Affordable grocery prices in East Asia

$9 for a dozen eggs! The news about the current price spike for eggs in the USA has made headlines even here in Malaysia.  

Meanwhile, we’ve paid 13 to 17 Malaysian Ringgit for 30-egg trays this month — that translates to $3 to $4, or slightly over 10 cents per egg.

Over the past six months we paid about 13 cents per egg in Taiwan, and 15 to 17 cents per egg in both South Korea and Japan.

We know these prices – and many others – quite well, because pricing and buying groceries is a regular part of our daily lives as long-term, slow travel world-wanderers.

(Full disclosure: our Asian egg prices were most often for MEDIUM sized eggs — which seemed a better bargain than large. And again, we were buying the 30-egg trays. My wife is vegetarian; we eat a lot of eggs).

The egg prices got me thinking about the overall grocery costs we incurred around East Asia in the second half of 2024. Above are photos of various foodstuffs and the converted to USD price paid. I’ve long planned to do an Asian ‘grocery price’ blog post – thus I created these graphics right after the purchases last summer and fall, so I wouldn’t forget or confuse them.

Further, considering the variation in pricing between Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (and various retailers within each country), I’m comfortable saying the overall grocery costs in Taiwan were the lowest. While South Korea and Japan were somewhat higher – maybe 10 to 20 percent. South Korea was highest on many items — especial fresh produce/fruit.

Of course, I pride myself on being a ‘value shopper’ so what you see here is undoubtedly at the low end of the price spectrum. (Some of these items even show both the ‘regular’ and the ‘sale’ price we paid.) Still, on a macro level, what you see here is typical for East Asia.

Amusingly, at this point, I have no clue what groceries really cost in America. All I know is from news reports of inflated U.S. food prices. But I CAN tell you about East Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, etc. As in the Western Hemisphere, prices are highest in the more developed countries.

Here’s some more of the graphics showing prices at the big East Asian grocers like: AEON & Life (Japan), Home plus & LOTTE (South Korea) and PX Mart & Carrefour (Taiwan).

As already mentioned, as soon as we got to Malaysia, our grocery bills dropped by probably 20 to 25 percent. Admittedly, since we’ve been here several other times, we do know where to get the best deals. But still, tropical Malaysia is a comparative bargain — especially on fruits & vegetables.

Here’s one more interesting measure. The figures taken from our daily ‘Spending Tracker’ phone app show our total grocery expenditures for the first half of 2024 (January through June) — when we lived in India, Thailand and Philippines — to be $1,404.

The second half of 2024, we lived in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and our groceries totaled $1,567. The difference is almost 12 percent.

Of course, there are fluctuations in our travel and dining habits (and wife Ellen was in the U.S. visiting for eight weeks in May & June; her U.S. grocery total is here). And we eat a lot of cheap street food meals – particularly in East Asia. But I feel like the totals reflect a mostly accurate baseline of what any average price-conscious person would spend on groceries in these different places. (FYI, my beer costs are not included in either).

Once again, as with housing costs and healthcare, this whole exercise goes to show that despite inflation, a retired life of leisure can still be had at just a fraction of what people must pay in America, Europe, Australia and other ‘first world’ nations. Indeed, I shudder to think what our yearly grocery bill would be in the USA.

Lastly, if you are wondering, the big grocery stores in East Asia are pretty much like those in the West. Spacious, bright, clean, well-stocked, all computerized/bar coded, and credit card enabled too. There are even ‘Superstores’ like Walmart/Costco.

And below are what grocery receipts look like in East Asia. Naturally, it’s all in Japanese or Korean or Chinese — with a little English if you are lucky. Obviously, it makes it difficult to check what you were charged once you leave the store. Our technique: pay extra-close attention as each item is scanned at the register.

As always, be thankful and generous, happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!

Thanks for reading, “Affordable grocery prices in East Asia.”