How Much Will You Save on Food in Mexico?
Mexicans really do like their hot sauce.
Updated June, 2023
The price of groceries in Mexico
Someday you may see a glossy picture of me on a brochure smiling broadly from a catamaran heading towards Mazatlán’s Stone Island. Until then, the picture someone really should take is of me grinning as I leave the grocery store with my grocery cart full of bags totaling less than $100 dollars.
Reports give us good reason to believe that a greater percent of Americans' income in the future will be spent feeding themselves rather than enjoying themselves. Prices in my home city of Denver certainly seem high (If you live near a Whole Foods there, you’re really in trouble).
Food prices, like gasoline prices, may fluctuate up and down in the short-term in the US. In the long-term, they will continue to go up. Reasons cited for continued upward trends are gasoline prices, climate change, subsidies for biofuels, food stock piling and a great demand for meat as countries become more affluent. Food prices are expected to reach a 6.2% increase in 2023, with certain categories going up more than others.
According to a snazzy little website called Expatistan which helps you compare the cost of living between any two cities you plug in, food prices are 106% lower in Mazatlán than Denver. That percentage would be in keeping with the general rule that the cost of living is about half of what it is in the U.S. for a comparable lifestyle.
The price of staple foods in Mexico will always be lower. The Mexican government controls prices on items like eggs, chicken, flour, cooking oil, and some produce. These items might be a quarter of what they cost in the U.S.
When you look at your receipts, you easily see which items are price controlled if you know what they cost in the U.S. Those savings add up since these ingredients are the building blocks of cooking. To further save money, you quickly learn to avoid grabbing American brands out of habit, like Clorox for example, and stick with Mexican brands.
My food bill in Mexico runs about a $250 (dollars) every two weeks, including a few bottles of wine. The same bottles of white wine that usually run $12-15 in the U.S. run $7 to $8 in Mexico. Meat is a little more expensive, however you likely will eat less of it as it’s butchered and cooked differently in Mexico, and used more sparingly in Mexico cooking.
Pineapples and avocados are a good deal.
Supermarket chains versus open markets
Open air markets are the least expensive. In spite of these lower prices, I prefer shopping at bigger Mexican grocery stores.
While open air markets are fun places to mill around and pick up authentic Mexican ingredients like spices, special sugars and sweets, Markets are up to American standards on packaging and cleanliness,
In my opinion the produce quality is often inferior to that of larger grocery stores. You will har the opposite in accounts from some expats, especially when it comes to organic markets My guess is weather takes more of a toll in open markets in coastal areas like mine where certain produce can’t be kept cool as it can be in a grocery store.
Generally in Mexico you’ll need to go to more than one grocery store or alternate between a few to find everything on your list and work in an occasional trip to Walmart or Costco for special items. Inventories don’t run deep.
The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico cookbook minimizes the trips you’ll make by using the most common staple ingredients in its recipes with a few quick and easy forays into standard Mexican dishes such as pósoles and enchiladas modified a bit for American palates and healthier cooking.
Washing produce
In spite of all the dire warnings about washing produce in Mexico, in my five years living here part-time, I’ve never been sick in spite of my frequently cavalier attitude about washing every tomato and mango like it was radioactive.
Not that you shouldn’t do it, but forgetting to do so is not likely to make you sick if you buy from larger grocery stores such as Superama, Mega, Fresco, and La Comer, the largest Mexican chains.
The cut fruit that the vendors sell from carts is beautiful and often delicious. but these carts and fresh seafood is where my expats friends tend to pick up nasty intestinal disturbances. Americans have not built up a tolerance to certain types of bacteria (I myself avoid these disturbances by only snacking on things covered in chocolate).
Will your diet in Mexico be healthier?
As of 2021 Mexico require labeling on packaging on foods that are high and fat, sugar and calories. You’ll be surprised the “healthy” foods covered in these black labels, such as peanut butter, yogurt and frozen chicken.
If you are able to learn how to cook with local ingredients that take the nutritional place of healthy ingredients you're used to having at home that are not available in Mexico, you can develop a healthy, inexpensive diet. The Lazy Expat, with contributions from food blogger Fabiola Rodriguez Licona and Felix Gustavo is a great place to start.
Obesity in Mexico
The level of obesity in Mexico approaches that of the U.S. Many blame soft drinks. The soda tax rejected by New York City a few years ago was implemented here in Mexico to discourage consumption several years ago.
And Mexicans consume a lot of it. More Coca-Cola is sold in Mexico than any other country in the world, leading a pack of 728 countries. Step into line in any convenience store in Mexico early in the morning and you’ll see practically every construction worker in line with his 1.75- liter bottle of Coke.
I can't deny the soft drink's power when I’m here. Years ago, people told me the original recipe for Coca-cola called for cocaine. Given how good one tastes when in the middle of one of Mazatláns hot, humid summers, I'd be willing to believe it still does. At home, I never think of drinking it. In Mexico it’s irresistible.
In summary
As far as overall costs go, if you cook as Mexicans do, you can probably live on $300 a month for food as an individual. I've read the same figure in various forums and guides covering all parts of Mexico.
Unlike Mexico's sunsets, pace and spirit, food prices in Mexico may be hard to write a song about, but they are still something to sing about (with a little help from James Taylor)
"Oh, Mexico...prices so good that you just gotta go..."
Related Links:
What foods are driving up your grocery bill. - U.S.A. Today
About the author, Kerry Baker
I am a partner with Ventanas Mexico which provides insight and resources to people considering expat life in Mexico, including "If Only I Had a Place" on renting luxuriously in Mexico for less. Avoid the scams and savor the advantages of renting as a expat in Mexico.
My second book is “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico” your guidebook and game plan to establishing a mini-life in Mexico.