I’ve been hearing a lot about how grocery prices are going up in Canada now that the loonie is on a nose dive. I thought prices were bad before. My weekly grocery shop was usually 80CAD to 100CAD last summer, and I had to watch my pennies and sales to get it in under that price if I wanted any fresh veggies, meat, or dairy.
This afternoon, I headed to Centro to do my big shop for the month where I stock up on pantry staples, get the meat I’ll eat over the course of the next few weeks (freezing some), and buy produce for the week ahead. Basically a Moose Jaw-style supply run, only I’m buying just for a month instead of a couple of them. Those runs, if adjusted to a monthly basis, were about 400CAD a pop and I still had to shop weekly for some things. My average monthly grocery bill was 500CAD and the only way I could have gotten it lower was if I was living there year round and could really stock up a pantry when there were sales and also take up Charles on his offer of filling my freezer with deer meat. I should stress that don’t buy a junk food or a lot of convenience items and I didn’t even buy alcoholic beer all of last summer, with the non-alcoholic stuff being very inexpensive.
The little Ley in Centro has been totally revamped and carries more stuff, so I hoped that I could do my big shop there since I didn’t have time to go elsewhere. Did it ever! What a fantastic remodel! I found everything I wanted there except hummus, but I did find sesame seeds, so I’ll retry my hand at making my own tahini.
I had 1,000MXN, or about 82CAD, in cash on me but don’t really worry about my grocery budget here since even with eating out, I only average 300CAD a month on food. That’s right. I can eat whatever I want here and go out as much as I want to restaurants and I’m still spending 200CAD less than I do in Canada. So I just put what looked good in my cart and got enough food that I had to take 40MXN pulmonía ride back to the embarcadero. Total cost of my shop? 635MXN or 52.26CAD…
Here’s my shopping list. I’d love to know what a similar list would cost where you live! Prices are in pesos, then CAD. I will say that lots of these items are at sales prices because I don’t like buying things full price, but I do the same thing in Canada so I really am comparing apples to apples.
Avocados, 2, 6.27/0.52
Garlic, clove, 3.6/0.30
Sesame seeds, small packet, 8.90/0.73
Almond milk, carton, 42.9/3.53 (the only thing that is the same price as back home)
Brocoli, large, 4.30/0.35
Yams, two small, 10.61/0.87
Ground beef, pound, 44.05/3.64
Yellow onions, two large, 16.61/1.37
Green onions (échalottes), bunch, 4.75/0.39
Sliced deli ham, package, 58.80/4.84 (this is thick-cut ham)
Lettuce (Boston-type), large, 17.90/1.47
Butter, two sticks, 21.80/1.79
Sliced multigrain bread, loaf, 26/2.14
White potatoes, four medium, 8.05/0.66
Toilet paper, four jumbo rolls, 11.50/0.95
Barilla pasta, two packages, 35/2.88 (this is why I eat so much more pasta here than back home!)
Pineapple, half, 11.66/0.96 (!!!)
Pork roast, small, 50.14/4.13
Beef, two large thin steaks, 46.58/3.83
Tomato sauce, three small tetra packs, 11.7/0.96
Chihuahua cheese, 200 grams, 28.90/2.34 (compare to cheddar)
Oxaca cheese, 400 grams, 55.90/4.60 (compare to mozzarella)
Sliced cheese, 8 slices, 16.90/1.39 (compare to Kraft real cheddar slices or other higher end slices with real cheese in them)
Chinese-style soy sauce, small bottle, 15.50/1.26
Salsa verde, small tin, 8.90/0.73 (compare to green enchilada sauce)
Paper towels, 3 rolls, 20.90/1.72
Raisins, medium bulk container, 17.33/1.43
Yoghurt, 1KG, 18.90/1.56 (granted this is a sale price, but the full price is only about 0.50CAD more!!!)
This was my first time needing a pulmonía to get home from the Centro Ley and it cost me 40MXN, a fair price. I had just what I could carry home on this side. If I’d had just one more carton of almond milk, I would have needed a taxi here, too!