Groceries

Missionary ladies on the Baptist Missionary Women blog are comparing grocery prices this week.  I will give you an idea of grocery prices here in Ghana.

We live in Takoradi, Ghana, which is about five hours from the capital city of Accra, Ghana.  In Accra, there are many large grocery stores, much like you would see in the States.  But the prices there are not much different than they are in Takoradi; some things are a little cheaper there.  Here in Takoradi, we have three grocery stores which carry cold products as well as other groceries; they are not much bigger than a convenience store in the States.  There are many little hole-in-the-wall stores that have two or three small aisles, and it is very hard to navigate in them.  These little places usually specialize in a certain type of product – One will have paper goods (napkins, paper towels, paper plates) and plastic bags.  Another might have diapers and baby products.  Keep going, and you’ll find one with cleaning products.  Some sell the basic food staples.

If we are making a one-stop shopping trip, we go to Garden Mart, one of the three air-conditioned grocery stores.  On other days, we do bulk shopping and market shopping.  We have found that it is cheaper to buy some things in bulk – powdered milk (There is not any homogenized milk here.), flour, sugar, cheese, and some canned goods.  I usually buy plastic bags, tea, mayonnaise, and oil at one of the places along the market circle.  It is also cheaper to get the fruits and vegetables at the market too.

We buy 25 kilo bags of powdered milk, flour, and sugar.  That much powdered milk lasts us four to five months.  The flour and sugar usually last about two months.

The Ghanaian currency is called cedis.

25 kg powdered milk (makes about 85 gallons of milk) 270 cedis = $140 ($1.65 per gallon)
   Our kids drink that milk like it is going out of style!

25 kg flour 40 cedis = $22

25 kg sugar 38 cedis = $20

Cheddar cheese (1 lb.) 20 cedis = $10.50

(The prices mentioned above are bulk prices.  If we do not buy them in bulk, the price of all of those items is at least 30% more.)

Most canned goods are around 4 cedis per can ($2.10 each).

The Heinz brand of Cream of Chicken soup or Cream of Mushroom soup is sometimes available for 5 cedis per can ($2.60).  I usually make my own creamed soup.

Sometimes Crisco is available.  It has come down in price from when they first started selling it here.  It is 15.50 cedis ($8) for a 3 lb. tub.  They have a little tub here called Blue Band which I use for everyday things; but if you bought 3 lbs. of it, it would come out about the same as the Crisco.

Pringles jumped from 3.50 cedis ($1.80) per can to 7.00 cedis ($3.60) per can.

Cake mixes are available for just a mere 10 cedis ($5.20).  I make my own cakes.

The other day, we found Blueberry Muffin mix for 5 cedis ($2.60).  We splurged and got a couple!

Occasionally, we can find Dr. Pepper (my favorite) for 1.80 cedis ($ .95) per 12 oz. can.  Those are bought sparingly for a special treat.  They have not had any for a while.

There are certain things that at times can be found everywhere, and sometimes they cannot be found anywhere, such as powdered sugar, vanilla, tomato sauce and tortilla chips.

There is a little store in Accra that gets items from bulk stores in the States.  The prices are about three times what you would pay for them in the States, but it is nice to get a couple tastes of home whenever we are in that area (once or twice a year) – chocolate chips, graham crackers, etc.

I will have to take pictures of the stores later.  My husband is out of town, and I do not feel like venturing out in a taxi today.  It can be quite an adventure!

If we ever see anything that we really want and that we have never seen here before, we buy it because we might never see it again.  : )

As the exchange rate continues to fluctuate, the prices continue to rise.

I hope you enjoyed a look at Ghana grocery prices.