Food Prices here

I ask you have i lost the plot?

In a 6 month absence the oil price has dropped to below 50 USD and that's great,,,,, but the basic food prices,, especially tinned goods seem to be completely outrageous , i went shopping to the hypermart here on tuesday and was ASTOUNDED at the price of goods, example a tin of tomatoes was 89p a tin of coconut milk 95p tin of baked beans 120p! Fresh chicken breast fillets non boned, 205 per KG, Pork cut into cubes 235p a KG

These prices are pretty much a hell of a lot more then the uk on tinned products ie X3-X4 the price and the meat products are pretty much the same,,,,,,,,

I probably could buy a few of the items but out of principle i will let them gather dust as i will JUST NOT PAY DAYLIGHT ROBBERY ,,,, how on earth is this in line with the PI pricing to salarys etc?

To be honest my happy go lucky days of living in the pi are wearing thin ,, when i came here it was for a better lifestyle to be able to buy anything i wanted and not have to worry about cost,,, now it seems a mission to find any peace here without the stress which was the whole point of being here....
can someone advise where to pay reasonable prices on anything??????

 

Unfortunately and a fact of life is, we are really are, our own Worst Enemy. We moan about the crap Local Produce. Tinned food or whatever so we look for stuff we like. This reverts back to Imported Stuff. Like anywhere in the World, Imported goods are likely always, to have a larger price.

just a one off I like HP Brown sauce, 140 to 180 p a bottle.
A1 Steak sauce @ 70 to 85 p both on the same shelf when Stocks are there for HP.

A preference choice will in the main cost more. I do agree that food here is getting beyond the Inflation gap but I do tend to think we will always talk about our Preference against local things IMHO

JP

 

Hormel Chili No beans was....110p now 150p......Holland cheese wedge was....180p now...210p......everything being marked up at Lee's...Knew it would happen here... after going to the U S in May and saw the prices there ... whew !!!

 

As much as I like HP, I am afraid it Would sit there for me also

 

Jack please see in my list of tinned goods,, "coconut milk" This is local produce,, 95P! a tin?hahahahah its laughable as the same stuff from the pi thats on the shelf in a supermarket is around half the price... so its not a case of imported stuff at all,, ,its a taking advantage of profits in my eyes,, there is no body that restricts the overpricing, goughing, so the shop owners charge what they like, there is absolutely no justification for these prices and i have noticed it as its been 6 months since my last shop...

 

On that score I see your point, but then again, They ( The Shop/Supplier) know it will be monied People and Us (the Foreigner) that will buy Canned Coconut milk, a National would do what they have always done. Collect the Coconut and DIY. Where the PI is a long way backward in many things, they now know that convenience foods, Cartoned Tinned etc will be bought by those that can afford
As we also know, where there is a drop in sales, Profits will be gained elsewhere and I have seen it for so many years, price Increases are Instant Profit.
The only way anyone is going to Stop it is to boycott the product, and it will be reduced when the SBD nears. moaning and talking/writing to the DTI here is useless.

I am afraid we are getting into a Grin and Bear it Situation. I don't like it But............... What else can we do?
For me a tired Man on a Fixed Income returning to the UK is not an Option.

JP

 

Maybe this reveals why plain white rice and dried fish are the main parts of the citizens diets here. Many single items here represent almost a full days wages for a local. If you think we have problems, think about the locals, I am embarrassed when I see that Imp and Uggy (cats) eat better than some of the locals. When the discounted subsidized rice stations open the lines are huge. I have never know anyone in America actually go hungry, except maybe some addicts who have wrong buying priorities However it is real problem for the bottom of the working class here. Thank God the Catholic Church here promotes large families to help create multiple breadwinners for the family and tithers.... the problem is that no one thought of creating jobs for those breadwinners so there are only just more mouths to feed created, not more bodies capable to bring home money. With limits on foreign investment and no limit on electricity costs those jobs may never become a reality here:( .

Having your helper obtaining the raw foods and preparing the meals may help on the costs, as obviously they do not have the budgets to waste like we do here. They have been surviving for years, as we have been scamed for years along side of them.

 

Completely understand Jack, Just gotta try to use as much fresh ingredients as possible nowa days here , along with maybe going direct to the farmers/markets for better meat prices, i didnt mean to put you in a quandary , i just pointing out what most people already know, but for me it was a shocking as i am also on a budget and hope that people will not waste their hard earned pesos on something that should not cost so much ,,

maybe when enough stock is left getting dusty the shop owners will reduce to fair play prices ,, but as we know already know, this will never happen

Just to add, when you are shopping next time, look at every item they scan through that checkout,,,,, i had a pack of 10 toilet tissue that had 10p a roll in massive clearly marked writing on the packet,,, it scanned through at 113p should of been 100p ,, i stopped the lady there and brought it to hr attention ,, another lady came quickly and corrected it on the till but you can bet this happens a lot without people noticing it,, big money lost to the customer more gain for them,,

I am getting it off my chest so to say in posting it here , feel better for it as i can see a lot of others know and agree
cheers