We could not believe it, and neither will you!
With the new inventory list I have been making, to help us keep our panty organized, (and waste less by using what we have on hand), I have been collecting, and documenting, the prices for the common items we will need to buy to restock our new kitchen. This could not have come at a better time.
We discovered that, for instance, the small limes, which we use everyday, (the little round ones, not the ones that are the size of lemons), are 19.8 pesos per kg. (about $1.04/kg, or $.47/lb.) at our local store, Soriana. The limes at Soriana are sold in large bins, not in bags, so you pick, and pay for only the amount you want. At Sam’s Club, they come already in bags of 1.5kg, and are 66.3 pesos a bag, about 44.2 pesos per kg. ($2.31/kg, or about $1.05/lb.) At Costco, they are in bags of 2kg. and cost 87.88 pesos, or 39.94 pesos per kg.($2.09/kg, or $.95/lb.)- both more that double the cost of Soriana, (if I did the math correctly).
Until I started this inventory list, and was taught to look at the base price for all products we buy, we had no idea that we were paying so much for this one product. No one else here did either. We all thought that by buying things at the wholesale clubs would, by default, make them less expensive. We were all wrong!
We went to Costco earlier this afternoon, and I spent most of the time taking photos of all of the different meat prices, the milk prices, the vegetables, cheeses, alcohol, etc. Then, when we got home, I put all of those prices into the computer, on my inventory sheet, so when we need to start buying food for our home, we will be able to look for the best price at all three stores. I still have to take photos at Sam’s Club, and download all of those prices, but, even though it is a time consuming undertaking, it has already proved to be worth it.
With the prices in pesos, it is too difficult, at the moment, to remember what we pay in this store versus that store, so this will be a big help to us in the foreseeable future. It has already paid for my time by just letting us in on the price of limes.