USA Florida family considering a move to Mexico- need info please

[AlanMexicali]

Originally Posted by TundraGreen

I too find it hard to understand how you can spend more for food in Mexico than in the US. What kind of places are you buying food: mercados, big box stores, specialty shops? And what kinds of food?

Another thing to be considered is a couple of years ago in San Diego milk was 2 for $4.75 [+ - ] everywhere and beef was a lot less expensive than previously but these large differences only lasted from the onset of the recession in about 2008 until about a year or so ago and everything is now very expensive again. Lowest price on milk about $3 a gallon and sirloin steaks about $6 a pound etc.
A large papaya costs $6 now in SD and a pound of good tomatoes is about $3 or even close to $4 now.

A sale is still good but the above items rarely get down very low anymore. Beef, pork, fish and chicken compared to SLP or Mexicali at example, Soriana, is always about 50% more at anywhere not on sale in San Diego at a comparable supermarket.

The weekly street markets sell sometimes better or fresher produce at about the same or slightly more in SD usually, sometimes less depending so it is not reliable and priced seasonally but they have it all. Good deal on strawberries in season where they are local just like in Mexico etc.


If she hasn't been shopping for food in a couple of years in the US I would suspect she would be shocked now.

Just some hints on how to cut your grocery bills:

Most supermarkets (Comercial Mexicana, Soriana, Chedraui, Bodega Aurrera) have big monthly or weekly sales that are great deals, like 3 for 2, but on one specific day or weekend only. Bodega Aurrera is the warehouse form of Wal-Mart, and where Blue Collar Juan and his family usually shop every weekend. Bodega Aurrera tends to have better prices on most groceries but they will not have many imported goods. Comercial Mexicana locally sells many clothes that are US Target store brands, but at a higher price than Target in the US. Soriana has much more imported brands and selection, but at a higher price.

You can cut and paste the following on an online translator for English:

Here's the webpage for Comercial Mexicana with their monthly promotions ("promociones" tab):
La Comer

Here is Soriana's webpage with their current promotions:
Soriana - Promociones Fin de Semana MERCADO

The supermarkets also have customer loyalty programs. Comercial Mexicana has their "Orange Money" - click the "monedero naranja" tab on their homepage here: La Comer

Soriana has Electronic money - here is that webpage:
Soriana - Puntos del Aprecio

Both add up to savings for you. Chances are that someone at these stores will speak enough English to explain the program to you, and get you a card. It adds up.
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-In most cities of any size in MX, there will be grocery wholesale houses (usually a big concrete block or sheet metal building with "ABARROTES" (= Groceries) in letters 2' tall as their signs out front) where all of the little local shops come to buy their goods for resale. Here anyone can buy cases of 1 liter milk or juices (12 boxes), trays of 30 eggs, cleaning and paper goods, etc at discounted prices. Same stuff, only much cheaper (usually 10-25% less) than any of the supermarkets or WalMart. They will sell individual items, or with a case discount.

- as far as local detergents not working for you, it may be the hard water effect. Try adding a bit more detergent than you would "back home" with soft water and you may be pleased with the results.

-if you drink a lot of soft drinks, then instead of buying individual 12 oz cans for 6.5 pesos, buy the 3 liter bottles for 22 pesos, and get a glass (60% savings).

Ask your Mexican neighbors, or an expat friend's MX housekeeper for advice about who has the best deals on groceries and when they happen. Sorry, but to me asking your new expat friends (who are in the same boat) for shopping advice is kind of like asking a blind person for directions (no offense intended to blind people ).

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[AlanMexicali]

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

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-In most cities of any size in MX, there will be grocery wholesale houses (usually a big concrete block or sheet metal building with "ABARROTES" (= Groceries) in letters 2' tall as their signs out front) where all of the little local shops come to buy their goods for resale. Here anyone can buy cases of 1 liter milk or juices (12 boxes), trays of 30 eggs, cleaning and paper goods, etc at discounted prices. Same stuff, only much cheaper (usually 10-25% less) than any of the supermarkets or WalMart.
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Last year I discovered a produce/abarrotes supply district in SLP that is 4 large square blocks of connecting truck height wholesales with large and small spaces that will sell anyone anything from the many stocks of items at big discounts. It is such a busy place you can spends all day walking around getting to know the prices that the small tiendas pay for all the stuff they are picking up there, daily prices are all marked on cardboard hanging from the ceilings. No Sabritas and Pespsi Cola outlets etc. but almost everything else you see in the tiendas. The candy wholesale district is in another area but they have a few small ones there. Some places sell many things and run around on forklifts and those 5 foot square produce boxes onto the trucks or pallets with stacks of those white large plastic bags, I forgot their name, but have other places that sell smaller quantities. Deliveries are from trucks that are from SLP and a few close by states.

[Belizegirl]

Looking forward to hearing from the OP.

Regarding the cost of shopping for food, personally, I spend considerably less here, and I live in Playa Del Carmen.

Private schools are not expensive, compared to what you would pay in Canada or the US.

We all have our budget and have an idea of what we can afford. It is difficult to offer suggestions when we do not know what the OP can afford.

[TundraGreen]

Originally Posted by AlanMexicali

Last year I discovered a produce/abarrotes supply district in SLP that is 4 large square blocks of connecting truck height wholesales with large and small spaces that will sell anyone anything from the many stocks of items at big discounts. It is such a busy place you can spends all day walking around getting to know the prices that the small tiendas pay for all the stuff they are picking up there, daily prices are all marked on cardboard hanging from the ceilings. No Sabritas and Pespsi Cola outlets etc. but almost everything else you see in the tiendas. The candy wholesale district is in another area but they have a few small ones there. Some places sell many things and run around on forklifts and those 5 foot square produce boxes onto the trucks or pallets with stacks of those white large plastic bags, I forgot their name, but have other places that sell smaller quantities. Deliveries are from trucks that are from SLP and a few close by states.

Most cities in Mexico have an "Abastos", a huge wholesale market. They sell to individuals as well as to restaurants, abarrotes, street venders and others. The main focus is usually produce, but all the ones I have seen include other products as well. The market described by Alan sounds like an Abastos.

[mickisue1]

I am jumping up and down for joy with all these recommendations for places to buy staples.

I got in the habit of shopping for bargains when my kids were little, and, even now, once I realized how cheap, for example, toilet paper is at Aldi, I can't imagine buying it anywhere else in the US, or anywhere else in the world it's found. It's headquartered in Germany, so that's a lot of territory.

[pappabee]

Originally Posted by dpebbles

I shop at Superama, Soriana, Costco and Walmart. Same type of food we ate back home...meat, veggies etc...all the other expats here have told me the same thing. I used coupons and only shopped the sales back home and was able to feed a family of 7 very cheap. I have to shop much more frequently here as things go bad very fast compared to back home. Again, this is just my experience. Back home I could get cereal dirt cheap when using coupons and sales...and milk could regularly be bought on sale. Not so here...I have 5 children so my experience compared to that of an older couple living alone would be very different.

It is very possible to spend a lot of money for groceries in Mexico if you want to eat the same things that you did in the states. If you want to purchase only those items that you are used to using from the states. That's not the way to live cost effectively here. You must shop like a native. I pay $.84 US per doz for fresh eggs. $.18 US for a head of lettuce and $1.25 US for a kilo of avocados. (that's 2.2 Lbs). The eggs were in the chicken yesterday, the lettuce was on the ground this morning and the avocados were picked within 10 hours or so.

Like I have said before, if you want to live like you did in the states then it will cost you but you can live very comfortably here if you do your shopping like a native. You are correct that in Mexico (or any other country where almost everything that you eat is fresh) you must shop more frequently and, since they do not use much artificial preservatives things do go bad quickly. Again, if you want imported product you will pay for it. If you purchase local product you will find that it is much less costly and just as good.

My wife and I spend less than 50% here as to what we spent in the states and we are eating much better. Much healthier with less red meat and more chicken.

[mickisue1]

Originally Posted by pappabee

It is very possible to spend a lot of money for groceries in Mexico if you want to eat the same things that you did in the states. If you want to purchase only those items that you are used to using from the states. That's not the way to live cost effectively here. You must shop like a native. I pay $.84 US per doz for fresh eggs. $.18 US for a head of lettuce and $1.25 US for a kilo of avocados. (that's 2.2 Lbs). The eggs were in the chicken yesterday, the lettuce was on the ground this morning and the avocados were picked within 10 hours or so.

Like I have said before, if you want to live like you did in the states then it will cost you but you can live very comfortably here if you do your shopping like a native. You are correct that in Mexico (or any other country where almost everything that you eat is fresh) you must shop more frequently and, since they do not use much artificial preservatives things do go bad quickly. Again, if you want imported product you will pay for it. If you purchase local product you will find that it is much less costly and just as good.

My wife and I spend less than 50% here as to what we spent in the states and we are eating much better. Much healthier with less red meat and more chicken.

The other side of that equation is that, absent the highly processed foods that we get used to eating in the US, you and your kids will find yourselves healthier, happier and more alert.

I guarantee that the kids will rebel, at first. We crave the foods that we're used to eating. A friend calls that "our bodies are like spoiled kids--they want what they want."

But I also guarantee that your kids will grow to love the flavor of fresh, unprocessed foods, and eventually will NOT miss the junk.

When my guys were young, they would, from time to time, beg me to buy white bread. I remember my daughter, the oldest, told her brothers with disgust, "Don't bother. She won't buy it. And eventually, you won't even like white bread!"

Of course they got the white bread at school. But she had gotten the taste for chewy, flavorful whole grains.

[Isla Verde]

Originally Posted by mickisue1

When my guys were young, they would, from time to time, beg me to buy white bread. I remember my daughter, the oldest, told her brothers with disgust, "Don't bother. She won't buy it. And eventually, you won't even like white bread!"

Of course they got the white bread at school. But she had gotten the taste for chewy, flavorful whole grains.

I've always been grateful to my Jewish mother for never buying Wonder bread and its ilk for us. Instead we had rye bread, pumperknickel and bagels and a good firm sandwich bread with lots of egg in it Never the tasteless, sustance-less, white substitute for the real thing!

[pappabee]

Originally Posted by Isla Verde

I've always been grateful to my Jewish mother for never buying Wonder bread and its ilk for us. Instead we had rye bread, pumperknickel and bagels and a good firm sandwich bread with lots of egg in it Never the tasteless, sustance-less, white substitute for the real thing!

My mother used to call that "Cotton bread"

But it does make great eggs in a basket (rocky mountain toast).