If you're overseas - can we do a food shop cost comparison?

[regisitme]

I'm from the UK but in Australia, and I sometimes shop for family back in the UK online and can't believe the amazing prices there are in the shops.

Conversely, I'm also staggered by things like 3 fingers of watermelon costing 50p, plus the amount of packaging.

I think in Australia we tend to shop much more seasonally and package less, definitely there's no ready meal culture (well there is, but it's very boutique and expensive).

Can I ask what you pay for in your country for staples such as :

1kg potatoes
500g butter
1/4 watermelon
Punnet of raspberries
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine
2 free range chicken breasts
Pint of milk
1 whole cauliflower
Butter
Tin of crushed tomatoes
500g mince
Loaf of bread
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream or Baxters Soup

Bumping this for you, I love threads like this :)

Just got a supermarket delivery so can help with some of those:

1kg potatoes (organic) €1.79
250g butter €2.29 (so obvs double that for 500g)
Litre of milk (organic) €1.29
Loaf of bread (wholemeal sliced) €2.59
(Small) punnet of raspberries €1.99

No watermelon this time but I got a whole cantaloupe melon for €1 as they were on special offer (usually more like €1.99).

I'm in Austria.

Uk:
7kg potatoes - 2.99 (I buy in bulk)
500g butter - 1.00
Whole watermelon - 1.00
1kg of raspberries - 3.00 in season up to 7.00 out
NZ sauvignon blanc - 5-8 depending on brand
2kg chicken breast - 4.50
6 pints of milk - 1.40
1 whole cauliflower - 50p usually.
Tin of chopped tomatoes - 5p
Loaf of bread - 50p-1.00

I buy from a mix of Costco, supermarkets, local markets, and Indian grocers.

Norway:

1kg potatoes - 25 kr / £2.50
500g butter - 28 kr / £2.80
1/4 watermelon - 12 kr / £1.20
400g raspberries - 22 kr / £2.20
Bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - 195 kr / £19.50 at the government-owned alcohol shop
1 litre milk - 18 kr / £1.80
Cauliflower - 13 kr / £1.30
Tinned tomatoes - 7 kr / 70p
400g mince - 45 kr / £4.50
Wholemeal bread - 34 kr / £3.40
Heinz baked beans - 32 kr / £3.20

I only buy frozen organic chicken wings (100 kr / £10 for a 2kg bag) in Norway because the fresh chicken doesn't look very nice. I stock up on chicken breasts when I go on shopping trips to Sweden.

Saudi

1kg potatoes £1
500g butter £3
1/4 watermelon £1
Punnet of raspberries £5 - and it's very small
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine impossible. No alcohol. If I go over the border it's about £10 A GLASS in a hotel.
2 free range chicken breasts. Free range doesn't exist. 2 normal ones £2
Pint of milk £0.5
1 whole cauliflower No idea. Broccoli is £3/kg local. About £10/kg for lovely looking imported stuff.
Tin of crushed tomatoes £0.50
500g mince £4
Loaf of bread £0.60

Saw a box of Kellogg rice krispies for £10 last week. Can normally get Kellogg but regionally produced for about £4. A 250g block if British/Irish cheese us about £4.

I can eat very cheaply if I eat local. As soon as I start wanting European style products (hard cheese, breakfast cereal, biscuits) the price goes through the roof.

In NZ (and all in NZ$)

1kg potatoes - $3 (bought at Farmers Market)
500g butter - $4.50
1/4 watermelon - not sure, currently out of season
Punnet of raspberries - currently out of season
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine - average $13
2 free range chicken breasts - $8 - $12 (don't know never buy them)
Pint of milk - 2 litres of organic $5.50
1 whole cauliflower $4.00 (currently a shortage because of bad weather)
Tin of crushed tomatoes - $0.80
500g mince $8 (good quality Angus meat)
Loaf of bread - $3.50 for whole grain

I shop seasonally, use markets and buy very little processed food. For me and my daughter my budget is $80 a week. We have packed lunches for school & work.

Cauli was Cdn$8 a head last summer
Rasps $3.99 yesterday (bought two)
Chicken - about $17-20 for three... they appear to be bigger than than UK chickens though
Tinned tomatoes $1.50 (on special 2 for $3 usually 2.99)

I only buy milk by the 4L ($5.09)
And apparently I haven't bought any bread or potatoes this week...

The wine is probably about $15 but I'm off booze at the mo.

We live in a tourist town, so prices are possibly slightly different (and Canada is a bloody big place lol)

Forgot the mince. $9-13 for extra lean but I tend to buy much bigger slabs from Costco.

Oooh, love this kind of thing.

Singapore, I've only included the versions I would buy (so not fruit and veg from China, for example) from my usual supermarket, which is one of the cheapest. In GBP by current exchange rates:

1kg potatoes 1.82
500g butter 6.27
1/4 watermelon 3.10
Punnet of raspberries 4.27
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine 17.50
2 free range chicken breasts - no such thing here, they have rules against free range. Closest would be imported organic, pay about 8 pounds
Pint of milk 1.85 but it's a litre
1 whole cauliflower 3.34
Tin of crushed tomatoes 1.70
500g mince 7
Loaf of bread 1.47 for cardboard
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream - do they even sell that in the UK anymore? haven't seen that for years!
or Baxters Soup 2.60

Our weekly main shop for 3 adults + 2 children is $250 - $450 (142 - 256 GBP), the quality is not fabulous and availability is patchy (it's a lot easier if you eat local). Eating out at all levels is fabulous here, but there isn't such a big culture of eating at home, so it's not great. In February we were in Australia and went to a farmer's market to stock up on cheese and meat. I stood in the produce section with a lump in my throat - it was the most beautiful display I'd seen in years.

I will have to check on most but I'm in Northern Canada. My municipality has a population of about 80,000 but it's 4.5 hours north of Edmonton. Everything is trucked or flown in. A ginormous watermelon is £10. 2L of organic milk is around £5.

I'm in Australia and shop at the closest woolworths
1kg brushed potatoes $3
500g butter for cooking $5
1/4 watermelon $1.50
Punnet of raspberries (125g) $5.90
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine $16 (Marlborough sounds)
2 free range chicken breasts $ 22 per kg
Pint of milk 1.5 litres $3
1 whole cauliflower $3.50
Butter (spreading) lurpak 250g $6
Tin of crushed tomatoes $1.40
500g mince (premium) $6.50
Loaf of bread $3
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream or Baxters Soup.
I'd need to go online to get this, frys chocolate cream $3.20

Total AU $80
UK £ 48.97

Converting approx to £, Im in the back end of India, The UK supermarkets have soooooooo much choice, Im ready for a few weeks back. I am a meat eater but virtually vegetarian here no choice really. You pay way over the odds for the simplest of western food items, if you can get it. Most of the time its well past its best or out of date. Please dont get me started on the chicken.....

1kg potatoes, 27p
500g butter, £2.80
1/4 watermelon, 50p
Punnet of raspberries, what are those, no chance
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine, I am in a dry state not a hope, get it duty free £25-30 if I am lucky
2 free range chicken breasts, No free range, went to the butchers(!) yesterday, hens were in the cage waiting to be killed, one was when I was there.....get the picture
Pint of milk, 31p the milk is very good
1 whole cauliflower, none its monsoon you dont eat them during this time to much crap in the water and advised not to eat it
Tin of crushed tomatoes, can not get virtually any tinned items do your own
500g mince, nope cannot buy beef
Loaf of bread around 50p full of sugar
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream or Baxters Soup,
no imported choc, but a tin of imported Waitrose basic soup £5.75

Forgot to add can get some local cheese, not paneer but feta, its very good. Plenty of processed rubbish passed off being good and healthy. But no decent 'proper' cheese to have with a nice chilled Sav B and crusty bread...torture

Cannot even make my own bread as the flour just does not rise

in the middle of British Columbia Canada (prices in CAD)
$ 2.14- potatoes
$ 3.87- butter
$5.97- full watermelon (in season)
$ 2.98- raspberries
$10.19-boneless skinless chicken breasts
$ 1.60-milk
$ 3.48-cauliflower
$ 1.08-tin of tomatoes
$ 4.50-lean ground beef
$ 1.67-loaf of bread

$37.48 CAD = 22.93 GBP

no access to wine price or uk import item

Geneva so horrifically expensive.

1kg potatoes £8.50
500g butter £3.79
1/4 watermelon £5
Punnet of raspberries £5
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine not available
2 free range chicken breasts £12
Pint of milk £3
1 whole cauliflower £2
Tin of crushed tomatoes £3
500g mince £12
Loaf of bread £3
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream or Baxters Soup not available

NL, prices in €

Potatoes- €7 for 5kg (we buy directly from a farmer)
Butter 500g - €2.50
1/4 watermelon - €1 (€4 for whole)
Raspberries - €2.99 for 250g
NZ Sauvignon blanc - €6.99
Free range chicken - €5.99
Milk - €1.28 1l organic (but we buy unpasteurized from a farmer)
Cauliflower is €1

1kg potatoes - 1€28 /kg
500g butter - 3€14
1/4 watermelon - 2€ for a whole one
Punnet of raspberries - 3€80 for 125g
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine
2 free range chicken breasts - 8€78 poulet fermier, corn fed
Pint of milk - 0€92 for a litre, but uht
1 whole cauliflower - 2€99 - generally dear here
Tin of crushed tomatoes 0€71
500g mince - 5%fat 2€85
Loaf of bread - 2€20 but it's over a kilo - restaurant or pain rather than baguette
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream or Baxters Soup - 10 Mars bars 3€07

All this from SuperU online in Uzerche (nearish to Limoges).

This morning, £ was worth 1€08 and dropping (sob! our income is in £'s)

Forgot the plonk - cheapest is 2€12 a bottle

France:

Potatoes: 2€99 for 2.5kg
Butter: 1. 54 for 250g
Baguette: 90 cents or 1.25 for a bigger one
Basic whole chicken (nowhere near the size of UK ones) 4€
Chicken breast 7.50€ for about 500g
Tiny punnet of raspberries: 2€
Watermelon: varies enormously but I had a whole seedless one for 2€99 recently.
UK imports I no longer buy as I don't miss anything much-except lyles golden syrup which is at least 3€ a can...
NZ wine is probably expensive cos France! French wine can be drinkable from 3€ a bottle!

I do miss UK supermarkets though-so much choice, so cheap, so much shite-I put on 3kg a week when I visit...

I'm in Ireland and it varies a lot depending on where you shop.

We do our main shop in Lidl. Fruit and vegetables are quite cheap, as are bread and milk.

In Lidl here you can get a bottle of Sauvignon for about €8-€10 but it won't be a nice Marlborough, that would be more like €15 - €20.

I contemplated buying the kids some prepacked watermelon for their school lunch but changed my mind when I saw that it was €1.99 for 3 tiny fingers.
I rarely buy raspberries or strawberries because even in Lidl I find them expensive for what you get. A tiny punnet of raspberries is about €2.

I'm in Northern California, this is from Safeway (so the cheapest you can get here). These are all + taxes

1kg potatoes $4.93
500g butter - $7.69
1/4 watermelon - $3.99 for a whole one, not sold in quarters
Punnet of raspberries - $2.50 for 6oz
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine - $13.32
2 free range chicken breasts - $7.99
Pint of milk - $2.19 per quart (1.67 pints)
1 whole cauliflower - $3.99
Butter - as above
Tin of crushed tomatoes - $3.99
500g mince - $11.19
Loaf of bread - $2.99 for a basic white loaf
And
UK import of something like Fry's Chocolate Cream - $8.48 for 6
or Baxters Soup - around $10 per can

1kg potatoes €1.99
500g butter €3.78 (2x 250g packs)
1/4 watermelon €2.00
Punnet of raspberries €3.99
Bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc Wine €6.99
2 free range chicken breasts €5.20
Pint of milk €0.71 (half litre)
1 whole cauliflower €1.59
Tin of crushed tomatoes €0.75
500g mince €2.95
Loaf of bread €1.89

Netherlands

I went for 'average' options, supermarket own-brand. I wouldn't necessarily choose those (eg would only get organic meat and veg). Also bread varies wildly as it makes up a large part of the Dutch diet. Today I bought bread, one loaf was €2.45, one was €4.95.

Wow, those NoCal prices are high!! (I will be facing them soon). Thanks for the Safeway tip.