Sticker Shock

Every time I am away from Ukarumpa for any period of time, I always come away from my first shopping trip back (well, most every time actually) in a sticker-shock haze.

Please understand, I am so very, very grateful for our store here.  Without it, we would have a very tiny selection of foods to choose from.  People work hard to stock our store with food items from here in PNG, and from shipments from Australia and even the USA.  But the price of all our food (especially the imported stuff) is really high.  Combined with the dropping value of the US dollar, well, sometimes a weekly shopping trip can be downright painful.

A friend of mine did a price comparison in a blog post of hers, and she's given me permission to borrow some of her numbers.  I thought it would be interesting to show you how our grocery prices compare to what they are back home.  I know even there, food prices are on the rise, but here, we don't have the possibility of finding sales at different stores, or coupons or other ways to help lower the costs of grocery shopping.

Here are some price comparisons of what I pay for some of the foods we eat here:

Flour (2 lb bag) – $2.85
 
Apple juice (2 quarts) – $7.50

Canned vegetables – $2.50

Canned fruit – $3.20

Spagetti sauce (16 oz) – $4.00

Ketchup (24 oz) - $3.85

1 Liter boxed (not fresh) milk - $2.90  (so roughly 1 gallon would cost $11.60)

Peanut Butter (18 oz) – $6

Jam (18 oz) – $5.80

Canola Oil (2 liters) – $17

Butter (1 stick) – $1.75

Cheese (16 oz block) – $11.60

Chocolate chips (12 oz) – $6.10

Brown sugar (2 lbs) – $10

Powdered sugar (2 lbs) – $8.30

Chocolate syrup (24 oz) – $5.75

Spagetti noodles (16 oz) – $3.00

Salsa (24 oz) – $5.75

Refried Beans (16 oz) - $2

Condensed soup (10.5 oz) – $2.00

Diapers (pkg of 20) – $13.65

Baby wipes (pkg of 100) – $8.00

Cereal – $8.00 – $10.00 per box

Cocoa Powder (8 oz) - $11

Coke, $1.44 per can

Off-brand American soda, 1 can – $.75 (this is a good one!!)

1 loaf white bread - $2

Dozen eggs – $5.50

Bag of chicken nuggets – about 40 (not always available) – $20

Ground beef (1 lb) – $7- $9 (this varies weekly... last week, only the $9/lb stuff was available.  This week I was able to buy some at $7-something/lb)

Chicken:  a whole chicken sells for $15
               bone-in chicken breasts cost about $4.60/lb
               boneless chicken fillets run at $7/lb

Apples – $.80 each  (when we ocassionally are able to get them)

We are very blessed however to have an open-air market three mornings a week where can CAN get fresh, inexpensive produce.  Here in PNG, most foods grow year round, so we always get a good selection of veggies and fruits.  Now, if only I could convince my family to go vegetarian! =)

A hand of bananas – $1

Strawberries – $5 for about 1 quart

Carrots – $.50 for about 6-8 good sized ones

Cucumber – $.50 for a nice big one

Green Pepper – $.50 for one

Green Beans - $.50-$.75 for a large bunch

Cabbage – $1 for a big head

Spring Onions – $.10 for a bundle

Tomatoes – $.50 for a nice, red, juicy one

Lettuce – $.50 for a bunch

Avocado – $.50 each

Fresh Beans (red, white, black) -$2.50 for 2-3 cups worth

Pineapple – $2.50 each

Sometimes it can be a challenge to prepare inexpensive, healthy meals for my family.  I sure try my best though.