How much does food cost in Corozal?
Jennifer Bellerjeau - Cerros Beach Resort
The average shopping trip that we make for ourselves in Corozal cost about BZ $200 a week, or US $100. The prices of things like flour are very low. As long as you buy local products, your shopping bill will be very low. If you buy imported items, however, it can get a bit expensive. For example, a bottle of imported wine could cost between US $45 to $90. Imported beers are at a pretty good price right now but there isn’t a large selection. Local...
The average shopping trip that we make for ourselves in Corozal cost about BZ $200 a week, or US $100. The prices of things like flour are very low. As long as you buy local products, your shopping bill will be very low. If you buy imported items, however, it can get a bit expensive. For example, a bottle of imported wine could cost between US $45 to $90. Imported beers are at a pretty good price right now but there isn’t a large selection. Local beers are very cheap.
Currently, price of beer is BZ $3.50 or US $1.75 for Belikin, which is a domestic beer. If you want to buy a Heineken, you will pay around BZ $5 or US $2.50, which is the average price for an imported beer. Red Strike costs around BZ $5 or US $2.50.
Meat is very cheap. The quality of meat is not a good grade right now but we’re hoping to get more imports brought in and we noticed that the meat quality is getting better as time goes by. When I first arrived in Belize, you could barely even get a steak, but now, they’re all over the place. We have Brahman meat, so the cows here are not fat cows like the ones you would expect in the US. Brahman beef is very lean. It tastes good but it is not tender.
Within the last 2 years, Belize joined the Caracol Nations, which is a group of Caribbean nations that have a trade agreement between each other, so we are now getting imported beers from Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and a couple of other places at pretty reasonable prices. You can get one of those beers for around Belize $4 or US $2 each so the price is almost equivalent to local beers. Restaurants and supermarkets sell beers at around the same price but it could be cheaper if you buy in bulk.
When you go to the market, you can buy a flat of eggs, which is thirty eggs. The cost varies depending on the season and how the season is going for the Mennonites, who raise the chickens, but usually a flat of eggs is BZ $6 to $9 or US $3 to $4.50. I have only seen the price of eggs go up to BZ $9 or US $4.50 when there is a shortage of the food supply for the chickens on account of the growers having a bad season. If you went to the market and bought egg, toast, and bacon to cook it at home, it would cost around 25 US cents per breakfast. If you go to a restaurant, you’re going to pay Belize $3.50 or US $1.75 for a breakfast.
A loaf of domestically produced bread is BZ $2.25 or US $1.13. You will not find any imported bread products here. However, each town you go to here in Belize has three or four bakeries in it so everything is very fresh. You can buy straight from the bakery itself at BZ $2 or US $1 a loaf of bread. We have some very good pastries here, too.
If you want vegetables, you can go to the market and buy tomatoes for around BZ $2 or US $1 a pound. Onions are BZ $1.25 or 63 US cents a pound. Pepper is around BZ $3 or US $1.50 a pound. Melons, pineapple, and cantaloupe range around BZ $2 or US $1 each. Mangoes run about BZ $1 or US 50 cents each at the market. When they are in good growing season and there is an abundance of mangoes and oranges, you can get really good bargains. You will pay around BZ 25 shillings, or around 13 US cents for one mango. Imported juices could be a bit expensive. The cost for a gallon of orange juice is about BZ $5.95 or around US $3.
(Chicken meal, Belize, pictured.)
Posted September 24, 2016
Stephen Honeybill - The Crimson Orchid Inn
Food costs in Corozal are all fairly low, excluding products that have been brought in from non- CARICOM (trading block that includes Belize) countries. For instance, there is an Indian shop here in Corozal I frequent that has a lot of American products. I need to go there sometimes whenever I’m searching for a certain product that I haven’t been able to find...Food costs in Corozal are all fairly low, excluding products that have been brought in from non- CARICOM (trading block that includes Belize) countries. For instance, there is an Indian shop here in Corozal I frequent that has a lot of American products. I need to go there sometimes whenever I’m searching for a certain product that I haven’t been able to find locally, or find a similar locally made product at a lower price. These products are generally 15% more expensive here in Corozal than if I bought them in the States. There are many “Chinos” (Chinese stores) throughout Corozal that will offer you everything, soup to nuts. The quality of some of the items in these Chinos is not as good as you may want, but you have the option to go to the Indian store in Corozal instead.
I love going to the butcher. In Corozal, Frank’s is my choice of butcher. Frank’s has everything that you can imagine. The meats in Belize are cut up differently, so when you order, you have to tell them how you want your meat cut to make sure that it meets your needs. Otherwise, they’ll have some pre-packaged stuff which you can also buy.
Bacon in Belize is to die for. It may be because the way the pork is raised makes it end up being extremely flavorful and tender. Sometimes it may have a little more fat than I would normally like, but the flavor always comes through.
Chicken products in Belize are exceptional. Poultry in Belize aren’t intensely farmed in the way they are up in those big factory farms in the United States. The Mennonites raise the chickens in Belize, and they do a great job with it.
It’s strange how when you go to the butcher, they also have a phenomenal stock of fish and shrimp. It doesn’t make any sense, but you’ll get to understand why that is after you’ve been to other stores where you’ll see for example a store that sells auto parts along with fresh orange juice.
It’s counter-intuitive to go to the auto parts store to buy your orange juice, but it works. It’s incredible. You can go to the hardware store and if it’s Chinese, they will have much more than hardware. You go in the Chinos and think of anything wild and wacky, and they probably sell it. It might take the Chinese people a little while to climb over all of the goods they’ve got stacked up in there, but there are generally two or three people working in the store who know exactly where what you want is located. They’re very good about climbing over the big piles and finding what you’re looking for. You just go in and say, “I want (this).”
(Mennonite children, Corozal, Belize, pictured.)
Posted March 16, 2017