K-Mart and Prices

[karen]

Considering that I pay extra to bring heavy luggage back from home, I might pay that for dressing here if that was my brand and flavor. It seems a bit outrageous, but if it frees up space to bring something back that I can't get here at any price then I'll pay it. I paid over $200 last summer to bring back heavy and extra luggage.

[Hank W.]

Saw a 200 ml jar of Wishbone Spritzer dressing in K for 6,39!!!!!! That is $9.40 or £4.75. Simply Outrageous!

no its not. You are just financially challenged

[raamv]

Saw a 200 ml jar of Wishbone Spritzer dressing in K for 6,39!!!!!! That is $9.40 or £4.75. Simply Outrageous!

Here at least, they dont ask you "If you want fries to go with it"...Instead they Give you "Healthcare and free education..."..

So the outrage is not really an outrage..so Why in the first place are you comparing this to US or UK prices if you dont want to live there...

[Hank W.]

Well, as I saod today I went to get some fruit from my local K - weighed a cantaloupe (I'm not that partila to it) and it was 6 euros. Well, honeydews were abt. half the price. Then again I won't complain as we have a store right across the parking lot and it has a lihatiski

[Karhunkoski]

So the outrage is not really an outrage..so Why in the first place are you comparing this to US or UK prices if you dont want to live there...

Exactly!


We get a continuous stream of planks on here complaining about food prices, from the Italian visitor grumbling about restaurant prices being +50% more than at home, but failing to appreciate that the average salary in Finland is nearly double that of "home", not to mention the extra cost of transporting ingredients here, then the UK guys complaining that they can't get 4 cans of Heinz Beans for 1.5 euros like they can at home, not realising that Beans really aren't a commodity item in Finland, the buying power of the supermarkets is much lower, etc.

So if the price of a jar of Texan Jerk-Off Sauce is unbearable here, go live where it's cheaper Simple

[Hank W.]

the price of a jar of Texan Jerk-Off Sauce is unbearable here

I need to remember this.

[Hank W.]

Well go live there then. Nobody is stopping you. Sweden may have cheaper prices but they got 25% VAT not to mention other silly taxes and cost of living. Or go to Borway and have a pint of beer.

Last time I chacked the prices in Estonia (Tallinn) are getting silly. Its been a year I've been taking over "cheap cheese" and assorted stuff. Some stuff in Estonia is cheaper, but not everything any more.

[EP]

Then make a spritzer dressing yourself!

Exactly what I was going to suggest. The ingredients are listed on the side of the bottle, and you can leave out the artificial colouring X and stabilizer Y.

Prices in Sweden and Finland are about the same. Denmark is more expensive. And like Hank said, only very few items are cheaper in Estonia nowadays.

[EP]

"The highest price levels for food and non-alcoholic beverages were recorded in Denmark (142% of the EU27 average), Ireland (125%), Finland (120%) and Sweden (119%), and the lowest in Bulgaria (56%), Lithuania (64%), Poland and Slovakia (both 67%). For bread and cereals, price levels ranged from 41% of the EU27 average in Bulgaria and 56% in Slovakia to 150% in Denmark and 141% in Finland; for meat from 48% in Bulgaria and 50% in Lithuania to 149% in Denmark and 133% in Sweden; and for milk, cheese and eggs from 67% in Poland and 75% in Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia to 139% in Cyprus and 138% in Greece."

[Rosamunda]

K takes 5 euro for 200 ml of Hellman's - total nonsense for EUROPE!

Is K selling Hellman's now??? I usually make my own but of all the industrial mayonnaise Hellman's is one of the better ones.

I actually spend SIGNIFICANTLY less on food here for the following reasons:

- my husband is a hunter so I rarely buy meat
- we grow a lot of fruit and veg which I can freeze or preserve somehow (in Paris my garden was just about big enough for the kids' swing, not much room for food)
- we pick berries and mushrooms in the forest
- we "trade" with friends who have stuff we don't have
- I have more time to make meals from scratch (in Paris I spent approx 2h/day commuting) which is much cheaper (and healthier) than buying industrial crap.

I was in the States (Florida) 2 years ago. I found that quality food was expensive. None of the regular supermarkets stocked any organic food at all. I can buy a litre of organic milk from K for 1.12 euro..... It is so expensive in the USA none of the supermarkets even stock it. It took me about 30 mins to find a loaf of bread (in Walmart) that did NOT contain something my son was allergic too. I lived in New England for a year in c.1990 and I thought the food was pretty good. But the only decent meal I had in Florida 2006 was the couscous royale I ordered in the Moroccan pavillion at Disney. I was very disappointed. Good food is not cheap. Bad food is very cheap... too cheap. No wonder half the population of Florida is clinically obese. Good, healthy food is beyond the financial means of most people.

By the way Hank.... Do you have to eat MELONS in January.....?

[Hank W.]

By the way Hank.... Do you have to eat MELONS in January.....?

Got fed up of the canned peaches...

[Hank W.]

Last time for vinegar cost about an euro per liter, as was cooking oil.

If you want to buy luxus-luxus goods you pay luxus-luxus prices.

[raamv]

Well go live there then. Nobody is stopping you.

Sounds like the sicko stuff I got in US during VN war - 'love it or leave it'

So I left

Thought Finns were a llittle more sophisticated.

But I rather change it - I've done a hell of a lot of it in Finland and have enjoyed the ride.

So Hank - go spend your 35 euro a liter on vinegar and oil and keep your pretentious attitude to yourself!

One idiot said to another... I am going to become president..
The first one said...of which country? The second one said..of this..of course..
The first one replied..I am going to run for president of the world..
..the second one said..Well for now, I ll take it one country at a time..
The first one said...Son...make use of the organic materials from which we have become this rich..
the second one said..I ll make use of other's organic material...and then see what happens..
The first one said..then get rid of people or high prices..
the second one said..First ..its get rid of people.. If someone is not with us..then they re against us..
and second..high prices are good for keeping a good economy..
and the story goes on..
A person trying to change a Finnish society... Either an idiot or a stupid....
and the worst of all complaining..of high prices in Finland is only going to result in additional taxes because we have f**king depressed foreigners making an a$$ of themselves...
Buy your groceries from ebay form now on!!

[Marié]

But Finland remains the one country in the whole of the EU with the most limited assortment of foods across the board (that is, we need a bloody FORUM to locate ONE place that happens to have some spice or vegetable) - and surely the HIGHEST prices if you haoppen to find it

Well, I have to say after being able to compare Finland to London and California that I don't quite agree with you there. It may be difficult or expensive to find a specific product you used back home, but it is equally difficult and expensive to find, say, proper rye bread for a Finn living abroad. You can think Finnish food is crap (and therefore not worth trying to obtain) if you like, but I don't think American or British food is anything special to write home about either. It's all a matter of personal taste. Anyway, I find the prices and selection in Finland quite reasonable and can even usually find those special non-Finnish products I have "adopted" (and I live in Oulu!). The only really cheap foods in the US or the UK seem to be the industrial white-bread and synthetic-sauce types of food. Anything decent if quite expensive in those places, too (especially in London) and from a Finnish point of view, the selection may seem very limited indeed.

I think K-stores are good, I don't understand why all the bashing. I go there all the time, I like many of their Pirkka products. Stockmann's good too for those special foods.

[Hank W.]

Go shopping at Lidl if you're getting stressed about the prices.

Don't know if their prices are that much "cheaper"... some of the stuff is utter crud for the price. But there is some "good stuff" there if you figure it out.