Is food cheap in America?

Question

Hi,

I would like to find out how cheap/expensive food in America generally is.

Can anyone tell me the average price of the following and also if food in general is rather cheap in America?

I mean nothing fancy, just the standard stuff you get in supermarkets.

15 eggs

1 loaf of wholemeal bread (800g)

1 kg of cheese

500g tub of buttery spread

1 litre milk (fresh or longlife)

fruit and vegetables

1 kg potatoes

500g natural yoghurt

500g box of fruit & fibre cereals

500g cheese & tomato pizza

I would be grateful for any advice and if you know if it's cheaper or more expensive than in the UK.

Many thanks

Answer 1

depends on how you define cheap. sorry for the non answer, would like more info.

Answer 2

I'm converting these amounts from US customary units, as that's what these products are sold by, so the amounts are a little odd.

1 loaf of whole meal bread (680 grams) is about 5 dollars = 2.5 pounds.

1 kg of non-gourmet cheese should cost about 13 dollars = 6.5 pounds.

A 450 gram tub of buttery spread is about 2 dollars = 1 pound.

1 liter of fresh milk is about 4 dollars = 2 pounds.

450 grams of natural yogurt is about 4 dollars = 2 pounds.

550 grams of cereal is about 6 dollars = 3 pounds.

650 grams of pizza is about 12 dollars = 6 pounds.

I don't know about potatoes and eggs and I don't know if these items are cheaper in the UK or not, sorry.

Food is cheap in general because it costs very little to produce it, as many farms (which most of these foods ultimately come from) use...very cheap labor. Also, the US is a gigantic country and so food prices are very regionalized. For example, I live in California, a major grape-producing state, so they are insanely cheap here (about 1 pound for 1.5 kg); likewise, I would expect Idahoans to get very cheap potatoes and Georgians to get cheap peaches.

Good luck!