Panama Market Basket

One of our goals when we started this blog was to bring you genuine cost-of-living reports to lend a note of reality to those claims that Panama has a low cost-of-living. This is a non-scientific market basket snapshot to illustrate grocery prices today in Panama. Note that most of the items are locally produced and imported foods tend to run slightly higher than in their country of origin. We buy nearly everything fresh, not because of cost considerations, but because cooking is one of our main sources of entertainment and we don’t mind a bit of labor in the kitchen…

Produce:

Tomatoes $.78 per pound

Onions $.53 per pound

Leaf lettuce $.92 per pound

Red peppers $.99 per pound

Potatoes $.59 per pound

Bok Choy $.85 per pound

Spinach $.77 bunch (3 servings)

Eggplant $.59 per pound

Bananas $.08 per piece

Limes $.15 per piece

Meats:

Snapper filets $4.10 per pound

Chicken breast $1.26 per pound (w/bone)

Flank steak $2.70 per pound

Ground beef $2.12 per pound (lean)

Carb staples:

Rice $.88 two pound bag

Flour $2.38 five pound bag

Sugar $2.25 five pound bag

French bread $1.15 bakery baguette

Dairy:

Milk $3.75 gallon

Eggs $1.59 dozen

Butter $3.45 per pound

Yogurt $.55 four-ounce fruit flavored

Miscellaneous:

Dog Chow $3.89 for 2.2 pounds

Deodorant $3.12 Dove stick

Mayonnaise $1.69 Hellman’s 8 oz.

Soda $3.00 six-pack (name brands)

Smirnoff $6.79 750 ml

Rum $7.19 liter (aged, Panama-made)

We will be making a trip to PriceMart for our stock up on paper products, cleaning supplies and other bulk items later this week and will report those prices as well. Just like anywhere else its prudent to save what you can on paper and cleaning products because they can really put a dent in the household budget!

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