Cost of Living (Supermarket Prices) 2016

Terrific information, and exhaustive.  Thank you.  A lot of folks use numbeo for cost of living stats and comparisons.   That site uses specific common items to create a data base.  It would be awesome to transfer some of the info from here to there.  http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ci … city=Quito

Great information!
Just one small observation.
The prices reflect the "packaging" involved for the presentation of the produce to be sold in the Supermarkets.
In many towns, we don't have the supermarket option, take for instance, Same, Sua,  Atacames and Tonsupa  areas in Esmeraldas.
We buy the products / produce in the "open markets" where prices are more affordable;  in comparison, perhaps half the price mentioned.
Just to give you an idea, shrimp can be bought directly from the fishermen at $3,00 - $4,00 / Kg. . Fish (corvina) at $1,50 Kg.
Fresh tropical fruits, papayas, pineapples, soursops, mangoes, oranges, dragon fruit, bananas, at ridiculous prices.
In short; similarly to the climate you can choose to live in , you can also choose where to buy your groceries, thus the price you are willing, or can afford to pay within your budget.

MM

Yeah, get rid of the environmentally unfriendly packaging.  In Germany, and some other European countries, consumers helped get rid of superfluous packaging by insisting on spending time at the cash register counters removing the packaging before allowing the codes to be scanned, or in some cases, requiring the cashiers to remove the packaging.  I don't recall the country, though Denmark is likely, where the government required that the sellers take responsibility for removing the packaging.  Either way  this resulted in a lot of wasted but paid hours of work as well as the store having to deal with the bulk of the packaging.  The end result, of course, was a LOT less packaging. 

I love doing that, especially around Christmas time when sellers are in a rush to get consumers in and out.

I know of cases where a product has arrived with 6, count them 6, layers of packaging.  More cost to ship, more loss of resources (oil and wood, i.e. plastic and paper), greater cost, less product.

marcomueses wrote:

Great information!
Just one small observation.
The prices reflect the "packaging" involved for the presentation of the produce to be sold in the Supermarkets.
In many towns, we don't have the supermarket option, take for instance, Same, Sua,  Atacames and Tonsupa  areas in Esmeraldas.
We buy the products / produce in the "open markets" where prices are more affordable;  in comparison, perhaps half the price mentioned.
Just to give you an idea, shrimp can be bought directly from the fishermen at $3,00 - $4,00 / Kg. . Fish (corvina) at $1,50 Kg.
Fresh tropical fruits, papayas, pineapples, soursops, mangoes, oranges, dragon fruit, bananas, at ridiculous prices.
In short; similarly to the climate you can choose to live in , you can also choose where to buy your groceries, thus the price you are willing, or can afford to pay within your budget.

MM

That's a great price for corvina. The cheapest I've seen it here is $5.50 a pound or about $12 a kg at a mercado, but there's risk with shopping for seafood at mercados in Quito.  But in general food costs are not cheap in Quito and aside from packaging the higher costs are also attributed to rent, higher salaries and other expenses that supermarkets have. Comparing a capital city‘s prices to a small city/town is like comparing apples to oranges though.

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If someone is disciplined they can save a little money here and there for example Supermaxi has 10-15% off on Fridays for meats and poultry and 20% off on fruits and vegetables on Wednesdays. Friday-Monday is however an unpleasant time to shop as Supermarkets are very crowded. Also when computing time, r/t taxi fare, it's just not worth it to divide shopping days solely to get certain items. 

The mercados are also cheaper for somethings but the fruit and veggie sellers are like mercenaries they have no concept of loyalty. I got fed up with them as you have to be constantly vigilant when shopping as sometimes they'll sneak over ripened fruits/veggies in your bag. About the only things I buy from there are corvina steaks and lamb and both from sellers I developed a good relationship and they only care about me as customer is because I buy in bulk to minimize trips. The Borrego (lamb) lady I buy from has a walk in refrigerator box on the premises and she'll take me back there to get specific cuts if I'm not satisfied with what she has on display.

There's also Coral, but no thank you as their meat and seafood section is undesirable (N.Quito), and also Santa Maria that some locals claim in cheaper (my doorman for example) but that's relative. And probably cheaper for products that some locals use a lot like rice, soya oil and beans.

lois2b wrote:

Yeah, get rid of the environmentally unfriendly packaging.  In Germany, and some other European countries, consumers helped get rid of superfluous packaging by insisting on spending time at the cash register counters removing the packaging before allowing the codes to be scanned, or in some cases, requiring the cashiers to remove the packaging.  I don't recall the country, though Denmark is likely, where the government required that the sellers take responsibility for removing the packaging.  Either way  this resulted in a lot of wasted but paid hours of work as well as the store having to deal with the bulk of the packaging.  The end result, of course, was a LOT less packaging. 

I love doing that, especially around Christmas time when sellers are in a rush to get consumers in and out.

I know of cases where a product has arrived with 6, count them 6, layers of packaging.  More cost to ship, more loss of resources (oil and wood, i.e. plastic and paper), greater cost, less product.

Sounds great but we're not quite there yet in terms of getting rid of packaging that is detrimental to the environment. Supermaxi and Megamaxi do however sell reusable bags so you don't have to use plastic shopping bags all the time. They sell them three for a dollar, and honestly sometimes we take them and sometimes not as we often forget.  A good start is banning plastic bags on certain days, and simply beginning with one day. I know some countries have initiated this and increased days gradually.

..." Comparing a capital city‘s prices to a small city/town is like comparing apples to oranges though".

Totally agree with Vsimple comment.

I'd like to add, produce from the "Sierra" become more expensive in the "Costa" and viceversa. Example: the cost for fish is more expensive in Quito and cost for corn on the cob and potatoes triples the price in Esmeraldas.

Also, the plus side of living in a small town gives you the opportunity to have some of the produce delivered right to your door. The market comes to your house in the form of a pick up truck or a moto-taxi.  I buy from them eggs, fruits and vegetables. Once you become their preferred customer they'll go out of their way to get you the best service and best produce,  of course they'll charge you a bit more than regular prices than the open market, that's how they make their living. .... No plastic bags nor extra packaging required, use your own  basket /container from home.

Supermarkets, especially in Ecuador, are for people who don't care about prices, except for items they find necessary and cannot find elsewhere. Prices at local open markets are generally orders of magnitude less. I will try to include photos of prices here but, in case I fail, full meals at public markets run US$2-3. You can buy fresh fish not much more than $2/pound. Large bottles of beer you can buy from vendors at around 90 cents while produce costs very little. I have seen small avocados at 5/$1, large at 3/$1. Big juice oranges seem pricey to me at 6/$1. Using supermarket prices as a food cost indicator is like using tourist restaurant prices. Besides, I rather like supporting little guys rather than the greedy, super-rich and arch-conservative Grant people who own  SuperMaxi. I used to be concerned about being treated fairly but now find market produce shopping a pleasant adventure with friendly, charming vendors and we both often laugh at my Spanish. I try to bring my own bags to avoid yet more plastic, which is a blight on the planet.

Then, of course there is gasoline at $1.45/US gallon and diesel at $1.04. I got a crown for $140, but that was 7 years ago. My very competent and thorough Ibarra neurologist recently set me back $45 for a same day appointment. When he said he would like to see a CT scan due to an earlier head injury he sent me to a nearby radiology center with a prescription. I paid $60, got the scan in new looking equipment and returned to his office half hour later with film in hand (hard copy), while it was also available in digital. He took another half hour  or more explaining it to me (I had also recently gotten an EKG from him, which he explained and gave me about 20 printed pages of my brain activity).

smitty88 wrote:

Supermarkets, especially in Ecuador, are for people who don't care about prices, except for items they find necessary and cannot find elsewhere.

Using supermarket prices as a food cost indicator is like using tourist restaurant prices.

You make it seem like shopping at a supermarket is luxurious or for wealthy people. Maybe in towns and small cities where supermarkets are viewed as such but that is not the case for Quito. Ecuadoreans from all walks of life shop at supermarkets in Quito. This is evident by the dozens of supermarkets in affluent, middle class, poor and even ghetto neighborhoods. Sur Quito is very poor and I am sure the people who live there think about prices.

Personally we shop at supermarkets because it's how you conveniently get groceries just like many other Quiteños . Additionally prices are not significantly different from mercados, and supermarkets are much cleaner.

Probably you guys already know about this useful tool from numbeo.com  on the "Cost of Living Comparison Between Two Countries" which you can also set after choosing the 2 countries,
then once those are entered, you can compare between 2 cities in Ecuador etc..
Bookmark it-->
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/co … ntries.jsp