Job Offer in Buenos Aires

[PhilipDT]

500gr of pasta (approx 1lb&1oz) is enough for FOUR MEALS?? Maybe if its a side dish next to a nice helping of chicken, beef or fish. I can't imagine an adult eating that for 4 meals and not being hungry all the time or malnourished. What about salad, vegetables, and olive oil which costs at minimum $35 - $40 a liter (33.6 oz) ?

Really? I had 125 g of pasta for lunch and was stuffed and I'm a pretty big dude.

Now, admittedly my pasta had a variety of other things in it (shrimp, mussles, and scallops) but the majority of the "fillingness" came from the pasta and the heavy cream sauce.

I've always considered a bag/box of pasta to be 4 servings.

 

[Xeneizes]

500gr of pasta (approx 1lb&1oz) is enough for FOUR MEALS?? Maybe if its a side dish next to a nice helping of chicken, beef or fish. I can't imagine an adult eating that for 4 meals and not being hungry all the time or malnourished. What about salad, vegetables, and olive oil which costs at minimum $35 - $40 a liter (33.6 oz) ?

Serving size on my pasta box in the US is 56g, and I usually eat double that, so I'd say 500g for four meals is definitely enough food, though I would also include some meat and veggies often.

Are vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, celery) expensive?

 

[French jurist]

Are vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, celery) expensive?

No they are not if you buy them in small shops (held by Bolivians or Peruvians), and it's fresher too. If you buy in a supermarket, you'll pay 30/50% more (sometimes 100% more --> personally verified).

 

[starlucia]

Serving size on my pasta box in the US is 56g, and I usually eat double that, so I'd say 500g for four meals is definitely enough food, though I would also include some meat and veggies often.

Are vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, celery) expensive?

Depends on the season. A paquete of spinach is super-cheap (2-3 pesos), but it's sold encrusted in dirt and takes about half an hour to wash. I recently saw broccoli for 7 pesos a kilo, carrots are usually under 8 a kilo. I think asparagus is on the pricier side. Cheapest veggies are almost always squash and potatoes, cabbage, and onions.

 

[Revvie32]

Hey Xeneizes,

I wish I could give you advice on this but I'll have to leave that to others as my tourist experience won't get you far! I'm actually wondering how you went about getting a job offer in the first place from the U.S. before heading to BsAs at all? I'm in a similar situation to yours and would love to go back to Argentina for a while.

 

[Davidglen77]

Really? I had 125 g of pasta for lunch and was stuffed and I'm a pretty big dude.

Now, admittedly my pasta had a variety of other things in it (shrimp, mussles, and scallops) but the majority of the "fillingness" came from the pasta and the heavy cream sauce.

I've always considered a bag/box of pasta to be 4 servings.

Shrimp - $75 pesos kg, Mussels $75 pesos kg, scallops I can't say because I haven't encountered them here, but I would say they will be just as expensive as other shellfish. Cream is about $10 pesos for a small container.......that 125gr serving of pasta just cost you about $30 pesos now. And who can go to the supermarket and "just" buy those few items. Realistically people almost ALWAYS come out with items they didn't plan to purchase. $100 pesos a week in the supermarket just isn't realistic now. I would say at least $200 per week if you are planning on eating at home for most meals.

 

[Xeneizes]

Hey Xeneizes,

I wish I could give you advice on this but I'll have to leave that to others as my tourist experience won't get you far! I'm actually wondering how you went about getting a job offer in the first place from the U.S. before heading to BsAs at all? I'm in a similar situation to yours and would love to go back to Argentina for a while.

Hey Revvie,

I graduated from college in May. I had intended on going to graduate school for engineering (which I was accepted to) but I decided I did not want to commit to it because I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life.

While looking at graduate schools, I was also applying to jobs, in both engineering and management consulting through my university recruiting website. One of them was a company in Buenos Aires and I ended up receiving an offer, which I decided to take because of the opportunity to improve my Spanish, live abroad, meet people from around the world (in the company) and work in consulting to see if I like it.

 

[PhilipDT]

Shrimp - $75 pesos kg, Mussels $75 pesos kg, scallops I can't say because I haven't encountered them here, but I would say they will be just as expensive as other shellfish. Cream is about $10 pesos for a small container.......that 125gr serving of pasta just cost you about $30 pesos now. And who can go to the supermarket and "just" buy those few items. Realistically people almost ALWAYS come out with items they didn't plan to purchase. $100 pesos a week in the supermarket just isn't realistic now. I would say at least $200 per week if you are planning on eating at home for most meals.

Look at what I wrote in my post. I said I spend various multiples of the OPs 200 peso budget for my groceries. I wasn't trying to tout my lunch that I ate as a cheap meal, I know it wasn't. I was trying to say that its possible to eat cheaply in buenos aires. Which it is.

 

[Xeneizes]

Depends on the season. A paquete of spinach is super-cheap (2-3 pesos), but it's sold encrusted in dirt and takes about half an hour to wash. I recently saw broccoli for 7 pesos a kilo, carrots are usually under 8 a kilo. I think asparagus is on the pricier side. Cheapest veggies are almost always squash and potatoes, cabbage, and onions.

Alright, a kilo of broccoli should be good for 4 meals at least, and I think i read a kilo of chicken was around 18 pesos, also good for 4 meals.

Thus, would four meals of chicken, broccoli, and pasta and cost around 18+8+4 = 30 pesos, or about 7.5 pesos per meal. Sound accurate?

This does not include spices or sauces, which would probably be more of a one time purchase for many meals.

 

[PhilipDT]

Alright, a kilo of broccoli should be good for 4 meals at least, and I think i read a kilo of chicken was around 12-15 pesos, also good for 4 meals.

Thus, would four meals of chicken, broccoli, and pasta cost around 15+8+4 = 27 pesos, or about 8 pesos per meal. Sound accurate?

This does not include spices or sauces, which would probably be more of a one time purchase for many meals.

Sounds accurate.