Where do you usually shop for groceries?
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I don’t live in Taipei, and don’t keep track of what I spend. But, I do go different places for different things based on an informal price/quality/selection matrix, as follows:
- Fruits, veggies, pork: I get this from a wet market, prices and selection and freshness are by far the best
- Rice and beer: from SimpleMart, which is close so it isn’t far to carry the large quantities (which are also cheap there)
- Coffee, cheese, chicken: Costco, I stock up; also get random durables depending on what they have (honey, canned tomatoes, peanut butter, etc.)
- Tinned tomato sauce (for pasta), dried spices, various sauces and oils (chili sauce, sesame oil, Thai oyster sauce, etc.): Cookbox, which is like a bakery wholesaler kind of place with lots of imported products
- Beef, curry paste, random western things like canned soup: Carrefour, which is pretty good for everything that I can’t get anywhere else
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About 25K for a family of 4. we mostly eat at home.
fruits and veggies - wet market
costco - about once a month for meats, cheese, frozen berries, nuts etc.
PX Mart / Carrefour - milk/eggs/rice/dried pasta etc.
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A lot more than I used to. Prices are insane (relative to salaries) lately.
Probably 4000-5000 a week, 500 of which is pet food and 1500 is eating in restaurants. Meat from Carrefour and vegetables from the local market.
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25-30K for family of four, including eating out (but mostly eat home during the week)
I couldn’t say. I always have a stash of condiments, spices, pasta, canned tomatoes, butter, jam, Marmite, pickles, etc. that I stock up on when I’m running low. I pretty much just check what I’m cooking on the weekend and then head off to Carrefour or the local market and bakery to get what I need every week or two. I guess probably around 10k/month for two people.
The cat stuff (food and litter) adds another 5k or so.
Why beef in Carrefour and not Costco? Am I missing something?
i’m eating enough beef when i’m out that i’m not cooking it much, and not a fan of the costco cuts anyways (too much fat and bone for my preference); the lean ground beef from costco is nice but i’m just using ground pork for things like chili and spagbol because it is so much cheaper and easier to get.
sometimes carrefour has a bit of beef on sale that i like the look of, and then i’ll get it (nice stew-beef chunks, for example); mostly i’m cooking costco chicken breasts and wet market ground pork
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$0 I go out for each meal.
16k a month for 1 person
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Same here but closer to $9000-11000
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Around $50k a month for myself only and $70k including the wife. I eat out a lot in American establishments and my wife tends to eat less and healthier, but has a penchant for imported food.
Add another $20k for liquor or raw materials for brewing and distilling.
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Prices have been noticeably higher in the last few months as inflation is seemingly everywhere. I don’t really track monthly amounts but I get staples like veggies, snacks, booze, chicken breasts (best place in Taipei for them) at RT Mart and that used to average NT$1,000 a week but is now closer for $1,500 depending on how much booze.
Costco is about a monthly trip for pizza, wine, pork tenderloins, veggies, bagels, spices and occasionally steaks. Almost always about 5K which has stayed pretty steady. Only significant increase I’ve noticed at Costco is the price of beef, which seems to have gone through the roof.
Local Jasons’s when I don’t feel like schlepping to RT Mart or I’m out of something. Usually, meat, veggies, Florida Bakery tortilla wraps, pasta and sauce and beer. Usually about $500 every couple of weeks.
Espresso beans once a month at local coffee vendor at the still handsome price of $130. Mostly cook at home and don’t eat out much except about once a week at a breakfast shop and night market.
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May I ask you for your espresso bean vendor? It looks like a good deal.
I agree that RT Mart usually has the best prices, though there are not many of them. (For plant based people: RT Mart Bitan almost always has soy/almond/sesame/oat milk on discount or 2-for-1)
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Sounds like me and my spouse’s budget. Recently, we started trying different restaurants on Friday or Saturday night and usually spend $1500 for two. We spend far too much on craft beer drinking.
Costco monthly run, and then anything from a weekly $500 to $1500 at a local shop. RT Mart always has more produce varieties and was especially well-stocked last weekend. I could spend much less and probably be healthier.
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I am like you, different shops. I also like Pasta and cooking supplies at cook Box, nice imported dry pastas at a good price. I also like DOLLARS with has Kirk brand products as good choice of Japanese items, the down side of DOLLARS is it’s big size and I end often spending more/buying more (ie Beer & Wine). To answer, the markets (DOLLARS, Cook Box, Carrefour, ect, NT$10,000 per person + about the same out for takeaway/eating out). I also like day/morning/traditional markets, but with no fixed prices sometimes I wonder if pay more than I should. (My younger Taiwanese female friend pays more than her mother, her mother tells her ha)
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For beef I would recommend the large RT marts. I don’t know, the steaks look more real, better. Beef in Taiwan usually looks like a protein glued scraps mosaic, total crap.
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Costco’s beef cut for hotpot is great. I portion it out into smaller containers (individual portion sizes) and freeze it. Great when you need a very fast protein (under a minute to pan sear, if you remembered to thaw it…)
I spend around 12k on groceries and takeout/delivery for just myself, but I eat well/don’t really hesitate to buy imported things that cost 4x more than they would anywhere else on earth. NT$100 biandangs are a no-go for me – I’d rather toss from Costco frozen veggies in a pan with a pinch of salt and call that dinner. I use food panda for a lot of grocery delivery (lots of discount codes).
But the cost of everything has gone WAY up lately. So much sticker shock…
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my local market has prices fixed in the vegetable section, and i think my pork seller likes me 
I’ll have to check out Dollars, never seen or heard of it before…
You’re … intending to pork your local pork-seller?
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no, i’m going to continue batting my eyelashes at her to get good prices on meat. my meat i will save for other customers
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