Nanc, As usual your research is comprehensive except for one glaring error. What no comparison for bottles of wine? I get that it is hard to compare a bottle of "Josh" to a bottle of "Adega de Borba", but I'll just lay out the facts. In Portugal I rarely pay more than 3 euros for a bottle of wine at the grocery store or 14 euros for a bottle at a restaurant. So IMHO, if you drink you can afford to live in Portugal.
I traveled to Portugal in September. In Lagos we grocery shopped a Lidl and Pingo Doce. I could not believe how inexpensive groceries and wine were. It was so significant I kept having to pick my jaw up off the Lidl floor. (I live in a Boston suburb). I love grocery shopping in Europe in general...it’s not overwhelming or massive and you can still find everything you need.
Portugal is getting very expensive. I can fill the grocery cart these day with the same amount and price as I did in the Netherlands. And often times, less quality. I’m sad about this, deeply. Unfortunately. I’m spending more time elsewhere, where prices are lower (even northern Italy and Paris have lower prices than downtown Lisbon).
Great idea to post photos of the items in the stores with their price tags! I keep hearing from my US friends how horrible the prices have become there. It's true that things have gotten more expensive in Portugal, but that seems to be a global phenomenon.
What a delightfully pleasant response to such an open-ended question. The locally baked fresh bread (just about everywhere) is so much better than squishy Bimbo Wonder bread.
Thanks for all your informative and amusing posts.
Thanks for this lovely comparison. It may as well be South Africa vs Portugal prices. Lots of things are cheaper for us here than in SA but some things like rent and house prices are a lot more for us as a direct result of the poor SA exchange rate vs the Euro and the Dollar.
I think the cost of electricity depends on where you’ve come from in the U.S., and where you are, not just in Portugal, but down to the apartment. Electricity in our apartment is cheaper than I anticipated. About the same as electricity in Portland. And electricity in Oregon is MUCH cheaper than electricity in Florida (lived in both places).
Dogs… I saw one posting where someone bragged that their dog expenses were €17/month and all I could think was that they were taking stuffed animals out for cleaning. Our 80 lb Lab/Hound costs us €100/month just for food. When he had to have his tail removed due to a cancerous tumor, the surgery and post care was €500. THAT I considered to be a bargain!
Nancy, thanks for all the legwork on calculating comparisons between PT and U.S. - always intriguing.
[oops just saw your note on minimum wage!] What else I find intriguing is that the Portuguese somehow live on - what is it? …. like less than 1k euros /month minimum wage here (~$1,084 - that’s $13,008/annually).
No wonder this country experiences a brain drain of young Portuguese finding work elsewhere. Saturday I encountered a demonstration of about 50 people here in Lagos town centre calling out the extreme paucity of affordable housing.
Thank you , dear Nancy, for taking your time to compare some food items in both countries ! Im 4 years into my own research , and have some data from my Portuguese neighbor living 6 months in US. The biggest challenge (seems to me) to find a well heated/cooled place. It should be relatively new. And it pricey . I wonder how much would be renting it close to Lisbon
I really enjoy the price of wine (even in restaurants you don't seem to be ripped off). I am always surprised by the fact you can't get cheap paracetamol or ibuprofen in the supermarkets as you can in the UK.
Nanc, As usual your research is comprehensive except for one glaring error. What no comparison for bottles of wine? I get that it is hard to compare a bottle of "Josh" to a bottle of "Adega de Borba", but I'll just lay out the facts. In Portugal I rarely pay more than 3 euros for a bottle of wine at the grocery store or 14 euros for a bottle at a restaurant. So IMHO, if you drink you can afford to live in Portugal.
:-)
I traveled to Portugal in September. In Lagos we grocery shopped a Lidl and Pingo Doce. I could not believe how inexpensive groceries and wine were. It was so significant I kept having to pick my jaw up off the Lidl floor. (I live in a Boston suburb). I love grocery shopping in Europe in general...it’s not overwhelming or massive and you can still find everything you need.
Portugal is getting very expensive. I can fill the grocery cart these day with the same amount and price as I did in the Netherlands. And often times, less quality. I’m sad about this, deeply. Unfortunately. I’m spending more time elsewhere, where prices are lower (even northern Italy and Paris have lower prices than downtown Lisbon).
Great idea to post photos of the items in the stores with their price tags! I keep hearing from my US friends how horrible the prices have become there. It's true that things have gotten more expensive in Portugal, but that seems to be a global phenomenon.
What a delightfully pleasant response to such an open-ended question. The locally baked fresh bread (just about everywhere) is so much better than squishy Bimbo Wonder bread.
Thanks for all your informative and amusing posts.
Thanks so much for the information.
Thanks for this lovely comparison. It may as well be South Africa vs Portugal prices. Lots of things are cheaper for us here than in SA but some things like rent and house prices are a lot more for us as a direct result of the poor SA exchange rate vs the Euro and the Dollar.
And to add to your reader’s decision-making…
I think the cost of electricity depends on where you’ve come from in the U.S., and where you are, not just in Portugal, but down to the apartment. Electricity in our apartment is cheaper than I anticipated. About the same as electricity in Portland. And electricity in Oregon is MUCH cheaper than electricity in Florida (lived in both places).
Dogs… I saw one posting where someone bragged that their dog expenses were €17/month and all I could think was that they were taking stuffed animals out for cleaning. Our 80 lb Lab/Hound costs us €100/month just for food. When he had to have his tail removed due to a cancerous tumor, the surgery and post care was €500. THAT I considered to be a bargain!
Nancy, thanks for all the legwork on calculating comparisons between PT and U.S. - always intriguing.
[oops just saw your note on minimum wage!] What else I find intriguing is that the Portuguese somehow live on - what is it? …. like less than 1k euros /month minimum wage here (~$1,084 - that’s $13,008/annually).
No wonder this country experiences a brain drain of young Portuguese finding work elsewhere. Saturday I encountered a demonstration of about 50 people here in Lagos town centre calling out the extreme paucity of affordable housing.
Affordability is all relative. Thanks again!
Thank you , dear Nancy, for taking your time to compare some food items in both countries ! Im 4 years into my own research , and have some data from my Portuguese neighbor living 6 months in US. The biggest challenge (seems to me) to find a well heated/cooled place. It should be relatively new. And it pricey . I wonder how much would be renting it close to Lisbon
I really enjoy the price of wine (even in restaurants you don't seem to be ripped off). I am always surprised by the fact you can't get cheap paracetamol or ibuprofen in the supermarkets as you can in the UK.