It amazes me how many people buy their “groceries” at the convenience store 
1 Like
Well, ya…why on earth would you do that??
Buy pig, have it killed/gutted and shipped to butcher. All you would have stored is nice cuts of meat at a discount. Or just group buy from the butchers of the cuts you want… If you dont have a fridge, start with plant food group buys or non periahables. All this is pretty simple, Easy peasy!
1 Like
Yea imagine the landlord’s face when he sees this…
1 Like
Why and how would he see that? seriously…
He would see the fridge. And if he oversteps his rights and opens your fridge he would see this:
At least damn good price, no less.
Curious, why even bother making a post and asking people if you are just going to sabotage yourself and turn everyone off the idea?
3 Likes
Depends on what you’re getting, but he was asking for a whole saler…
Ah yes the inefficient food supply chain in Taiwan, a subject dear to my heart. Some random thoughts, almost certainly not useful, I couldn’t help myself.
I’ve seen some cheaper American import drumsticks at Carrefour. On the whole though, it is startling how expensive it is, markets or supermarkets. I mean these are factory farmed birds, they should be cheap, that’s the point isn’t it? I pay 150 for a chicken breast at the markets, sometimes over 200 for one leg. The oldies love the leg for soups, so the price goes up. The breast is a big piece, a leathery old bird, but pound for pound probably the best value. Seems maybe a bit more like it had a life, it’s not a perfect white textured blob like the prepackaged stuff at the supermarkets. I don’t think all the old codgers buying at the markets favour it so much, so it is cheaper. Suits me. No doubt you’ve seen the smaller factory birds at Carrefour, they start at 80 per breast or packet of tenderloin.
I think the guys at the markets make their money by chopping stuff up and adding a margin. So asking those guys for a whole bird would be pretty pointless, they will probably add their regular margin on top anyway.
1 Like
That’s the other thing, chicken is very expensive in Taiwan. You pay almost the same price for raw chicken than the same amount of fried chicken at the stand, so how are those stands making money?
Perhaps buying costco chicken breasts. 450NT for 6 vacuum packages of 2-3 breasts. WWWAAAYYY cheaper than Carrefour. I don’t buy meat at Carrefour, but some things there are reasonable (like glass bottles of Bar beer)
When I mentioned ‘per breast’ above, I’m talking about the whole breast piece, that you would take off a bird. It’s sometimes cut into two pieces. Are you referring to the same thing?
If 2, yes. Way better value at Costco than Carrefour, for boneless skinless breasts of the chicken
Frozen chicken by the container load from massive factory farms overseas are way cheaper than locally raised, even the factory caged ones.
Night market ingredients many restaraunts are not select. Probably more like a step up from dog food grade with an FDA inspection paperwork.
Saw some at RT mark. 2 packs, huge thungs. 120nt. Usually around that price. 12 packs of full wings (3s) 80~100 usually. Wife bought a bag of medium breasts from their butcher. 2.5kg under 200. This is a huge supermarket with their usual higher markups. Might be shitty quality, but they have a properly clean processing area. Not sure why Carrefour tends to mess up fresh food so often.
1 Like
Is not cheap at all.
Organic!
You mean meat cutters?
They buy a ton each week at the same price as retailers do? Giving them about 100% gross profit.
It doesn’t make sense though, you pay the same for raw food than cooked food at restaurants. They have overheads to pay for too. Grocery in Taiwan is excessively expensive.
Prices in restaurants are calculated according to the food cost which should be around 30% of the menu price, lower is better, higher is OK for expensive food. The other 70% is used for overhead, fixed and variable.
Some products, like ice cream (home made) is a high income product, cost can be as low as 10-15% of menu price. Snacks, pizza can be 20% food cost.
It still depends on what you’re buying
Yeah. I was shocked when I first got here. I don’t buy much from supermarkets as I tend to just eat fresh vegetables and meat and get them at the markets or on sale. But prices of things I have bought in supermarkets is crazy compared to back home (Australia). Things like honey or simple tomato sauce (without all the additives in it) are ridiculous. Things like pasta sauces etc are obscene. I guess that’s because most locals don’t buy them. Glad Asians don’t go for breasts much, the full chicken breasts at my local market are not too expensive.
In Australia, supermarkets regularly price discount many staples by 50% as a weekly special. That doesn’t seem to happen here. Instead they temporarily increase the price, then offer a 2 for 1 deal at the higher face price.
1 Like