How are things in Argentina?

[Aonikenk]

I have been hearing from friends and family in Argentina that prices have gone through the roof and food is hard to find. In some regions there is rationing of flour and other essentials. I have not seen any discussion on this site, and was wondering if Baires was immune to this? Have any of you heard from other people in different places? In general, how are things?

 

[garygrunson]

Prices are high, no shortages of essentials.

 

[Napoleon]

You can only buy 2 bags of sugar per visit at some supermarkets, but since I only buy one bag about every 10 visits, this is hardly a problem for me.

Good prices have jumped a lot. But really, who needs food every day?

 

[gpop]

If you plan on staying, get yourself a savings account (even if it's only to use the account for chopping) from HSBC or Banco Galicia, or a bank that usually has anywhere from 10 - 20% discount with their debit or credit cards.
[for example: Coto offers 20% discount with HSBC credit Visa/MC cards on fridays, and 10% with all other debit cards]

Really, you notice the few hundred pesos in savings at checkout or in your monthly statement. This, at least, has helped in offsetting the rise in prices.

There are sporadic price increases at different times of the year (not really associated with seasonal things, but more because of skirmishes between different unions and such). Like the time when tomatoes shot up from 3pesos to 18pesos per kilo a couple of years ago, then lettuce.They drop the price back... but this kind of thing does occur.

There is food; you are not going to see "bread lines" and massive rationing... at least not yet . Anyways, you can save a lot of money if you don't buy everything in one supermarket. Often you will find some things are cheaper in the local "chinos", and somethings are not. Jumbo is more expensive than Coto but has better meats and more variety and imported stuff.
A little bit of research and you can reduce costs during this time of inflation.

 

[Sleuth]

Was in Chinatown yesterday and the melon ice cream bars were sold out everywhere - no doubt due to import restrictions. A jar of peanut butter was also $28,50 now...

I agree with gpop too. We now use Coto online and have them deliver on the day that they offer 20% off with our bank credit card. It's a huge savings over our local Disco prices. We also started using http://www.labaratadelcentral.com.ar/ for some cheap fruits and vegetables.

 

[MorganF]

Sleuth!!!! I use Coto online too, as well as the Coto supermarket near me and please be warned: Coto supermarket has consistently higher prices than Coto online, including often 20% more. I used to think that I was saving 20% by using Coto online (due to the local bank credit card too) but then I did a price comparison and I'm not. Tricky tricky

 

[Sleuth]

Sleuth!!!! I use Coto online too, as well as the Coto supermarket near me and please be warned: Coto supermarket has consistently higher prices than Coto online, including often 20% more. I used to think that I was saving 20% by using Coto online (due to the local bank credit card too) but then I did a price comparison and I'm not. Tricky tricky

I think you meant to say "Coto online has consistently higher prices than Coto supermarket, including often 20% more", right?

We do not have a Coto nearby so we compared prices to our Disco and Coto Online came out cheaper on almost everything. Plus we earn miles which is a benefit.

 

[MorganF]

Correct -- I meant to say that online has higher prices -- so the saving is deceptive.

 

[Sleuth]

Correct -- I meant to say that online has higher prices -- so the saving is deceptive.

Yep, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, the Disco near us is really pricey, so this is a savings!

I did a quick comparison of some of the online shopping sites: Disco, Jumbo, Coto and Le Shop, and Coto seemed to beat them most of the time if only by a few cents. The big difference was the 20% w/ credit card.

Good to know about the price markups online though...

 

[Davidglen77]

Due to the crazy inflation that I have seen in the past few months, I have started to do a lot of comparison shopping. I have been pleasantly surprised by "Dia" supermarkets. Some of their house brands are really very good quality and honestly less than half the cost of a comparable item at the bigger name brand supermarkets. Good items are dry pasta, the "Dia" brand $3,49 for a 500gr bag of mostacholis (ziti as we know it in the US), toilet paper, cleaning supplies, cheeses, EVERYTHING much cheaper than other places, a few things were not good, such as the instant coffee and some of the jams / jelllies while the ingredients listed were the same as name brands, did not taste that great. It's worth the trip, there is a new "Dia" on Entre Rios near Independencia, new clean, even has a carnicería, and FAST MOVING modern check out lines!!