How much do the basics cost?

RemadERemadE Global Moderator
edited July 2012 in Life
I was just wondering how much the basic things in life cost where you are in the world? I know it sounds quite sad, and looks it but hey, I was bored and I just realised the definition of "basics" in the food/items way is rather subjective, but anyway...

Just the average product which you may not necessarily buy (for example you may like an expensive brand for some reason which you can say, but this is just a regular branded questionairre). With Petrol prices here going down a fair bit and me being able to stomach small amounts of food now - it got me wondering. Feel free to add to the list, and just answer as many as you can. No need to go to the shops on my watch (could always use the Internet?).

For example if I saw 5 loaves of bread between £1.15 and £1.25, I'd say the average price is £1.20, also location helps. This is for the U.K -
  • A loaf of bread (no real difference between price for regular white or brown): £1.20
  • A pint (568ml) of milk: £0.50
  • A fruit of your choice (weight is 2lbs - 0.9kg of apples, in my case): £1.75
  • A block of cheese of your choice + specify weight, (Stilton, in my case as it's by far my favourite): 220g, £2.00
  • A 10 pack of bacon: £2.40
  • A single tin of beans in tomato sauce (Heinz, if possible - with it being a branded export/import product): £0.70
  • The average cost of one type of prescription drug (for example in the uk, if I were to get Tramadol, Morphine and a crate (32) of my medical drinks, it is classed as 3 seperate items: £22.95 (£7.65 x 3)
  • A bottle of branded ketchup: Heinz, standard "squeezy" bottle, £1.95

Luxury items...sort of
  • A 4 pack of beer: £4.50 (on average due to import of some brands)
  • A pack of cigarettes (20): £6.66 (average of 10 packs)
  • A litre of petrol (gas, in the USA) or Diesel if you run that*: Petrol - £1.31, Diesel - £1.38
  • A drug of your choice, if you want (in my case, Cannabis, 8th of an Ounce): 3.5g, £20 (but an "eighth" is anywhere between 1.7 to 3g on average, depending on dealer and quality.

I could quite easily see something like this turn into a scavenger hunt...*rubs chin*


* 1 litre = 0.26 US Gallons

- The UK has the 2nd highest cost for Diesel in Europe, and the 10th highest for Petrol
Source

Comments

  • ArkansanArkansan Regular
    edited July 2012
    Things aren't terribly expensive in my neck of the woods.

    Gas - $2.98 a gallon
    Bread - $1.98 a loaf
    Milk - $3.80 a gallon
    Can of Beans - .98 cents
    Can of Black-eyed Peas - .80 cents ( I can literally live on these)
    Nekot brand Peanut butter crackers - $2.50 for a box of 8 packages
    Package of 3 Chicken Breast - roughly $8.00
    Rice - $1.00 per bag for good brands (we grow tons here so that shit is dirt cheap)
    Shoes - $50.00 for a decent pair
    Shirts $20.00 for a Tee shirt
    Pants $30.00 for name brand jeans or shorts

    As far as luxury items go
    Books - runs from $8.00 for trade paper backs to around $15.00 for others
    New games - $59.99 before tax
    Other than that the only luxury items I buy are new miniatures for my war-gaming habits which vary wildly in price, and the odd ticket to a movie which runs around $8.50
  • RemadERemadE Global Moderator
    edited July 2012
    Not too bad! I go for cheaper clothes, but decent quality. I found a pair of trousers the other week for £15 and they are a nice thickness. Had no idea why someone would buy the £30 pair on the other hanger which were thin and drainpipe-y. But for a good pair of clothes, they aint a bad price.

    Brand new video games here are between £40 and £59 at most. I forgot to add that to the list..maybe as I download any PC games, and buy xbox games second-hand. Never in a rush to play a vidya game. Books can be pretty expensive, but with the new digital age of Kindles etc, they are slowly coming down in price.
    As for food and fuel, that is not bad at all!

    Thanks for taking the time to post here. It may seem odd, but I quite like hearing about how much things cost elsewhere in the world.

    Whereabout are you based? Nothing specific - like I say, South UK here. Or don't say - if you prefer.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited July 2012
    • A loaf of bread $1.89
    • A pint milk $1.69
    • Apples 5Lb $3.99
    • 1Lb sharp cheddar $4.99
    • 1 Lb Bacon $3.79
    • A single tin of beans in tomato sauce $1.79
    • 120 10/375 Vicodin $66.00
    • A bottle of branded ketchup: Heinz, standard "squeezy" bottle, $3.89
    • Big fat ugly hooker $10.00
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited July 2012
    >A loaf of bread: $1.00 white, $2.00 brown
    >two litres of milk: $2.00
    >1 kilo of banana's : $2.00
    >A 10 pack of bacon: $2.50
    >A single tin of beans in tomato sauce: $1.00
    >The average cost of one type of prescription drug: government subsidy (as i am a poor student); never more than $10.00 for me. The full price would be the same across developed nations.
    >A bottle of branded ketchup: $2.00

    > $15.00 for 6-pack of Victoria bitter.
    > consumer cigarettes range from $15.00-$25.00

    with an average income of about $35,000-$40,000 (although these numbers are always fiddled with)
  • RemadERemadE Global Moderator
    edited July 2012
    Cheers, Slart :) didn't think there would be a dollar difference on bread. There are differences in the UK but can depend on brand, ingredients. Interesting info on the prescriptions, as well.

    Once again, thank you for taking the time to do this, including the average income :thumbsup:

    PS. I recall seeing a news article about insane prices in a remote part of Canada. Will try and find it. Be glad you aren't there. Goes for everyone!

    Edit: Once again, Reddit to the rescue. It's basically one huge bookmark site for me - $28 cabbage, $65 chicken, and other insane food prices in Northern Canada
  • ArkansanArkansan Regular
    edited July 2012
    I have been told from several people in the past that prices in Canada can get pretty ridiculous but $28 for cabbage and $65 for chicken, Jesus.
  • GoingNowhereGoingNowhere Global Moderator
    edited July 2012
    I'm waiting for DFG to post :p
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited July 2012
    He can't afford anythig o the list so he doesn't know how much it is.
    :JDROP:
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited July 2012
    NZ - Some parts of the country differ in price. (guesstimated pricing..:o)
    • A loaf of bread: $1.70 to $4.60
    • A pint (2L) of milk: $3.99 to $5.00
    • A 1kg pack of bacon: $10.00
    • A single tin of beans in tomato sauce (Heinz, if possible - with it being a branded export/import product): $1.40
    • The average cost of one type of prescription drug - Low income earners pay about $5 and average wagers pay roughly $20 per prescription

    Luxury items...sort of
    • A 15 pack of beer: $27.00 (Average price for Steinlager but it's actually cheaper dependant on supermarket pricing)
    • A pack of cigarettes (20): $14.00
    • A 1L of petrol (gas, in the USA)*: Petrol - $2.00
    • Skunkies (An Ounce): About $250 to $350
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited July 2012
    ^^^

    That's a surprising price difference when you consider we have a free-trade agreement and are right next to each other. The prices should be close to ours. Is there any competition between supermarkets?
  • RemadERemadE Global Moderator
    edited July 2012
    Wow. That's a pretty expensive place to like, BK! :o What is the average wage there? I know it can vary a lot.
    I'll do some reading as that's really changed my view of NZ. For reference, the average annual wage here in the UK is -
    • £30,712 Male/£24,203 Female - Career Advice
    • £22,404 to £44,050 Male/£18,062 to £32,775 Female - PayScale (liking how my degree can get a job which pays up to just over £55k lol...now to find that job and hunt it down)
    • ~£26,000 (no gender specified) - Telegraph article on inflation and wages, (2011 data)

    Edit - this site seems to say that the average, or most popular wage is around the $49,800 mark in NZ. Seems like it should be more, logically, as things there are a ton more expensive than here in the UK, for example. A pack of fags costing $14!? Weed doesn't seem too bad. Average price for decent grade here is around the £250 mark, but I've seen as low as £160. depends who you know, as the world of business has shown.

    Still can't get over the cost of bacon though. Dayum.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited July 2012
    ^^^

    That's a surprising price difference when you consider we have a free-trade agreement and are right next to each other. The prices should be close to ours. Is there any competition between supermarkets?
    I wouldn't call it competition exactly, more price fixing. One supermarket drops the value of a particular item, the other supermarket ups the cost and vise versa for the following week. That's how it works where I live. There are 2 supermarkets here and they seem to adjust their prices to compensate for the others profit margin, therefore our prices are higher than say a town with many chains of supermarkets. Dak would probably be able to explain it better than I can.

    Our currency is also much less than you guys. At a guess without checking. You get a NZ-$ for around an AU-70c.
    RemadE wrote: »
    Wow. That's a pretty expensive place to like, BK! :o

    Edit - this site seems to say that the average, or most popular wage is around the $49,800 mark in NZ. Seems like it should be more, logically, as things there are a ton more expensive than here in the UK, for example. A pack of fags costing $14!? Weed doesn't seem too bad. Average price for decent grade here is around the £250 mark, but I've seen as low as £160. depends who you know, as the world of business has shown.

    Still can't get over the cost of bacon though. Dayum.

    You can pretty much throw NZ's average wage statstics out the window. They've been fixed to make our shit smell good over here. Our government has simply taken the lowest income and the highest income and wedgied right in the arse crack and called it an average wage. I've been struggling to meet a minority of people on that pay rate here. I think any NZ totsean would agree with this except for the high income earners.

    With the type of government we have the cost of living has gotten much worse. The high income earner is getting richer while the low income earner is pretty much struggling to make ends meet due to the taxes and overheads.

    NZ use to be a great place to live, but we're getting financially raped in the arse. Good place to visit, wouldn't wanna live here. :(
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited July 2012
    ^That is the economic future of every modern nation in the world my friend and it is all by design.
  • RemadERemadE Global Moderator
    edited July 2012
    Interesting to hear, BK. I hear a lot of talk about NZ as I have friends and Family there, not to mention the hardships after the earthquake and how that area is still fucked beyond recognition.
    I guess the average wage numbers are all a fix then, which wouldn't surprise me. The UK ones are never accurate and everyone earns different amounts, not to mention post-tax. A lot of the Welfare over here, and even university help, they look at your Parent's earnings pre-tax, but mine then fall below that threshold post-tax.

    Not really fair, but fuck 'em. There's always ways of making money. I got my medical benefits confirmed yesterday, so waiting for those to come through - and my Dad needs to borrow money from me. It's a sad state to be in really.
  • angryonionangryonion Just some guy
    edited July 2012
    I'm going to post my whole shopping receipt on Sunday Although it may not be a accurate reflection on the average prices in my area because we shop at a place we call GHETTO BASKET.I mean Market Basket they are the only non union supermarket around and they seem to higher mostly illegal undocumented workers.
    The deli counter is a fucking crapshoot,you ask for 1/2 pound of roast beef and you get 1/4 pound of fucking salami drives me nuts.
    Everyone else I know shops where they have English speaking people that can at least fill an order_but the catch is that it costs more.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited July 2012
    RemadE wrote: »
    Interesting to hear, BK. I hear a lot of talk about NZ as I have friends and Family there, not to mention the hardships after the earthquake and how that area is still fucked beyond recognition.

    Unfortunately the government seems to be only interested investing money into the city centre and fuck the locals. I don't wanna pay extra taxes fixing up the Christchurch business district, I'd rather invest it into the locals. There are people sleeping in cars and vans in the middle of our southern winter. When I was down there last I always thought to myself. "Its not a cathedral that makes this town, It's the people." They're awesome people and it rubs off on everyone, because even the tourist are more friendly (Me. :rolleyes:)
    RemadE wrote: »
    Not really fair, but fuck 'em. There's always ways of making money. I got my medical benefits confirmed yesterday, so waiting for those to come through - and my Dad needs to borrow money from me. It's a sad state to be in really.

    I'll agree. It's not really fair but as TDR mentioned "That is the economic future of every modern nation in the world my friend and it is all by design" It's a sad reality. :(

    There's always a way to make money bro. It maybe under the radar but at least it's a way of making ends meet. ;)
  • angryonionangryonion Just some guy
    edited July 2012
    How about fast food? Last night I got the munchies and ordered out.
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