Grocery Bills Around the World

Time Magazine Online, has a photo essay of families around the world with their weekly groceries. They range from $1.23 in Chad to $500.07 in Germany, in US dollars. I suppose some of them are growing much of their own food, or buying it from neighbors, in rural areas.
I've also added the number of people in the family, in parenthesis.

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City (4)
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily (5)
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp (5)
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City (8)
Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina (4)
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca (5)
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

China: The Dong family of Beijing (4)
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna (5)
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo (12)
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo (9)
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

United States: The Caven family of California (4)
Food expenditure for one week: $159.18
Favorite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar (4)
Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis (4)
Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village (12)
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide (4)
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding.

You can compare your spending, but it's interesting to see the pictures of the families with the weeks groceries all laid out.

Slightly off topic, but I noticed the (Time) typo in this, whereas I didn't notice it on the original link.

Collingbourne Ducis (which is in Wiltshire)

Cllingbourne Ducis sounds like something out of a fantasy novel.

Maybe after showing what they are eating they lied about where they lived. [SIZE="1"]heh heh heh[/SIZE]

xoxoxoBruce;352525 wrote:

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina (4)
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Holy Cannoli! That's darn near twice ours (and we have four people as well).

soup with sheep meat? pigs knuckles? mayonnaise sandwich?

blecch. I'll pass.

Cloud;352545 wrote:

soup with sheep meat? pigs knuckles? mayonnaise sandwich?

blecch. I'll pass.

word sista

Did the cost include alcohol?

By the looks of the German picture, I'd say yes. That could be why their bill was so high.

SteveDallas;352535 wrote:

Holy Cannoli! That's darn near twice ours (and we have four people as well).

You're more in line with the CA family.

Very intriguing!

I am attracted to the Bhutan familys budget and mushrooms are yum :drool:

I think our American diets and budgets is pretty accurate. I like all those things as well.

The Mexican's 12 big bottles of coke, for a week, struck me as a giant sugar rush.

it's medicinal!

SteveDallas;352535 wrote:

Holy Cannoli! That's darn near twice ours (and we have four people as well).

I bet we spend something near that when everyone is home from school. Easily.

Cloud;352545 wrote:

mayonnaise sandwich?

blecch. I'll pass.

I think it would be an avocado and mayonnaise sandwich.

SteveDallas;352535 wrote:

Holy Cannoli! That's darn near twice ours (and we have four people as well).

I thought we were over-doing it spending about $200-$225 every two weeks for a family of 4. That does seem inflated, maybe they buy a lot of prepared foods.


(I just looked at the photo there looks to be a fair amount of prepared food there. My $ didn't include meals out)

monster;352680 wrote:

I think it would be an avocado and mayonnaise sandwich.

that's much, much worse!

I am pleased to see that I spend less than a family of four.

I suppose with more processed foods, the total would go up more sharply with each additional mouth.