Saving a Minimum of $5,000 a Year on Groceries While Living As an Expat
The cost of food in other countries is usually one of the last things most expats think about when they are looking at the overall costs for a country they might be choosing to live in, but it is something that they should be putting at the top of their list above and beyond accommodations and universal healthcare access.
There are multiple reasons for this, not the least of which is the money factor.
However, there is also health and wellness to consider, because while the term "organic" might be a gimmick in places like the United States, in many other countries like Greece, Bulgaria or Italy the very nature of the food is organic simply because it is farmed locally without the use of chemical means.
If you are looking for information about the costs, think about this for a minute: in 2009 the Department of Labor released information that the cost of food for a single individual in the United States was $6,500 annually.
This combines groceries with the cost of eating out in restaurants.
In comparison, people living in Mexico and Bulgaria only spend around $1,000 per year for the exact same access to produce and foods.
Why is there a $5,500 price difference? First and foremost it is because the U.
S.
is importing the vast majority of its produce from other countries, which means when you travel to those countries and live like a local on their soil you have access to local prices and local farmers.
That means you can buy produce for literally pennies in comparison, such as picking up five kilos of produce for a mere $2.
00 in comparison to the $20.
00 it would cost you in the United States.
People who choose to live in Mexico, for example, can buy tomatoes for as little as $2.
00 for 10 pounds, which is a far cry from what it would cost you for the same tomatoes at any grocery store in the States.
Cost aside, it is also the fact that by living as an expat in other countries you have direct access to food which is not produced in a mass-quantity-driven factory somewhere where chemical sprays and hormone injections are part of the growing process.
Instead, you can find true organic produce by going to places in the world where the farmers are still growing things by hand, putting their blood and sweat into the ground along with love and tender care for the food they are producing.
The quality speaks volumes, and the health and wellness factors are something else you can consider as a bonus for the digital nomad existence of living in countries around the world.
There are multiple reasons for this, not the least of which is the money factor.
However, there is also health and wellness to consider, because while the term "organic" might be a gimmick in places like the United States, in many other countries like Greece, Bulgaria or Italy the very nature of the food is organic simply because it is farmed locally without the use of chemical means.
If you are looking for information about the costs, think about this for a minute: in 2009 the Department of Labor released information that the cost of food for a single individual in the United States was $6,500 annually.
This combines groceries with the cost of eating out in restaurants.
In comparison, people living in Mexico and Bulgaria only spend around $1,000 per year for the exact same access to produce and foods.
Why is there a $5,500 price difference? First and foremost it is because the U.
S.
is importing the vast majority of its produce from other countries, which means when you travel to those countries and live like a local on their soil you have access to local prices and local farmers.
That means you can buy produce for literally pennies in comparison, such as picking up five kilos of produce for a mere $2.
00 in comparison to the $20.
00 it would cost you in the United States.
People who choose to live in Mexico, for example, can buy tomatoes for as little as $2.
00 for 10 pounds, which is a far cry from what it would cost you for the same tomatoes at any grocery store in the States.
Cost aside, it is also the fact that by living as an expat in other countries you have direct access to food which is not produced in a mass-quantity-driven factory somewhere where chemical sprays and hormone injections are part of the growing process.
Instead, you can find true organic produce by going to places in the world where the farmers are still growing things by hand, putting their blood and sweat into the ground along with love and tender care for the food they are producing.
The quality speaks volumes, and the health and wellness factors are something else you can consider as a bonus for the digital nomad existence of living in countries around the world.
