesting to compare the prices there to here in Canada.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
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DeleteJesus Christ, that's a lot cheaper than here in Edmonton -- especially the meat prices. I'm going grocery shopping this afternoon too.
ReplyDeleteYes and no. Cheaper than Canada, yes but very expensive for most Ukrainians. Middle class Ukrainians spend 25% of their income on food. Old Babushas who have only pension cannot afford much more than to keep themselves alive. I feel guilty loading our cart with stuff in quantities other people only dream about
DeleteYes, everything's relative, that's true.
DeleteYes, just like kissing your sister
DeleteI was surprised about the cost of chicken.... a lot cheaper than here. Actually most things seem to be cheaper. Obviously having a good party is cheaper than here!! I suppose you can afford the better groceries cos you are on a Canadian pension?
ReplyDeleteCanadian chicken is high priced because of Supply Management. The Ukrainian government put a great deal of money into the poultry industry here via large integrated corporations importing turnkey technology from Europe. This was a deliberate strategy to provide cheap protein for the people. Next was the hog industry for the same reason. the dairy industry is making huge strides but still a great deal of milk comes from one and two cow villagers. I do not even want to talk about beef; I just get angry as they are so clueless. It is better now than 20 years ago and in another twenty it will be even better.
DeleteMy Canadian pension puts us in the upper middle income bracket I would suppose or at least middle middle whci is better than 70% of the population
Always fun to see the comparison! Groceries in our new BC home are generally a bit more expensive than in Calgary, but the local store puts on excellent sales so I'm finding our grocery bill is actually a little lower so far. I feel lucky to be able to go into a grocery store and buy whatever I want - so many people don't have that luxury!
ReplyDeleteShopping on a poverty tight budget has got to be very difficult. Everything here is packaged small so people can afford it. Costco is of no value to people who have only money for two sausages
Deletehmm, maybe I should move there.
ReplyDelete