$8 for frozen individual meal in Anchorage? (buy, price, foods)

[Rance]

He must have bought it at 7-11 or Holiday gas station. You can get TV dinners at Freddies for half that if i remember right.

[tasha998]

Originally Posted by dcbrewmeister

I've been doing the same thing, comparing them to HEB (pretty much the only store in TX, different story) and have come to the same conclusion... Prices are not THAT different. I would expect fresh fruits and veggies to be an issue during winter months, but truth be told, they are nothing to write home about down here either. Stuff "out of season" is pretty awful quality wise.

I did this before I moved to Alaska, but it's misleading. Yes, there are loss leaders and sale items that are comparable, but you have to consider that everything else is going to be more. For example, dried beans that were less than a dollar in Oregon, are a couple dollars here. Cheap canned spaghetti sauce that was 85 cents in Oregon is 1.70 here--etc, etc. It's true of enough items that it really adds up, and it's mostly noticeable on the cheaper, more staple type of food items. I think I spend 30% more here than I did in Oregon.

I put San Antonio, Dallas, and Anchorage into a cost of living calculator. With 100 being average, San Antonio had a rating of 85 for food, Dallas was 98, and Anchorage was 136.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by globetraveler

Prices from Carrs/Safeway - Eagle River - September 10, 2012

Milk (1 gal, generic): Lucerne (Safeway Brand) 3.59 a gallon
White Bread loaf: Safeway House Brand $1.99 a loaf. Alaska Pride $2.69 per loaf
Head of Lettuce: Iceberg $1.79 per head
Ragu Spaghetti Sauce, Normal Size: $2.79 for 1lb 8 oz jar
Box of Spaghetti, Normal: $1.79 for 1lb Barilla brand
Toilet paper, Charmin: $3.49 (sale price for Charmin 4-roll pack. $5.39 for Scott 4-roll pack
Cereal, regualr box, brand name (Cocoa Pebbles?): $4.29 for 11oz box of Cocoa Pebbles.

I thought Alaska was supposed to be more expensive when it came to these items. This is the same or even LESS expensive than what I pay now, what I paid in FL and what I paid in Seattle.

What makes Alaska so expensive then, according to what some say?

[tigre79]

Originally Posted by dcbrewmeister

Be careful about "wishing" for competition, you may not like the end result... We have very limited choices for grub.

You're in San Antonio, right? I think your idea of "limited choices" is a bit different from here. We have exactly one small grocery store, one tiny health food store, and two convenience stores. If you can't get something there, you either go without, find a friend to borrow it from, or you could drive two hours one-way to the next small grocery store. If they don't have it either, the next store is another two and a half hours. I've seen our local store out of things like onions and milk several times when the barge was late, and have waited weeks for them to restock things like Greek yogurt and cilantro. I'll run in to grab breakfast in the morning and there's not a muffin or a bagel to be had in the bakery department. We couldn't make s'mores once because there wasn't a marshmallow for sale in the whole town. Not that this is a tale of great suffering by any means, but I'm fairly certain that our situation is different from yours. We're not "wishing" for competition, we're a town that used to have two grocery stores but has seen many years of economic stagnation and the loss of dozens of local businesses. Rebuilding our local economy and having more choices is a good thing.

[dcbrewmeister]

Originally Posted by tasha998

I put San Antonio, Dallas, and Anchorage into a cost of living calculator. With 100 being average, San Antonio had a rating of 85 for food, Dallas was 98, and Anchorage was 136.

I hate those cost calculators... I live in SA and can tell you it IS NOT almost 15 points cheaper than Dallas. (I always assumed those points are percentages, but they never really say)

Rent - Is not cheaper unless you want to live in the crack-*****-drug-infested part of town. If you do, you can find a 2 bedroom for ~600 OR LESS... But your car and apt will get broke into many times - unless they just steal the car. Friends tried it, now they rent a 1bd for $1,100... and the cars have been fine for over a year.

Food - is all sold by the same company - HEB (rules TX for the most part) When I travelled around for my job, it was no higher unless you were in "higher" end of town.

Gas - gas here is always higher inside the city limits than it is outside - it's taxes, not just simply prices.

I travel to the next town over to go for grub - it's 10 miles each way from where I live, so I choose to go to the "quieter" store rather then one of the busiest stores in SA - They have "HEB gas" and in town it's $3.75 and at the one I shop it's $3.63. It's taxes, not prices, Lytle has a lower city, land, sales etc...

Those clalcs are based on averages, they do not consider "the where" of the high price or where the low price comes from. They are misleading. You think SA is cheap to live in? Come here and try it and you will see what I'm talking about.

When I spent the summer working in AK (a few years ago now) I wrote prices of staples that you need to live and compared SA to Anc. and I can tell you, they were very close to each other.

Now if you get away from Anc you may be in for "sticker shock"... I worked in King Salmon for the summer and could not believe the prices. But once you figure that "staples" are flown in, you can see why a gallon of milk was $8.99 / gal...

I learned to drink powdered milk...

[freezengirl]

Originally Posted by tigre79

You're in San Antonio, right? I think your idea of "limited choices" is a bit different from here. We have exactly one small grocery store, one tiny health food store, and two convenience stores. If you can't get something there, you either go without, find a friend to borrow it from, or you could drive two hours one-way to the next small grocery store. If they don't have it either, the next store is another two and a half hours. I've seen our local store out of things like onions and milk several times when the barge was late, and have waited weeks for them to restock things like Greek yogurt and cilantro. I'll run in to grab breakfast in the morning and there's not a muffin or a bagel to be had in the bakery department. We couldn't make s'mores once because there wasn't a marshmallow for sale in the whole town. Not that this is a tale of great suffering by any means, but I'm fairly certain that our situation is different from yours. We're not "wishing" for competition, we're a town that used to have two grocery stores but has seen many years of economic stagnation and the loss of dozens of local businesses. Rebuilding our local economy and having more choices is a good thing.

Geez Tiger, you obviously didn't hear about the horrible winter of 2011 in Homer-the Great Pnut-Butter Shortage. There was a spell of about six weeks where we couldn't find a jar of Jiff to save our souls (and our taste buds)! Now that is traumatic!

[dcbrewmeister]

Originally Posted by tigre79

You're in San Antonio, right? I think your idea of "limited choices" is a bit different from here. We have exactly one small grocery store, one tiny health food store, and two convenience stores. If you can't get something there, you either go without, find a friend to borrow it from, or you could drive two hours one-way to the next small grocery store. If they don't have it either, the next store is another two and a half hours. I've seen our local store out of things like onions and milk several times when the barge was late, and have waited weeks for them to restock things like Greek yogurt and cilantro. I'll run in to grab breakfast in the morning and there's not a muffin or a bagel to be had in the bakery department. We couldn't make s'mores once because there wasn't a marshmallow for sale in the whole town. Not that this is a tale of great suffering by any means, but I'm fairly certain that our situation is different from yours. We're not "wishing" for competition, we're a town that used to have two grocery stores but has seen many years of economic stagnation and the loss of dozens of local businesses. Rebuilding our local economy and having more choices is a good thing.

My story wasn't about choices, my story was about a company getting rid of your choices for you...

But you won't have more choices - if it's a company like HEB - they will come in and give a "lower price" choice and force the other competition out, once they accomplish that, the prices will go back up to previous levels or even higher...

[tigre79]

Originally Posted by dcbrewmeister

My story wasn't about choices, my story was about a company getting rid of your choices for you...

But you won't have more choices - if it's a company like HEB - they will come in and give a "lower price" choice and force the other competition out, once they accomplish that, the prices will go back up to previous levels or even higher...

I'm not sure why you think it makes sense to compare a city of over a million people to a small, relatively isolated town of 3,000. I moved here from Tampa, where nearly all the grocery stores except Publix have gone out of business, similar to what you're talking about. So in your definition I had very little choice in terms of grocery shopping. Except that I still had three different Publix stores within a four-mile radius of my house (all stocking slightly different things), a Whole Foods across town (you also have Central Market, which is quite different from a normal HEB store), Costco, Sam's Club, numerous large health food and ethnic food stores, drugstores, discount stores, farmers markets, and so on. If you don't see how that's different from what we have in this town, then I can't help you.

We don't have choices to be gotten rid of. That's what you're somehow not getting. If a large store came in and put the Safeway out of business, we'd be exactly where we are now. As it is, it's not going to be a large store, because there are only around 3,000 people here year-round. It will be something like a small IGA if it happens at all. This is not exactly the sort of place where major companies plan hostile market takeovers.

Originally Posted by freezengirl

Geez Tiger, you obviously didn't hear about the horrible winter of 2011 in Homer-the Great Pnut-Butter Shortage. There was a spell of about six weeks where we couldn't find a jar of Jiff to save our souls (and our taste buds)! Now that is traumatic!

How terrible! Our store is always running out of tortillas. Half the time I go in there for them, there are none to be found in the size I need, or just none at all period. Just some big, sad, empty shelves. That's pretty tough for a Texas girl, so we stockpile them in the freezer now.

[Dakster]

Compare any store, anywhere to Whole Foods and you will get it cheaper... I can only imagine Whole Foods pricing in remote Alaska, it would cost $50 for a head of iceberg lettuce. I only go there for the things I can't get anywhere else... Whole paycheck is what we call them down here.

And now visitng AK - IF I lived in a 'remote' town (i.e. Not Anchorage, Fairbanks, etc....), I would defiently be stocking up on the 'staples' we use. Buying things by the case and replacing as needed. I sorta do that now - as every once in a while I hit a Costco, BJ's, or Sam's and stockup, just because even in my non-remote, very urban, 5 million person area, overall it is still cheaper to do so.

[tigre79]

Originally Posted by Dakster

Compare any store, anywhere to Whole Foods and you will get it cheaper... I can only imagine Whole Foods pricing in remote Alaska, it would cost $50 for a head of iceberg lettuce. I only go there for the things I can't get anywhere else... Whole paycheck is what we call them down here.

Their prices are similar to or lower than what we pay out here, but we don't get their great selection. I've never really found them to be terribly expensive, though I've heard many people say they are. Here's an interesting article in that light: Resolved: Whole Foods isn't as expensive as people think it is - The Angle - Boston.com

And now visitng AK - IF I lived in a 'remote' town (i.e. Not Anchorage, Fairbanks, etc....), I would defiently be stocking up on the 'staples' we use. Buying things by the case and replacing as needed. I sorta do that now - as every once in a while I hit a Costco, BJ's, or Sam's and stockup, just because even in my non-remote, very urban, 5 million person area, overall it is still cheaper to do so.

That's what a lot of people do, but the result is that all of that money leaves the community. More local choices means more money staying here and more jobs (not necessarily great jobs, but often with flexible schedules for people with young kids or people who need second jobs).