Okay, I got a little crazy with this. At first I thought, "I should save my receipt from grocery shopping and convert the kilograms to pounds and the dirhams to dollars and see how it all ends up." I mean, you're standing there in the produce section, looking at the green peppers scratching your head saying, "is 5.95 dirhams per kilo a good deal or a bad deal?!?"
But then I realized on any given week we're only buying a few cool items.
So I ended up saving the receipts for the last FIVE trips to Géant. That's pretty nuts.
Anyway, finally I present my latest math experiment:
Six pack Diet Pepsi 330 ml cans = 11.16 oz can AED 5.25 $1.43 $0.24 each
Roast Turkey Breast, from deli counter 0.210 kilograms = 0.46 lbs AED 11.30 $3.08 $6.70 per pound
Anchor (English Brand) Cheddar Cheese, from deli counter 0.120 kilograms = 0.26 lbs AED 3.35 $0.91 $3.50 per pound
Shredded Mozarella, local 0.500 kilograms = 1.10 lbs AED 11.5 $3.13 $2.84 per pound
Minced Beef (ground), imported from New Zealand 0.615 kilograms = 1.36 lbs AED 14.75 $4.01 $2.95 per pound
Minced Chicken (ground chicken), local 0.500 kilograms = 1.10 lbs AED 9.50 $2.58 $2.35 per pound
Chicken Breast Boneless, local 0.500 kilograms = 1.10 lbs AED 14.95 $4.07 $3.70 per pound
Hilshire Farms Chicken Kielbasa (imported from USA) 1 lb AED 25.25 $6.87
Potatoes, from Lebanon 0.665 kilograms = 1.47 lbs AED 2.65 $0.72 $0.49 per pound
Green Peppers, ugly locally grown 0.415 kilograms = 0.91 lbs AED 2.45 $0.72 $0.79 per pound
It seems to me that the food here is very reasonablly priced. Some things, like soda, are almost insanely cheap. Anything imported from the US is going to be more pricey than the local stuff. At first I was buying the Kraft shredded cheese, which was like three times as expensive as the local cheese. But the local stuff is fine!
The frozen pizzas is another place they hose you. The same el cheapo frozen pizzas that sell for a dollar at home are at least three or four dollars here. This one we bought looks pretty good, but it's local so it's cheaper.
Which makes sense, and if the quality is about the same, it's a deal!
