When setting our budget for life in Tanzania, I believed that things would be a lot cheaper in Africa. And in some ways they are. If you live like a Tanzanian (eat rice and beans every day, don't own a car, don't use a lot of health/beauty products), life is less costly here. But for us Westerners who are still struggling to leave our big appetites and consumerist natures behind, some things are really expensive.
Things that are less expensive here:
* Fruit/veg: bananas (15 cents each), mangoes (50 cents each), Pineapples (when in season, $1 or less, out of season still around $3 for a bigger, fresher version than can be found in the U.S.). Tomatoes are sold by the "sado" (a big bucket) and while it's difficult to convert to pounds, it's probably about $1 per pound (all Roma). Even apples, which are imported from South Africa, are still around 50 cents each, which is comparable to or less than the U.S.
*Bread ($1.25 for a pretty big loaf... of course the term "whole grain" is fairly unknown here, and with no preservatives it has to be eaten quickly). A fairly decent French baguette can be found at the Western supermarkets for around $1.
*Cell phones. We pay about $1.25 per person per week for a cell plan that gives us each 40 minutes of talk and 500 texts. Also a nice feature here is that the talk minutes are calculated in seconds, so we don't get charged a full minute for a ten second conversation like we would in the U.S.!
*Internet. We pay just over $30 a month for weekly bundles that give us a certain amount of "high speed" and then unlimited slow speeds. Of course, even the "high" speeds are laughably slow compared to the U.S. So please don't send us any videos!
Things that are comparable here:
* Ground beef...aka mince meat. (roughly $3 a pound)
*Flour - around $2 for a 2 kg bag (about 4 pounds)
* Sugar - around $1.25 for a 1 kg bag - about 2 pounds
*Eggs - between $0.15 and $0.25 per egg, depending on if you get the "kinyege" egg (free range). Even the free range eggs have yolks that are much less yellow than we're used to (they are white).
*Yogurt - between $0.50 - $0.60 per single-serving carton, which is a bit smaller than the U.S
*Pasta - here, unlike the U.S., the price depends on the shape of the pasta (spaghetti is cheapest at around $1.25 for the equivalent of a pound, other shapes are more like $2 or more).
Things that are way more expensive here:
*Milk: It costs around $1.75 for a liter - which means our "gallon" equivalent is over $6! I buy the boxed (shelf-stable) UHT milk (bonus: no hormones in it). Initially the kids didn't like it as it does have a different taste but they have gotten used to it. The other option is to buy fresh, non-pasteurized milk which is a bit cheaper. That's really different-tasting and different-textured for city kids and I personally don't like the hassle of boiling it first.
*Shampoo/conditioner which is around $6 for a 400-500 ml bottle
* Gasoline...aka petrol, which at 2200 shillings per liter coverts to over $5 per gallon
* Saline which is close to $10 for a bottle
*Cheddar cheese (around $7 a pound). This is definitely one of our "splurge items."
*Security....not even a budget item for us in the U.S. We pay close to $150 per month to get services that would be covered through our taxes back home...first responders, fire, ambulance.
*Chicken. The boneless, skinless variety, which is only available at Western style supermarkets (and is not actually boneless or skinless), is around $7 a pound. The roaster type of chicken, not genetically altered and so pretty scrawny with very little white meat, is generally around $5-$6 for a 3-4 pound bird. This has been a big adjustment for us - in the States we had chicken multiple times per week but here that's just not affordable. So we have been eating a lot more beef (which I feel conflicted about) and vegetarian (which I'm happy about).
This past year has been all about learning prices and equivalents and determining what's worth extra money and what's not. And as with anything, that's a continually evolving process (for example, it was totally worth it to buy a couple of Cadbury Creme Eggs at nearly $2/egg for Easter!)
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