Price Comparison (Food, UK vs. Thailand)

[Mosha]

Thai food can be expensive in the UK English food can be expensive here.

[AyG]

For comparison I've now looked at the price of Thai foods in the UK (see attached file).

The selection of items for comparison isn't great. For fresh produce, either they are solid in different ways in the two countries (e.g. by weight in the UK, but by the bunch in Thailand) making comparison impossible without further information. Also, a lot of Thai foods aren't available at Tesco's (or at least, aren't shown on the supermarket website).

To summarise:

- Sauces are between 3 times (fish sauce) and 9 times (oyster sauce) the price. Part of this difference can be explained by the small bottler sizes sold in the UK.

- Fresh chillies are similarly 9 times the Thai price. Palm sugar is also relatively expensive, at 6 times the Thai price. However, red curry paste is only 68% more expensive than here.

- Fruit are only marginally more expensive in the UK (20-60% more).

[AyG]

You have to take into account product quality as well.

An Edam cheese produced here is not an Edam cheese from home. Here it is produced with cheap labor and cheap ingredients. And it tastes accordingly

Unless it is imported. Import cheese here goes for roughly 1200-1400 Baht/kg. It seems the importers have settled on this price whatever they think is cheese. Some local products try to scam the same price from unaware people....

The Edam cheese was an Australian import - not a local product. (To be honest, I don't think they make any hard cheeses here.)

Your price range for imported cheese is, I think, a little off.

Edam is 668 Baht/kg; Cheddar 688; Philadelphia cream cheese 596; Emmenthal, 1740.

The Edam and Cheddar are Australian copies; the Emmenthal is French; not sure where the Philadelphia is made - perhaps Malaysia? Don't know.

[seasia]

Quite an interesting blog you have, bookmarked it to read a few of your articles another time.

[GreenSnapper]

You have to take into account product quality as well.

An Edam cheese produced here is not an Edam cheese from home. Here it is produced with cheap labor and cheap ingredients. And it tastes accordingly

Unless it is imported. Import cheese here goes for roughly 1200-1400 Baht/kg. It seems the importers have settled on this price whatever they think is cheese. Some local products try to scam the same price from unaware people....

The Edam cheese was an Australian import - not a local product. (To be honest, I don't think they make any hard cheeses here.)

Your price range for imported cheese is, I think, a little off.

Edam is 668 Baht/kg; Cheddar 688; Philadelphia cream cheese 596; Emmenthal, 1740.

The Edam and Cheddar are Australian copies; the Emmenthal is French; not sure where the Philadelphia is made - perhaps Malaysia? Don't know.

They do produce local hard cheeses here. At least in Bangkok I can buy them (Villa, Tops...).

The Edam, Cheddar you mention above, I think I have tried them already. These are extremly bad cheeses, and I will never buy them again. Lower to medium quality cheeses from Europe go for 1200 and more. Recently I saw a "Parmesan" cheese, made in Bangkok, also for 1200. A scam, of course.

Again, when comparing apples and oranges, think about quality also.

[AyG]

I think I didn't attach the "Thai food in the UK Prices" file correctly. With any luck it should be attached to this post correctly now.

Thai-Food-Prices-in-UK.pdf

[Robby nz]

OK so that is food you buy to cook yourself.

What about cheap eating places in the UK compared to Thailand?

I ask this because we will soon be going to the UK for a month and traveling every day so will be eating at least one meal sometimes two on the road and although I have got some info from web sites any more I can get will help me to budget.

In Thailand for instance I have just got back from eating fried rice at a roadside place I eat at regularly.

4 servings enough for 4 people 120 Baht includes water.

Yesterday, at another, a big plate of one of my favorites Pad prick geang moo grawp plus a bottle of water 45 baht.

Also I suspect it matters where in Thailand you are buying things, particularly fruit and veg, this morning I got a big hand of bananas for 10b and 10 good size tomatoes for 20b, that is in a small town market.

I notice when I have to go to BKK things are a fair bit dearer.

[kevvy]

please check prices comparing English salary for a month for Thai salary for a month the work out who is cheaper for .E.G bottle of coke

£1.69 in the UK for a 2 litre bottle. (79 baht)

the thai wage here is 300 baht a day , so they can buy about 20 cans of coke , so how much can you buy for a daily wage in england ?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

please check prices comparing English salary for a month for Thai salary for a month the work out who is cheaper for .E.G bottle of coke

£1.69 in the UK for a 2 litre bottle. (79 baht)

the thai wage here is 300 baht a day , so they can buy about 20 cans of coke , so how much can you buy for a daily wage in england ?

Job seekers allowance in UK = 71ukp a week = 10ukp a day (I'm equating that to Thai minimum wage)

Coke from a roadside stall/shop is about 50p a can, so you can buy about 20 cans a day in the UK for the UK daily 'not' wage.

Edited July 9, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[notmyself]

What about cheap eating places in the UK compared to Thailand?

I ask this because we will soon be going to the UK for a month and traveling every day so will be eating at least one meal sometimes two on the road and although I have got some info from web sites any more I can get will help me to budget.

Not cheap at all.

Burger vans and supermarket sandwiches or pies with a short shelf life I guess. Anything from a chippy or kebab house is going to set you back 3 quid minimum and a pub lunch around 5-6 quid.

If you are using a car then a cooler box could be your best bet filled with salad stuff though that's not too cheap after such a long winter.

Most of the large supermarkets are doing spit roasted whole chickens for around 2:50 3 quid. Loaf of bread, bit of salad, chopping board and a couple of knives for picnic style eating would be the way I would personally go as it's summer. I'm back in the UK at present and the prices are nuts for this time of year. I wish you good luck.

[GreenSnapper]

Eating out in Europe can be expensive.

Example: 2 people, restaurant in Italy, 1l house wine, 50€ - 2000 Baht.

Compared to:

2 people,

Italian restaurant, Sukhumvit, mediocre quality, 0.5l house wine, bad service, - 3500 Baht.

[CrypticBob]

Eating out in Europe can be expensive.

Example: 2 people, restaurant in Italy, 1l house wine, 50€ - 2000 Baht.

Compared to:

2 people,

Italian restaurant, Sukhumvit, mediocre quality, 0.5l house wine, bad service, - 3500 Baht.

For a lot of our members who can't afford good restaurants too often, the extra cost of the restaurant is offset by the lower cost of a flight from the boondocks.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Eating out in Europe can be expensive.

Example: 2 people, restaurant in Italy, 1l house wine, 50€ - 2000 Baht.

Compared to:

2 people,

Italian restaurant, Sukhumvit, mediocre quality, 0.5l house wine, bad service, - 3500 Baht.

Wine is a luxury item in Thailand, wine is a normal household item in Italy.

Lets price the meals using a Thai restaurant, pla tab tim and sticky rice and green coconuts as the drink.

And while we are at it why not use central BK and central Rome as the places?