Rising cost of food across the globe. How much is a weekly shop in Poland now in 2013.

I am really looking forward to returning to Poland because the UK is just becoming too expensive to live in.
I have just returned from Tescos , we are shopping for two of us and the bill came to £105, we did not buy any particularly luxurious goods, 1 bottle of wine and two bottles of beer, the rest was staples meat, milk, yogurt, fruit, pasta etc nothing special. This will last us a week. I am aware that if we chose another supermarket or shopped for vegetables in a market we could reduce our expenditure, however, this would mean more travel (petrol) and take up more time, which we don't have.

Is food in Poland proportionately as expensive as food in the UK?

According to this site:

"Consumer Prices in Krakow (Cracow) are 50.45% lower than in Manchester" - there are single food products mentioned.

But when comparing prices of basic goods let's say in Lidl stores across Europe, then difference is not so big any more:



according to this basket of goods (although quite small) it's only 11% cheaper in Poland when comparing to Germany.

and wages are four times lower in Poland, so....

either you eat too much or you are not budgeting at all.

I do my groceries at Simply. It is not a big box store but a smaller one owned by Auchan. We are a family of four- I do the groceries once a week and I spend about 375 pln.

But, I don't buy and prepared foods or anything in a box. I buy all whole foods.

Is the British pound at 1:5 right now? So your bill is like 500 pln? what are you buying?

Neither of us eat too much and we are budgeting, this is staples only. Bonkers.

'staples'? for £105 a week? okkkk...perhaps invest in a cook book or something?

you must be fat people

what exactly do you consider staples?

You do realise they are incredibly expensive? They have 1000% markup on fruit and veg, the cost of food in the UK is a rip-off.

Expect it to go up a lot more as they inflate debt away.

I don't know how it's like in the UK, but Tesco definitely isn't the cheapest supermarket in Poland. Real is cheaper than Tesco, for example.

There is no connection with the price of food and what supermarkets charge.

Flour for instance, 10% of the price is the cost that the farmer gets.

How much you're weekly shop costs depends partially on how big your family is, how expensive your tastes are and whether or not you entertain. It depends entirely on how much you can afford. 100gbp per week wouldn't be that unusual in PL for a fairly well-off couple who drink wine with meals and eat a lot of imported things. Most people spend far less.

In the UK, food prices are a problem. A friend who's a religious minister runs a food bank from her church - demand for her church's service is rocketing and food will not get cheaper in any country.

It's the same in Poland, except wages there are not high - there's a lot of people getting by on $500 a month. And what's worse is that food prices will only rise and rise. Look at the way share prices for food producers have been rising, not to mention Poland's economic growth due in very large part to being a major food exporter with access to EU markets.

@Rozumiemnic's comment about cooking makes a lot of sense. Poland, like the UK is very much a country of processed foods right now, though a lot more people might find themselves learning to use a sieve, yeast and a mixer over the next few years.

Depends on where you shop ... a good Biedronka near you would be ok - affordable and even has banana's in it !!

I'm not going to list my shopping and no neither of us are fat...lol

Well the vegetables are way over priced. 1 Avocado £1, small pack of blue berries £2, chicken to roast £5, 4 btls badoit water £3.50 etc
Let me tell you given my alternative supermarkets nearby are Mark&Spencers, Sainsburys and Waitrose, Tescos is the best option.

Living in the South East of England is extortionate. a 3 bedroom house where i live costs around £1500 a month rent before bills and the fking council tax is nearly £200 a month.

The food prices have in the last 6 months have leapt up. This time last year the same weekly shop cost us around £70, it is now around £100 to £120.

That is a crazy leap.

The Arab Spring started because of food prices spiralling out of control.

When i was last living full time in Poland 2 years ago we used to spend around 200zl a week for our food shop.

I don't think you'd find much difference between UK and PL nowadays. The blueberries you mention are expensive out-of-season in Poland too.

Poland is a country of cheap and very good quality domestic vegetables and fruits but imported food is expensive.I would even say that some veggies are TOO CHEAP in PL.Last summer when in PL I stopped by a road side stall were potatoes were sold and bought I think 15 or 20 kg bag of potatoes for 5 PLN.Yes,5 PLN for the whole bag!It's a shame,I don't understand how farmers can make any money at this price.I don't remember what I was paying for strawberries and raspberries but they weren't expensive either.

Edit:I think strawberries were 4 PLN/kg.

that is certainly true but i dont think that is restricted to UK

Average for Europe and increasingly treated with pesticides.


There's such a glut of them in season that they're very cheap outside Warsaw. In Warsaw, the people who sell them on the street (who by the way get them from the wholesalers) make a killing.


They pay no tax and have huge amounts of spuds.

Thats more than the cost of food. Wine is expensive in Poland, hence not many people drink it on a regular basis.

They were always treated with some kind of pesticides.What do you think?Anyway,I compare them with "plastic"/juiceless American fruits and veggies and Polish ones would be sold here as ORGANIC at twice the regular price.


Still,I doubt they make any money at 25 gr (less than US dime!)/kg!

Much more expensive in the UK, no question.


Father in law got 7grz per kg last year for his potatoes. Bad year for potatoes and he planted them instead of wheat which was very high.


And they don't make any money on them

there's your answer.....how can u complain about the price of 'staples' when u r spending money on what is probably bottled tap water?

I don't see that at all - though perhaps it depends where you are in each country - the Shetlands or London v. Podlasie, or on the other hand Warsaw v. South Yorkshire.


Wine IS food for some of us - and sales are growing fast in Poland.

maybe food items are 40-60% cheaper, but wages are 4-6 times lower

Hi,
This is Vishal from india.
How much PLN is required for daily 3 times food and drinks in the night.
I mean regular food & beverage expenses for a single person in mragowo.

"I don't see that at all - though perhaps it depends where you are in each country - the Shetlands or London v. Podlasie, or on the other hand Warsaw v. South Yorkshire." Lidl and Biedronka have same prices in whole Poland.

"maybe food items are 40-60% cheaper, but wages are 4-6 times lower" - come on, just stop it. Of course Poland is poorer than top richest countries in the world. Why food prices should be lower in Poland? There is single market = no taxes on import export, so only difference in price should make: higher labor, renting and transport costs in UK. It's doesn't add much overhead when sold in big shopping malls. So don't connect food prices with salaries. If food was way cheaper in Poland than elsewhere in Europe that would simply mean that free market is malfunctioning. And salaries are low because Poland was always technologically lacking to the most advanced countries. (in some period of history less and in others more)

It all depends on whether you are a city dweller or a village dweller. All the people around here grow loads of their own produce and pickle it/store it overwinter.....weekly shop is therefore obviously a lot less than for a city person who has to buy it all? (Village people are usually a lot less well off too but think of the ones who are not!!! they eat well and only need to buy those little luxuries...lot to be said for country life)

OK , agreed, just making the point, the question is in comparison to the UK. So you are far better off in a richer country.

Sure. That's obvious. Some people just don't want to face reality for one reason or another... 40-60% cheaper, right... especially all those stuff imported from Holland, Spain etc. :)))