Living in Los Cabos: The Cost of Groceries

It seems these days I have a new specialty: Mexico Relocation Expert. Almost everyone I’m working with is planning to move to Los Cabos, either immediately or in the next few years. Wow! And I’m loving it! It’s so much fun working with these people, even though they do present some new challenges. One of the most fun challenges is the questions they ask. When you’re considering moving to a new place, and especially to a different country, you’ve got to get educated on every aspect of day to day life there. I love it, but sometimes they throw me for a loop.

One question I have had difficulty answering is: how much does food cost? I mean, I can tell them that our grocery bill is about 600 pesos a week plus some more at Costco or City Club or the butcher shop, but what if they eat different kinds of food than we do? After all, I’m buying chicken and rice for the girls (they prefer not to be thought of as ‘dogs’) and sugar-free imported items for Bob.

Here’s a quick but important tip: buying imported food or wine is vastly more expensive than buying the same brand manufactured and labeled for Mexico. Trust me: Philly cheese and Best Foods Mayonnaise and Ritz Crackers are the same no matter which language the package is in; that’s the same for any brand name item. If there is a local version buy that. The grocery stores have both, often right next to one another, knowing the Gringos will be more comfortable buying the label they’re used to. Cha-Ching!

Anyway, to help make sense of it all I just took a look at some prices of things I think are pretty typically found in the grocery cart and converted the prices from pesos per kilo to dollars per pound. I hope this helps figure out what your cost of living in Los Cabos would be. These are prices on May 12, 2010 with an exchange rate of 12/1.

Grocery Costs in Cabo
Item Price Pesos per Kilo Price Dollars per Pound
Grade A Large Eggs Doz. 17.7 per dozen $1.47 per dozen
Sugar (white, refined) 14.9 0.62
Butter-flied Chicken Breast, skinless and boneless 47.9 1.81
Limes (limones) 7.9 0.03 (no that’s not a typo)
Cantaloupe 7.5 0.28
Oranges for juice 4.9 0.18
Bananas 8.95 0.34
Red apples 19.5 0.74
Baby Back Pork Ribs 85.8 3.25
Filleted fresh fish (Jamul) 58 2.19

If you want to explore other products, a good source is http://www.ccc.com.mx, which is the grocery store I frequent. On their website you can read the weekly flyer, pick your product by the photo and convert the price. Overall I believe the cost of groceries here to be significantly lower than in the US, particularly on local products like produce and fish and chicken. But, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Carol Billups is Broker/Owner of REALTY EXECUTIVES Los Cabos. A Certified Home Marketing Specialist, she has enjoyed working with both buyers and sellers for ten years and still thinks hers is the best job on earth. She is also the real estate columnist for Los Cabos Magazine and the real estate co-ordinator for the Los Cabos Now program on CaboMil FM (www.cabomil.com.mx). You can read more of her articles on http://www.reloscabos.com. You can reach her from the U.S. or Canada at 1-760-481-7694, or in Cabo at 044-624-147-7541.

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© 2010 Carol S. Billups

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