price of food in this country!?

scruff321

ok i know ireland has been dubed the "rip off republic" a long time now but i was recently in japan the so called most expensive country in the world and found that most things were actually cheaper then ireland especially food and drink!?!?! and thats all i got from ppl when i came home "jesus that must have been an expensive place?" not really tho! once again proving ireland is an absolute rip off!

Terry

scruff321 wrote:

ok i know ireland has been dubed the "rip off republic" a long time now but i was recently in japan the so called most expensive country in the world and found that most things were actually cheaper then ireland especially food and drink!?!?! and thats all i got from ppl when i came home "jesus that must have been an expensive place?" not really tho! once again proving ireland is an absolute rip off!

Shop around.
I can go to my local supermarket and buy 2 chicken fillets for €3.20 or I can got to the butchers in the same shopping complex and buy 12 fillets for €10.
It's the people who buy the chicken filets from the supermarket who keep the prices up.
Remember, the groceries order act is no longer in place. The supermarkets are allowed to be as competitive as they want, but they choose not to be because people keep paying the inflated prices.
There is an outlet mall in Kildare to which offers up to 755 off name brands, but some people would rather pay extortionate prices for the same clothes in a Dublin shop, just so they can carry the shops bag around with them and fasley inflate their ego while deflating their bank balance.

Terry

Terry wrote:

There is an outlet mall in Kildare to which offers up to 75% off name brands,

Where? Link?

Edit:

Found it: http://www.kildarevillage.com/kildare/home.asp

biko

It's do with taxation afaik. Some countries will tax low to none on necessities ie food clothing etc and high on luxury items ie cars and whatnot.

Terry

Deleted User wrote:

Where? Link?

Edit:

Found it: http://www.kildarevillage.com/kildare/home.asp

You weren't supposed to link.
This shop is only for those who are willing to refuse to pay the ridiculous prices in city/ town centre shops.
Leave the designer bag carrying asses to themselves.
You know the type.
They won't shop in lidl in case they bump into their neighbours.

Blush_01

But in Kildare Village they have the proper designer shop bags too. My Radley carrier bag is so cute. I only wish the Scottie was real. /me wants a puppy.

Terry

yeah, but you didn't get the bag from the Dublin branch of whatever store.
There's the difference.

tuxy

biko wrote:

It's do with taxation afaik. Some countries will tax low to none on necessities ie food clothing etc and high on luxury items ie cars and whatnot.

Ah so that's why cars are cheaper and higher spec here then in Japan.

nesf

Shopping around is pretty much the solution to most of these issues. People get lazy and buy all their food in Tescos or something and complain the the price of meat is high or whatever. If the price bothers you so much put in the effort to shop around and a lot of them time you can find cheaper/better stuff.

Finding a decent butcher for instance is really something that's worth doing. Ditto for fresh veg etc.

MooseJam

Yea shop around and give your custom to those with the low prices

Blush_01

Terry wrote:

yeah, but you didn't get the bag from the Dublin branch of whatever store.
There's the difference.

A Regine Dublin bag from the Kildare Village store is (I am open to correction on this) the same as the one you'd get in Dublin, is it not? Radley, La Creuset, Clarkes, Monsoon, Reebok, Starbucks, etc. all have the same packaging in KV as in the city centre, from what I've seen.

Jesus Wept

Food/eating out in Australia was half the price here in my experience. Shame it's not a ryanair hour flight away... *sigh

Ponster

Food generally is more expensive in Ireland then where I live but I really can't remember if it's always been the case.

I'll post back here later with the price of a Big Mac meal, a litre of milk and a bottle of coke just to see if it surprises anyone (oh and anythng else that anyone wants me to check).

Gurgle

scruff321 wrote:

ok i know ireland has been dubed the "rip off republic" a long time now but i was recently in japan the so called most expensive country in the world and found that most things were actually cheaper then ireland especially food and drink!?!?!

The Yen has dropped a lot in value against the euro. First time I was in Japan, in 2000, it was very expensive to eat out and drink was about double what it was here. At the time it was 115Y to the £. Last time (2005 I think) it was 130Y to the €, so even though everything cost the same in Yen it was a lot cheaper due to the currency change.

Blitzkrieger

Food prices are kept artificially high by the EU so that European farmers can compete with imports from the third world. The percentage of your income you spend on food is still likely to be far lower than someone in those third world countries who grow most of the food. If prices were lower, it would result in even worse condidions for those workers.

Usual disclaimers about huge markups in the Irish market, distribution of wealth the third world, etc., etc......

Raiser

..........We are lucky that we can hop an a Plane and no matter where we travel to we are guaranteed to be delighted by the excellent goods and services available at reasonable* prices..........


* I say "reasonable" instead of low because nobody ever minds paying a fair price. Its just that in Ireland price isn't determined by value, labour, cost of manufacturing etc. - Its determined by how much the retailer thinks that they can get away with fleecing the customer for & every time they manage this, then the current price is incremented by ~1% a month.

cooperguy

Terry wrote:

yeah, but you didn't get the bag from the Dublin branch of whatever store.
There's the difference.

Are people really that ridiculously sad? I had more faith in the human race before I heard that

jester77

Blitzkrieger wrote:

Food prices are kept artificially high by the EU so that European farmers can compete with imports from the third world. The percentage of your income you spend on food is still likely to be far lower than someone in those third world countries who grow most of the food. If prices were lower, it would result in even worse condidions for those workers.

Usual disclaimers about huge markups in the Irish market, distribution of wealth the third world, etc., etc......

But if that were the case then food would be expensive everywhere in Europe. My weekly shopping here costs around €70-€80, same shopping in Ireland costed €30-€40 more and that was a few years ago and I don't think prices in Ireland have fallen in the last few years!

Terry

Blush_01 wrote:

A Regine Dublin bag from the Kildare Village store is (I am open to correction on this) the same as the one you'd get in Dublin, is it not? Radley, La Creuset, Clarkes, Monsoon, Reebok, Starbucks, etc. all have the same packaging in KV as in the city centre, from what I've seen.

Ah would you stop pointing out the errors in my arguement and let me have my rant.
By the way, is that place actually worth going to?

cooperguy wrote:

Are people really that ridiculously sad? I had more faith in the human race before I heard that

There are people who will deliberately pay well above what they need to pay, just so they can tell others where they got their over-priced goods.

faceman

scruff321 wrote:

ok i know ireland has been dubed the "rip off republic" a long time now but i was recently in japan the so called most expensive country in the world and found that most things were actually cheaper then ireland especially food and drink!?!?! and thats all i got from ppl when i came home "jesus that must have been an expensive place?" not really tho! once again proving ireland is an absolute rip off!

do somethin about it then. Complain! Write a letter to your local TD. Complain in a shop if the prices are extorionate. Demand value for your money!

AlmightyCushion

Terry wrote:

There are people who will deliberately pay well above what they need to pay, just so they can tell others where they got their over-priced goods.

Could they not buy it in the cheaper place and say they bought it in the more expensive place.

Tar.Aldarion

I don't find food prices high at all. It's your own fault if oyu buy something expensive when you can get it cheaper somewhere else.

peasant

Even Lidl is at it:

see here ...

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20070723.p.ThermoMixer

Irish price: 49.99


http://www.lidl.de/de/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20070723.p.Thermostat-Wannenfll_und_Brausebatterie.ar12

German price: 45.99


same product, same "special" ... just 9% more expensive :mad:

Tar.Aldarion

In lidl you can get 8 of something for 3e, in tesco you get 4 for 3.03e but there is a 100% free deal on theirs. Heh.
Anyway, just look around and stop buying the expensive stuff so that they will put the price down.

Marksie

I know people travel across the border to get cheaper stuff. When i go over to the uk i usually go by ferry and visit a huge cash and carry store, which usually pays for the cost of the ferry journey.
I also do a lot of shopping online, but it does mean that most the money is flooding out of the economy, but alturism doent extend to forking out significantly more for the same thing.

However, up until quite recently, the cost of petrol in the UK was higher than here, but i dont know what the situation is now.

But shopping around is great for the basics, going to meat wholesalers useful for example.

Mind you there is the cost V quality thing: I am setting up a small business/hobby and with the cost of insurance, importing materials (because the raw stuff isn't available here) and then making it, it shoots the price up considerably. So that I cannot compete with the supermarkets stocking the same (but inferior ;-)) product.

luckat

It's true that food prices are higher here than elsewhere in Europe - and certainly higher than Japan. But I don't think it's tax; isn't food tax-free?

What astonished me in Japan was that houses were a lot cheaper. Talking to someone there a couple of weeks ago who'd taken a tour of apartments being built. For a nice two-storey apartment with a biggish reception room, a study, two bedrooms, good kitchen and bathroom, it was the equivalent of €150,000.

And of course the quality of food there is much, much higher than anything you'd find in Ireland. You have to wear sunglasses in the supermarket if you don't want to be dazzled by the glittering silver scales of the super-fresh fish. The vegetables are seasonal and full of flavour. Hokkaido milk is mmmlicious.

Odd things are dear - celery, sold by the stick, is outrageous, and you can't find a whole chicken to roast. But in general it's all cheap, good, nourishing, overwhelmingly locally grown (try Chiba rice!) and ringing with flavour and freshness. And not content with this, in lots of suburbs people have allotments where they grow vegetables, rice and even tea.

We've got so obsessed here with hunting down money that we've lost any respect for our taste buds.

shrapnel222

luckat wrote:

It's true that food prices are higher here than elsewhere in Europe.

second highest after denmark for food- highest for alcohol

bill_ashmount

shrapnel222 wrote:

second highest after denmark for food- highest for alcohol

Are places like Sweden and Iceland not more expensive for alcohol?

i71jskz5xu42pb

Terry wrote:

Shop around.
I can go to my local supermarket and buy 2 chicken fillets for €3.20 or I can got to the butchers in the same shopping complex and buy 12 fillets for €10.
It's the people who buy the chicken filets from the supermarket who keep the prices up.

Hardly comparing like with like are you? You always get discounts for buying in bulk. Not everybody has freezer space for storing meat - most apartments are small enough as is.
There's also the convenience factor - if you have the time to go to the butcher, baker & candlestick maker great. Some people would value their time more than €0.40 cents on a chicken breast.

Also depending on the super market the fillets are probably Irish - Tesco seems to do mainly Irish meat. Where's you butcher getting his (not to cast aspersions on your butcher)? There's a huge amount of of Brazilian and Thai meat comes into Europe - I'd love to know where it all ends up (my suspicions are the 1am snack boxes).

All that said, yes we do get ripped off with food over here.

Blitzkrieger

jester77 wrote:

But if that were the case then food would be expensive everywhere in Europe.

Blitzkrieger wrote:

Usual disclaimers about huge markups in the Irish market

I never said the ****ers weren't ripping us off - my point was they could be lower if the EU didn't keep them high and we tend to spend a tiny portion of our income on food anyway. If I spend 15% of my take home pay on food I'd be surprised. People in Mexico city can spend 33% of their income on water alone. In really poor countries the majority of people's income goes on food.

Terry

PaschalNee wrote:

Hardly comparing like with like are you? You always get discounts for buying in bulk. Not everybody has freezer space for storing meat - most apartments are small enough as is.
There's also the convenience factor - if you have the time to go to the butcher, baker & candlestick maker great. Some people would value their time more than €0.40 cents on a chicken breast.

Also depending on the super market the fillets are probably Irish - Tesco seems to do mainly Irish meat. Where's you butcher getting his (not to cast aspersions on your butcher)? There's a huge amount of of Brazilian and Thai meat comes into Europe - I'd love to know where it all ends up (my suspicions are the 1am snack boxes).

All that said, yes we do get ripped off with food over here.

You can't spare two minutes to go to another shop?
You must live a very hectic life.

There is also the 1lb of sausage and 1lb of rashers for €5 among many other cheaper alternatives. I particularly like the eggs with two yolks. €1.60 for half dozen. the supermarket sells their "Very large eggs" for €2.50 for a half dozen.
I don't know where the chicken comes from, but it looks like chicken and tastes like chicken, so I'm not complaining.
Everything in that shop is sold at knockdown prices.

As for your attitude towards this, you choose to live in a small apartment.
Tiny little holes that are another part of rip-off Ireland.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Terry wrote:

As for your attitude towards this, you choose to live in a small apartment.
Tiny little holes that are another part of rip-off Ireland.

That's a pretty condescending. I'm getting a whole "let them eat cake" vibe.
I'm lucky enough to live in a house, but with the price of property these days people don't have much of a choice. Most people have to start with an apartment as they can afford little else.
Otherwise they are stuck renting (which is a bigger part of rip-off Ireland)

Terry

PaschalNee wrote:

That's a pretty condescending. I'm getting a whole "let them eat cake" vibe.
I'm lucky enough to live in a house, but with the price of property these days people don't have much of a choice. Most people have to start with an apartment as they can afford little else.
Otherwise they are stuck renting (which is a bigger part of rip-off Ireland)

Yeah, sorry about that.
I get a bit annoyed when people complain about things they can change, but don't do anything to change them.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Terry wrote:

Yeah, sorry about that.
I get a bit annoyed when people complain about things they can change, but don't do anything to change them.

Fair enough. You're preaching to the converted with me, I'm practically Scottish in my shopping around.

ixoy

Terry wrote:

You can't spare two minutes to go to another shop?
You must live a very hectic life.

Or maybe there's no butchers nearby or it's not open. Butchers' opening hours are a lot smaller than a supermarket and when you get in from work after 6, you've suddenly got the one choice if you want to buy meat, if you even had a choice in the first place.

shrapnel222

bill_ashmount wrote:

Are places like Sweden and Iceland not more expensive for alcohol?

this is true for going out, the same applies in Paris. Ireland is more expensive when you buy in supermarkets, off licences, etc.

bill_ashmount

Ponster wrote:

Food generally is more expensive in Ireland then where I live but I really can't remember if it's always been the case.

I'll post back here later with the price of a Big Mac meal, a litre of milk and a bottle of coke just to see if it surprises anyone (oh and anythng else that anyone wants me to check).

How much is broadband per month?
Cost of T.V. Licence?
Petrol?

Cheers

bill_ashmount

shrapnel222 wrote:

this is true for going out, the same applies in Paris. Ireland is more expensive when you buy in supermarkets, off licences, etc.

Well then, easy solution, go out every night instead of staying in

jjbrien

I went to norway and got the same reaction when i got back about Norway been expensive. It fact it was the opposite a little cheaper tah nhere and the supermarket wss alot cheaper.

When i lived in Canada here is one direct exapmle the small individual pizza was $2.99 pkus tax = $3.54 here the same pizza in pizza hut is €9.99. 300% more for the same pizza.

dSTAR

scruff321 wrote:

ok i know ireland has been dubed the "rip off republic" a long time now but i was recently in japan the so called most expensive country in the world and found that most things were actually cheaper then ireland especially food and drink!?!?!

I had a Japanese girlfriend of mine stay over last night that I met in Japan about 10 months ago. She was commenting on how expensive food was here. In Japan it can be expensive to eat out but in the markets and stores you get a huge variety of different foods for a reasonable price.

In Australia we've been hit with the worst droughts and water shortages in decades which has pushed the price of food up so much. So you have stores like ALDI and NQR (Not Quite Right) popping up all over the place because people are finding it a real squeeze to afford decent food...not that these places sell anything but processed crap to start with.

Marksie

bill_ashmount wrote:

Cost of T.V. Licence?
Petrol?

Cheers

Well as far i know the BBC licence is more at £135, but its hardly comparing like with like in terms of programming and teh fact bbc doesnt have adverts.

Petrol: last time i was over it was a good 30 cent more expensive in the uk.

Public transport: well i don't know like for like price wise, but quality wise it couldnt be given away in ireland tbh

Kintarō Hattori

In response to Terry:

I work in the city centre and as such I rent an apartment here. I'd much prefer a house of course, but that's not possible. So I have limited space, and can't do bulk shopping as you were suggesting earlier to another poster.

At various times I lived in Kildare and Balbriggan, but I was travelling over 2 hours per day and sometimes as much as 4 when the traffic was bad, so I'd rather live a few minutes from work than spend hours commuting.

Blush_01

Terry wrote:

Ah would you stop pointing out the errors in my arguement and let me have my rant.
By the way, is that place actually worth going to?

I'd love to, if you'd stop making them!

It is and it isn't. If you're going to buy something very specific, don't bother. If you're going for wander, and possibly to pick up a pair of trousers, a pair of shoes, some sunglasses, a spatula... but aren't too bothered that it's a certain brand, or don't really care if you come home empty handed, then it's not too bad. Certain stores have one price on the label and it's often even cheaper once you get to the till. It's worth a visit once anyway, even if you never go again. Fortunately we have relatives nearby, so I've only ever gone in for curiosity. I wouldn't make the trek from Tipperary for it, but then again I'm not that bothered about where my clothes come from.

My favourite is the Radley shop. Mainly because I love the dogs, and if I bought a wallet for €70 I'd have very little left to put in it. Being a student sucks. (Nice new wallet for €29 this weekend, ta very much.)

There's a greengrocers near where I live in Dublin that sells fantastic fruit and vegetables far cheaper than it is in the supermarkets, despite it being in Donnybrook. Season dictates price too, so fresh seasonal veggies and fruit are ridiculously inexpensive. Tesco is crap when it comes to meat, but then again the butchers at home are fantastic, so I'm a bit spoiled.

sodrisc

jjbrien wrote:

I went to norway and got the same reaction when i got back about Norway been expensive. It fact it was the opposite a little cheaper tah nhere and the supermarket wss alot cheaper.

Have to disagree with this - was in Oslo a few weeks ago and found it to be way more expensive than Dublin. We ended up having to eat kebabs all the time as that was the cheapest thing - and they were the equivalent of 10 euro each from kippy takeaways...

A coffee was around 4 euro and a pint of beer was about 7 or 8. A bar of chocolate in a 7-11 was nearly 2 euro. Found the supermarkets to also be way more expensive than Ireland.

Iceland is also much more expensive than Ireland, but at least it's nicer than Norway so you don't mind spending the money!

jjbrien

sodrisc wrote:

jjbrien wrote:

I went to norway and got the same reaction when i got back about Norway been expensive. It fact it was the opposite a little cheaper tah nhere and the supermarket wss alot cheaper.

Have to disagree with this - was in Oslo a few weeks ago and found it to be way more expensive than Dublin. We ended up having to eat kebabs all the time as that was the cheapest thing - and they were the equivalent of 10 euro each from kippy takeaways...

A coffee was around 4 euro and a pint of beer was about 7 or 8. A bar of chocolate in a 7-11 was nearly 2 euro. Found the supermarkets to also be way more expensive than Ireland.

Iceland is also much more expensive than Ireland, but at least it's nicer than Norway so you don't mind spending the money!

You must have been going to one of the marks and spensor types in Oslo. O k there are two diffrences in norway you can go to 7/11 pay 15kr for a 500ml bottle of pepsi or go to rimi 2000 and pay 14kr for 2ltrs take your pick. Also if your spening. Also most of the local bars non tourist bars a beer goes for 35kr and its a much bigger beer i think 500ml or 600ml when i am drunk i dont pay much attenion to this. Also public transport is cheaper for 22kr you can buy one ticket and change from a bus to a tram and underground as much as need to get to your final destination.

gurramok

On food prices, the dogs in the street know that the big supermarkets charge the same for nearly every item hence i do some Lidl shopping when i can.

Speaking of which a survey came out today...surprise fluppin surprise at rip-off Spar/Centra
http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/0725/competition.html

rte wrote:

'The survey has shown symbol groups such as Spar and Centra charge an average of 10% more for goods
The national consumer agency said it was a worry that there was only a 1.6% difference between prices at Tesco, Dunnes and Superquiunn.

The agency says that points to the fact the market is too concentrated.

Centra was 10.8% more expensive and prices at Spar were 20.2% higher. Eurospar was 7% more expensive. '

Ponster

> How much is broadband per month?

€1 per mega is the normal rule. €32 per month get's you 30Mb/1Mb with free telephone calls to fixed lines in Europe, North America, Oz, Japan and about 100 TV channels. (www.free.fr)


> Cost of T.V. Licence?

€116 or zero if you don't have a TV and watch the TV channels on a PC screen.


> Petrol?

Cheapest in Paris = €1.30
Cheapest in random countryside town = €1.26
(http://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr)

jjbrien

Doesnt seem very odd that evertime we discuss a topic here it appears 2 days later on RTE or FM104. Seems like they are using boards for ideas. The cost of eating out here is unreal for those of you who have been to NYC or Boston you know what I what I mean. the states is far cheaper. For eample I bought my latop in Nyc for $900 the same hp laptop here in havry normans or elara is 1300 euro. I got mine for half price and HP gives me a world wide warrenty

Terry

Yeah, but it's HP.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

MooseJam

The biggest rip off is the picn'mix at movies@dundrum , I do like my dolly mixtures but said dolly mixtures costing more than the film is a bit daft, I got charged 11.50 for a bag of dolliers can you believe that