price of food in this country!?

scruff321 · 24-07-2007 11:47PM #1

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 · 25-07-2007 12:10AM

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.

25-07-2007 12:44AM

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 · 25-07-2007 12:53AM

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 · 25-07-2007 12:54AM

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 · 25-07-2007 01:09AM

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 · 25-07-2007 01:27AM

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

tuxy · 25-07-2007 01:33AM

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 · 25-07-2007 01:50AM

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 · 25-07-2007 01:53AM

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

Blush_01 · 25-07-2007 02:00AM

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 · 25-07-2007 02:27AM

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

Ponster · 25-07-2007 08:07AM

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 · 25-07-2007 08:15AM

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 · 25-07-2007 08:22AM

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 · 25-07-2007 08:43AM

..........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 · 25-07-2007 09:08AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:21AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:42AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:45AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:49AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:54AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:54AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:58AM

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 · 25-07-2007 09:58AM

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 · 25-07-2007 10:05AM

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 · 25-07-2007 10:13AM

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 · 25-07-2007 10:20AM

shrapnel222 wrote:

second highest after denmark for food- highest for alcohol

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

i71jskz5xu42pb · 25-07-2007 10:39AM

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 · 25-07-2007 10:43AM

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 · 25-07-2007 10:50AM

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.

price of food in this country!?

Comments