Posted by
hkmama111
18 yrs ago
How much are you spending each week on groceries? Where do you shop? We have 2 kids + 2 helpers so am trying to gauge if our spending is average or high. We spend about 2k a week, incl diapers. We shop at Welcome, Parknshop.
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Around 2000-3000 a week for 2 adults + 1 toddler + 1 baby. We mainly shop at Wellcome and aussieorganics.com. It's probably a bit high since we buy organic foods and such if possible. Also we don't drink the tap water or use it for cooking.
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We spend around $3K per week on groceries for 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 1 dog, no helper. That includes food, household cleaning stuff and some wine/beer.
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2-3K a week for your family sounds reasonable. You could probably get better deals at the traditional markets in Chinese neighborhoods. Have you tried Jusco in Taikoo Shing? It's a great place if you live in the eastern part of HK Island.
By the way, is HK tap water not safe?? Why is everyone buying bottled water? It's environmentally unsound, plus a lot seems to be bottled in China PRC - can it really be better than HK tap water that has been processed?
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Ed
18 yrs ago
http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2002/402_h2o.html
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Thanks, Ed. Do you have any references for safety of HK water in particular please? had 500 million hits when I googled.
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Ed
18 yrs ago
Sorry dont have. Its probably safe if you dip into the reservoir but the problem is the old pipes it courses through on the way to your tap....
Too bad we cant breath bottled air in HK - I might spend more time here
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Hi, I found some official info which may be of interest: http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/environment/water/drinkingwater.htm
But this can just be propaganda. Hmm... eating out all the time suddenly doesn't seem so great now...
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"2-3K a week for your family sounds reasonable. You could probably get better deals at the traditional markets in Chinese neighborhoods. Have you tried Jusco in Taikoo Shing? It's a great place if you live in the eastern part of HK Island."
Thanks for the tip, but I probably won't take you up on it. I may be a snob (ok I surely am) but:
- I have not really been impressed by the produce at the traditional markets I've seen.
- Many stalls are right next to busy streets. It's bad enough breathing the air without eating veggies coated with soot.
- What's with the meat hanging in the open without refrigeration? Yuck.
- Aussiorganics produce on average tastes amazing. My wife, the pickiest of picky people about ingredients, says the stuff tastes like it was picked in her parent's garden 5 minutes ago. And it's not really that much more costly than, say, going to Wellcome.
- I am not impressed with consumer safety when it comes to stuff produced on the mainland. Too many scandals, not enough safety consciousness. I'd rather get my stuff from somewhere else.
Also Taikoo is quite a hike from the South Side.
"By the way, is HK tap water not safe?? Why is everyone buying bottled water? It's environmentally unsound, plus a lot seems to be bottled in China PRC - can it really be better than HK tap water that has been processed?"
I have heard enough about dissolved metals in the water to stay away. Perhaps the water is very safe at the treatment plant, but then it goes through kilometers of dodgy pipe to my tap. Watson's Water doesn't. Maybe I'm paranoid but with small children I'd rather be safe than sorry. Mercury and lead are nasty things. In Connecticut and Sweden I was perfectly happy drinking the tap water (with a filter). Here I stay far away.
"Too bad we cant breath bottled air in HK - I might spend more time here"
Hear hear.
On a somewhat related note, my mother-in-law's dentist says 8 people have died from toothpaste (I'll withhold the brand name but it's one of the big international ones) made in China. Great....
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"(BTW if you think Welcome and Park etc, are much better than traditional markets, I think you are mistaken - you don't know what went on before the meat reaches the styrofoam plate/plastic wrapping.)"
I would tend to agree. ;) That's why aussieorganics.com is so great. It tastes freshly picked. My guess is that they go to the produce wholesalers on Thursday morning, pack during the day and ship on Thursday night. So the produce is at most 2-4 days old when I get it at my doorstep.
"The only consistent postition seems to be: switch to Evi*n. "
That's my wife's position. Our youngest daughter only gets stuff made with V*lv*c or Evi*n.
As for the Watson's Water, you may be right.
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"we drink every day at least one bottle of really good wine which ads up. lets say 350$ x 30 =10,500 already."
I was just saying the other day how my wife being pregnant or breastfeeding for 2½ years has really done wonders for the wine budget.
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Cara, we could join forces and drink together. ;) Your hubby and my wife could sit in a corner and not drink. We'll give them the kids for good measure.
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"Like what was discussed earlier regarding the air, which is doing you the most harm, seems a bit vain eating "organic " veggies when you're breathing in 42kgs per head of population of airborne particulate per year in a crowd density of 36,000 people per square km."
Not really "vain". We have air filters at home (which I just cleaned. The water was BLACK!). Also, while we can't change the air we can certainly change our food intake.
You have your habits, we'll have ours. ;)
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cd
18 yrs ago
To OP, it sounds OK. I spend $2,500 a week for 2 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 kids, a cat, plus a few extra kids friends each week, and 2 extra teenagers in the school holidays, plus a cat. 80% of my shopping is done in wellcome, a little bit in PNS and the bakery and butchers in Sai Kung. It goes up a little bit if if have a party.
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Ed
18 yrs ago
Sarcastic comments = ban (please refer to our rules)
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