Food prices are amongst the highest of the planet

[steveinbsas]

@Steve
Your posts from Puerto Madryn never fail to fascinate me. Your life style is not for the fainted heart. Absolutely amazing! All power to you.

Thank you for the compliment.

Just so you know (and can "visualize") where I live, Google Villa General Arias in Pcia. Bs.As. I live almost exactly one km from the plaza in the zona de las quintas, accessed via calle Guiraldes.

Yesterday here in BsAs I bought one tomato $1973 el kilo $7500. Banana $3500 el kilo. On and on,,,,, I will not bore you. Seems those new reality prices haven't arrived where you are yet. Do you think that your situation will last for ever?

Fruits and veggies already cost about the same here, but I don't buy or consume any.

About a month ago I cut my food expenses by about 30% by eliminating butter and cheese from my daily meals. I was buying the lowest priced cheese (cremoso) and spending almost twice as much per day for the cheese than the roast beef. On top of that was the cost of butter which was approching $3000 pesos for 200 grams.

BsAs prices of any and everything in $US have no resemblance of the past. None whatsoever.

 

[steveinbsas]

BsAs prices of any and everything in $US have no resemblance of the past. None whatsoever.

Last week I paid (at a net exchange rate of $1300 to 1 USD) $2.79 per pound for the roast beef, $1.99 per dozen for the eggs, and $0.15 per litro of bottled water.

I haven't lived in the USA since 2000 and have not been there since 2008 and I don't remember what the prices were there then.

If I remember correctly, roast beef was about 8 pesos per kilo when I arrived in CF in 2006 and the exchange rate was a little over 3 pesos to one dollar, so I don't find the current price of the meat to be significantly different in dollars at the current exchange rate, although I was paying much less for roast beef earlier this year (about 5000 pesos per kilo) than now (about 8000 pesos per kilo), with a smaller increase in the value of the dollar compared to the increase in the cost of the meat.

 

[argeiCanuck]

BsAs prices of any and everything in $US have no resemblance of the past. None whatsoever. Except meat.

You're right. Meat prices in $US hasn't changed at all.

So actually you're experiencing the same new reality prices as in CF but you're adapting and changing to take advantage of a carnivor diet.

Do you ever miss the city? Companionship? Please feel free to ignore this question if it's too much of invasion of privacy.

 

[Rich One]

Good price but how does it save a $20,000 peso expenditure when the cost is under $5,000 a bottle at Carrefour. Of course if you only want ONE bottle, better to buy it at the corner market.

Well one needs to have 15K cash to benefit.

 

[carride]

With the title of this thread in mind, based on prices I paid inthe past few days, I just calculated that I can buy and consume 1.5 lbs. (pre-cooked weight) of grass fed Argentine roast beef, in addiition to nine farm fresh xl eggs with bright orange yolks and cook them in refined beef tallow as well as drink two liters of bottled water and as much coffee as I desire every day of the month at a total cost just under $7.00 dollars per day (including the cost of the LP gas required to cook the meals and heat the water for the coffee and the cleanup).

Steve, in the past you mention you have a circle of friends there in your town. Do you have any inside knowledge to the origin of the beef you buy? Is it local from your area, or from friends, or perhaps raised on your own land? I believe most, if not all, cows finish their life to gain fat and flavor eating grains, not pasture grass, in the last weeks before slaughter. Some with more time, and some less. I am curious if your meat is local, and if that means it had much less time eating corn/soy. Does your butcher sell two or more types of beef which might show different descriptions of their origin?

I often ask that question here in Argentina, and still it is not clear. In the United States almost all markets now have 2 or more specific types of beef depending on a number of factors though most highlight if grass fed. I can also go directly to a small farmer in many rural areas and buy directly, with a full or partial payment many months before slaughter, which means the cow never travels a far distance to a feedlot or a remote slaughterhouse. The prices for all these varieties of beef can see the price increase 100% or more compared to the exact same style of cut sold in the same market or nearby market. I never seen this distinction in Argentina.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Howdy Carride,

I don't know much about cattle but my suegro lives in a small village in San Luis. He has a degree in bovine agriculture and raised them for years. He explained to me that the local cows there graze for food which I suppose you could say is grass fed. They walk a lot though grazing, this renders the mean leaner and the muscles harder, which he doesn't like. Once a week the butcher has a truck stop by with meat destined for Buenos Aires from feed lot cows. They move less and the meat is more tender/fattier. He prefers buying that meat and pays more for it. The butcher calls him by phone when the truck comes in and he tells the butcher to reserve the cuts he wants.

Rural cows can mean different quality depending on where they are from and I suppose what they are finished with as you mentioned. I've heard the best cows are from Missiones, where the climate lends to greener pastures and fatter cows which sounds more like the "grass fed" you're looking for.

 

[FrankPintor]

@Steve
Your posts from Puerto Madryn never fail to fascinate me. Your life style is not for the fainted heart. Absolutely amazing! All power to you.

Yesterday here in BsAs I bought one tomato $1973 el kilo $7500. Banana $3500 el kilo. On and on,,,,, I will not bore you. Seems those new reality prices haven't arrived where you are yet. Do you think that your situation will last for ever?

BsAs prices of any and everything in $US have no resemblance of the past. None whatsoever.

Vegetable prices must be very different in the city to those in the provinces, I was shocked to see round tomatoes at 4000 Pesos/kg and pear tomatoes at 4500. My jaw would have fallen on the ground if I'd seen 7500 Pesos/kg I didn't note the prices of other veggies, but I can check next time I pass by.

Eating out is cheaper out here as well, we had nice sunny weather yesterday around lunchtime, so we went to a place in our village, spent 30,000 Pesos on bife de chorizo (400g, 9,000 Pesos), half a Pacu (11,000 Pesos), a large salad, a large glass of house white wine and a jug of lemonade. At a mid-range place in the city you'll pay 20,000 for the bife, and around 25000 for the fish.

 

[jbeas176]

life has never been easy we just need to adapt and move on

 

[jbeas176]

forgot to add, alamos, catenia is my go to malbec. 5.00. lots of friut

 

[sergio]

forgot to add, alamos, catenia is my go to malbec. 5.00. lots of friut

Alamos Malbec ...2023?
Catenia? Catena Malbec?
What does 5.00 mean?