To think food in America is very expensive and worry we're going to face much higher prices soon?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Just back from NYC. I was shocked at the price of groceries - hummus $4, large pot of yogurt $7, fresh salad stuff and other basic veg like potatoes and onions seemed really high too.

Why is it so expensive? It's not that all those basic items were imported? There didn't seem to be any cheap supermarkets, they were all the same as far as I could see. Although apparently there is one Aldi in Harlem!

I thought the price of veg really high, I mean in the UK you could eat a cheap veggie diet very cheaply, probably high in carbs but nutritionally sound.

It occurred to me that with places like Aldi were used to very cheap food here in comparison. With energy prices rising I'm wondering if food prices are going to shoot up over the next few years? Aibu to be kind of worried? How is our food so cheap?

You just need to know where to go.

When we lived in NYC we'd go shopping in Chinatown in flushing pr the Indian stores in Jackson heights and would pay next to nothing for fresh food. You could also get a huge bowl of noodle soup for under $5!

I think you were going to the wrong shops

I think you were going to the wrong shops as well. Brooklyn's pretty pricey these days. As Tonald says, places like Chinatown are dead cheap for fresh food.

I also think two other things impact - exchange rates (makes everything everywhere overseas seem expensive right now), and the relative cheapness of eating out in the US. It's a bit like many Asian cities - why cook at home when you can eat out really well for less. Supply-demand equations kick in.

When I went to Boston in 2012, I was horrified that a pack of tomatoes was $5 - don't think I was in a branded shop, it looked just like a corner shop - and can completely understand why folk eat out, or at Maccies on the $1 menu. Though the 7-11 was pretty reasonable (and full of crap. I lived off French Vanilla coffee for the week)

Jersey City costs nearly as much as NYC though.

I think it's cheaper here than when I lived in London. For 3 of us I spend about $70-100 a week and that's spending frivolously tbh. I could spend a lot less if I had to. Costco once a month to stock up on other stuff

Ive definitely noticed that the price of fruit and veg has increased in the 3 years I've been living here though

I lived in the US for a few years and spent far more on a weekly shop there than I do here - fresh food vs processed rubbish. Without converting the pound as our income was in dollars, as is your average American.

But comparing Chinatown noodle soup to UK supermarkets isn't really comparing like to like is it.

I expect Wholefoods/Mariano's to be expensive and they are eyewateringly so.
But I shop in Aldi, Costco, Walmart, Target, Jewel Osco and prices are much higher than UK supermarkets.

I agree that eating out is cheaper than the UK but groceries (especially bread, milk, fruit, vegetables) are more expensive.

I've often thought that while eating out in the US is much cheaper, groceries are relatively expensive.

We've always found fresh food to be very expensive in America. Frozen food and eating out seems very cheap in comparison to here

I agree that food here in the US isn't cheap except for the non-fresh stuff you can buy in bulk (if you can afford to buy it at once and transport and store it). And fresh stuff doesn't last nearly as long as in the UK - I still don't know if this is a good or bad thing...

Some stuff is really cheap (I bought a dozen eggs for 89 cents today), but butter, bread, yoghurt type stuff is more expensive.

Eating out is comparatively cheap, and wine is very very much cheaper!!

TBH, the same was true when we lived in Asia. It was more expensive to cook many dishes at home than eat out. The markets were cheap to shop in, but I couldn't quite handle the rather visceral nature of them (and was always unsure of food sourcing).

The UK is cheap for many foods, though, because the market is very demanding of cheap produce. If you buy decent ingredients, its not that cheap at all. I wonder if US city-folk demand more provenance etc - e.g. farmers markets in San Fran can be eye watering in price, but mouth watering in quality.

I visited family this summer in the US (a non-touristy, middle-America sort of place) and was shocked by the food prices- restaurants and grocery stores. 4.50 dollars for a pack of English muffins (like crumpets)! Crazy. Breakfast at Denny's (a fairly low quality chain) for a family of five was 90 dollars.

I grew up in the States so I know what prices were like 10-15 years ago and food has sky rocketed. My mum couldn't believe I could get a loaf of organic wheat bread at Sainsbury's for £1 (now risen to £1.20).

I remember watching those Coupon shows and thinking how much dried or frozen stuff they bought. And how much money they could make with coupon ing. And how there was never any offers on fresh so the money they made went on milk and veg.

UK it's cheaper to buy and make your own salad. Us it seems cheaper to go out and buy a salad.

The comments about London, I live in London and when I shop outside London it's the same price as when I shop in London so to me that arguement doesn't wash. I thought the food was substandard when I've been to America and associate it with fast food.

kesstrel there is that of course but we're told that US wages are low so a $5.49 (plus tax) fast food breakfast meal still seems quite expensive if you're the average American.

We lived in US till 2013 in an inexpensive part of California, the food prices were really starting to climb when we moved back to UK.
My weekly shop in Winco (very cheap pack your own stuff place in a dodgy part of town) was about $100 for two adults a small child and a teen.
Teen moved to UK ahead of us and weekly shop dropped to about $60 within a year it had climbed back up to $100 and we weren't buying anything different of more expensive.
Milk was up to nearly $4 a gallon or more in our local small grocery shop.
Our bills are less in UK and now I'm feeding more people again.

In some cities (anywhere, I found this when I lived in Lyon, France) it's kind of a "Tesco Metro" or "Sainsbury's Local" effect if you're talking about pavement-side shops, because the rents are higher, but if you drive to the equivalent of our out-of-town supermarkets it isn't too bad.

There's an awful lot of boxed, freeze-dried crap available though. A friend in Chicago lived off a British "student" diet of toast, boxed noodles/mac and cheese and soup.

Food prices really do vary from shop to shop but food is more expensive there

But eating out can be really cheap even for good food

Toiletries are more expensive too

Milk and bread is very expensive

I know people who eat out more than they eat at home and have the left overs for lunch the next day

The food in America is sub standard? Then you shopped in the wrong place.

95% of what I buy is local, organic and reasonably priced.

How long have you spent in the states lightgreenglass?

Manhattan is obviously extortionate. Other areas are a lot cheaper but yes, food shopping in the US is, in general, a LOT more expensive that the UK.

Other things are randomly a lot more expensive too. Like mobile phone contracts and internet.

Isn't it then somewhat peculiar that America has such a widespread obesity problem 🤔 I'd it because junk is cheap out there but vegetables and lean protein is expensive?

I'm hoping in the future we can get back to just eating some basic food and stop with all the crazy variety we have. I would be very happy to eat a couple of eggs for breakfast, some cheese and bread for lunch and a cheap cut of meat with potatoes and cabbage for dinner. Food that could be produced in this country and ideally grown in the garden. My Nan used to have a few chickens for eggs and meat and would grow vegetables out the back. They were much more healthy than this generation.

I found toiletries cheaper in the states but healthy food was expensive.

I just got back this week, I went to Walmart in Orlando and prices were high, I couldn't understand how normal people would manage - are wages higher?