price of perishable goods

Thanks for the info Jim!

Sorry but where does Australian anything sell for 12QAR/kilo - minimum is around 36QAR and if you're looking at premium beef (ribeye etc) more like 70QAR

I stock up on Aust/NZ lamb shanks when they go below QAR35/kilo

A 1200gr frozen chicken about 12 - 15QAR - a fresh one add on a few riyal

Your veg bill varies depending on where the veg comes from - it is quite cheap if grown in Saudi or Egypt but the quality is sometimes not so good. Lebanon veg are usually good and very reasonable. Anything that comes from Holland/Europe is usually very expensive and things like strawberries and tomatoes from there are generally tasteless (although I did get a nice tray of Dutch strawberries last week that were very nice despite costing an arm and a leg). Strawberries are also grown here in the GCC and MENA and are very reasonable in season.

I find fruit goes bad fairly quickly so I only buy what I'll use in a few days - evern bright green bananas seem to go directly to brown spotty icky in about 2 days.

Megamart (aka Megabucks) often has items you can't find elsewhere, but you pay for that. I like Giant and Family Food for Lebanese vegetables, chicken is pretty safe to get most places - good beef, that can be spotty, I buy at Carrefour, Megamart and Family Food. I've had good luck but others are pickier than I am.

Lulu is another popular hypermarket with a good variety of veg and an extensive meat counter - I just don't go there often because (a) it's inconvenient for me and (b) I hate shopping in a mob scene, and even on Friday mornings it gets really busy really fast.

And to ooooya - a 25 litre bottle of water in my home country is about 40 - 50 QAR - but then, we can drink water from the tap safely there (and it isn't scalding from the cold tap even in high summer).

Hello!

Thanks Jim that's very helpful info - thanks for taking the time to look that up!

Hi Jim Mc, I'd just like to say thank you so much for your effort and time spent in answering my request... You have no idea how much it means... Thank you. Regarding the social life matter, well lucky for me I never had much... and I heard there's nothing much to do there either. So I guess I'm good in that area.

Hi syediz1 - I have just raided the wife's purse and found a receipt from a few months back but it may help :

QR 12 for 1kg of Australian beef

QR 21 for 4 fresh chicken breasts. ( I think whole chickens are cheaper but tend to be very small)

QR 22 for 18 eggs

QR 9 for a 800g sliced bread

QR 12 for 500g spreadable butter

Potatoes, carrots and onions all look fairly cheap although I don't know the weights on this bill! I do know that bananas are really cheap though.

Carrefour also have their own brand of products which are usually cheaper if you cn tolerate the taste... However I recommend their broccoli soup!

Not sure about rice as we tend to buy small packets but I see a good variety in big sacks that would last me a lifetime!

I note from your last post that you will be earning a salary of 5k/ month. In my opinion you won't have much left if you are looking for a bit of a social life but good luck anyhow.

whoever you are, is it wrong for me to obtain information before hand? I didn't ask you to go and look every single item up for me personally. if you have nothing useful to contribute, then just leave my topic alone. there is a saying, if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all and in your case "type"... furthermore, I went through your profile and allow me to quote something that you wrote, "I love to help and support the needy as much as i can". I'm guessing this does not include people who needs information to plan as failing to plan means you plan to fail... and as a token of no hard feelings, allow me to support you in your need of a spelling correction. the word COLLECT is spelled with the letter 'O' and not an 'A'. and please don't say it was a typo as the letters are located on opposite sides of the keyboard.

Well i think this is too much , if you were to go so much into detail i wish you go to all popular Grocssary stores and collect them . It is a pity that people callect such details before they plan to shift to doha. I am sure this person will have a shock when he knows he has to pay 8QR for a big can of water. Better stay away and be happy where you are