What a difference a few years makes

[starlucia]

While looking through some old newspapers, I found a few supermarket ads with prices (and random, now-extinct brands) that were just too fun not to share... even though we all know that inflation is out of control, it's kind of shocking to see, in print, just HOW cheap Buenos Aires was less than a decade ago (as a sidenote, while all of these products have increased 5-10x in price, a certain language institute that was paying its Spanish teachers $10/hr in 2003 is now only paying them $30/hr...)

At Disco in 2003:
Tomates: 1.59/kg
Galletitas, Ricagua brand, 120g pack: 0.39
Copos de maiz, Suli brand, 400g bag: 1.89
Sachet of milk, Suli: 1.09
Fideos, 500g, Coronis brand: 1.29
Salchichas, 6-pack, La Sabrosa: 0.79
Aceite mezcla 900 cc, Ibian brand: 1.79
Te Taragui, 25 bags: 1.29
Paper towels, 3-pack, Sedita: 1.75
Peceto de novillo: 6.99/kg
Arroz, Primera Marca brand, 1 kilo: 1.69
Prepizzas, 300g, Don Francisco brand: 1.49

And in 2006:
Carne picada de novillo: 2.89/kg
Roast beef de novillo: 5.69/kg
Pollo tipo parillero sin menudo: 3.99/kg
Peceto de novillo: 9.99/kg
Vino Rodas: 7.79

 

[French jurist]

A parrilla for two persons (morcilla, asado, chorizo, chinchulines) + a bottle of a reasonably good wine (Chateau Vieux) was 17 pesos back in november 2003.

For that price, you just buy two coffees nowadays.

 

[Iznogud]

A parrilla for two persons (morcilla, asado, chorizo, chinchulines) + a bottle of a reasonably good wine (Chateau Vieux) was 17 pesos back in november 2003.

For that price, you just buy two coffees nowadays.

Hardly one where I live, Maître.

 

[starlucia]

A parrilla for two persons (morcilla, asado, chorizo, chinchulines) + a bottle of a reasonably good wine (Chateau Vieux) was 17 pesos back in november 2003.

For that price, you just buy two coffees nowadays.

Hell, not even... a cafe con leche at Establecimiento General is now 17.50!

 

[sergio]

During the Menem years a cafecito at Patio Bullrich was $2,50 which I thought was shockingly high. Everywhere else $1,50; sometimes 1 peso. Argentina goes through cycles and we are now in a very difficult one so you just have to put up with it.

 

[Davidglen77]

Today I bought 1KG of Merluza filet, 1KG of flour, 1/2 dozen eggs, 1 lettuce, 1 head of garlic, 2 onions, 3 tomatoes, and 1KG of rice. $100 Pesos - for a dinner at home for 3 people.

 

[Crema Americana]

Yes, a lot has changed... especially for the locals.

My husband and I stopped for breakfast at a large cafe, and ordered the typical coffee with medialunas/tostados, orange juice... nothing really fancy. When the check came, the waiter -who was an older man in his 60s or 70s- stopped and examined the receipt and almost turned around to go back to the register before giving it to us. It was 70-something pesos. He had thought that the price was wrong and was going to ask the register about it... the price was right, it was just expensive for what it was.

I also remember my husband "flipando" in 2005 when we were paid 40 pesos for a pizza! To me it was about $10 and cheap... for him it was highway robbery. Now you can't get a pizza for less than 60 or 70 pesos.

Buenos Aires has gone from being significantly cheaper than the US to equal or often more expensive for low/middle range dining/grocery shopping... despite the weaker peso and without even taking the income discrepancy into consideration. (Ignoring imports as well...) I really don't know how the locals keep up.


This may change soon enough... but really, the people shouldn't have to go through these painful crazy cycles.

 

[ElQueso]

I really don't know how the locals keep up.

The locals I know eat little meat and lots of carbs like pasta and pizza. One of my sister-in-law's friends has pasta with olive oil and a little bit of oregano sprinkled on top - EVERY TIME she goes over there and eats with them. The others vary a little bit from time to time, but her friends all beg to come over to our house and eat. My last meal I prepared for them was a couple of casserole dishes of enchiladas...

And these are middle and upper middle class families (not rich).

I remember when I came here in 2006, I could get a week's worth of groceries for about 200 pesos. Of course, if I remember correctly, the exchange rate was just at 3-1. Comparing with the official exchange rate now, I used to spend $66 USD a week in groceries, for two of us, so that would be roughly $33 USD per person.

Now, for four of us, I spend roughly $1200 pesos a week (we eat good). At the official rate, I spend $266 USD a week, or about $66.50 USD per person. I used to spend just about $250 a week in Houston, for 5 of us, as late as 2005 - about $50 USD per person.

At the blue rate - I haven't exchanged dollars for pesos in a couple of weeks, but I got $5.70 last time I did. So my groceries are costing me about $210 USD a week now, or about $52.50 USD per person.

From 2006 to now, my real grocery expenses have gone up 100-something percent in the last 5 3/4 years or so according to the official rate. Truth is - not as big an increase as I was thinking, but still pretty big, particularly considering that most of the increase has happened in the last two years or so - before that it was not as quickly-rising.

For locals earning in pesos, that comes out to a whopping 300% increase, at least buying like I do.

Rents - in 2007 I was paying roughly $5.83 USD per square meter per month rent, now officially I am paying $12.12 USD by straight dollar, but since the owner allows me to convert my dollar rental rate to pesos at the official exchange rate (I am truly lucky there!), my actual rent is $10.30 per square meter per month. I was paying about $10 pesos/square meter in a house near Pilar a little over two years ago, and I had a huge kitchen, an extra bedroom, and my office was twice the size of my current one, plus I had a pool. That same house is now going for roughly $13 pesos/square meter.

First time I went to the movies here, I paid 10 pesos per person. Tonight my wife and I went to Recoleta Mall and spent 48 pesos a person. Of course, it was in 3D, which there weren't any in 2006. That's an extra 6 pesos charge - so 42 pesos a person then, for a shocking 400+% increase at just pesos.

 

[PhilipDT]

Yes, a lot has changed... especially for the locals.

My husband and I stopped for breakfast at a large cafe, and ordered the typical coffee with medialunas/tostados, orange juice... nothing really fancy. When the check came, the waiter -who was an older man in his 60s or 70s- stopped and examined the receipt and almost turned around to go back to the register before giving it to us. It was 70-something pesos. He had thought that the price was wrong and was going to ask the register about it... the price was right, it was just expensive for what it was.

I also remember my husband "flipando" in 2005 when we were paid 40 pesos for a pizza! To me it was about $10 and cheap... for him it was highway robbery. Now you can't get a pizza for less than 60 or 70 pesos.

Buenos Aires has gone from being significantly cheaper than the US to equal or often more expensive for low/middle range dining/grocery shopping... despite the weaker peso and without even taking the income discrepancy into consideration. (Ignoring imports as well...) I really don't know how the locals keep up.


This may change soon enough... but really, the people shouldn't have to go through these painful crazy cycles.

I get delicious pizza for 30 pesos.


But yes, inflation is nutzs. I had a pizza party tonight for 10 people. Made everything from scratch, spent north of USD 200 for the ingredients....Not a cheap place to live at all.

 

[French jurist]

Still, it's possible to spend less, buying wisely:

40 minutes from Buenos Aires (for those who have a car):
- 30 eggs for 10 pesos
- 1 kilo of Bife de Chorizo (top quality) for 43 pesos
- Red pepper around 16 pesos/kilo (Green pepper for about 12/13 pesos)
- Big house/big garden/big pool/gated community for 3.000 pesos

A few things remain very cheap in Buenos Aires and around:
Premium restaurants (about 1.200 pesos for two for a dinner = would easily be the double in major Western/occidental cities), dentists, etc.

For those who have a DNI: possibility to buy in cuotas with very low interest rates (gain on inflation).

Now with the dollar blue: possibility to buy airplane tickets to Europe/US paying in pesos after exchanging them on the black market (instead of paying 1.200 USD on Air France to Paris = pay 950 USD --> could be a clever trick for expats making an income in pesos btw = make a deal with foreigners wishing to fly here and paying locally in pesos while getting paid outside of Argentina in EUR/USD = gain for both parties...).