Bishkek - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Most things are available, although sometimes sporadically. If you see something you like, just buy all of it because it might never return. Fresh fruits and vegetable much better in the markets than the stores. Everything is fairly cheap. - Jun 2022
For a small city that is far from the big cities of Europe and Asia, Bishkek has a surprisingly good selection of supplies. The brands are different (Russian, Turkish, Chinese), but the quality of most things are good. Western dairy products are about the only thing that is really hard to find, and expensive when you do. Fruit and veggies cost next to nothing in season, and are some of the tastiest you will ever try. - Aug 2018
Cheap for produce, slightly cheaper for meats, a bit hard to find a few things, but almost everything available at good grocery stores. - Sep 2017
In the summer veggies are DIRT CHEAP. Everyone buys strawberries and freezes them for the winter. Winter prices go up quite a bit. Prices may compare to the States in the winter. You will never see a sweet potato, and the mangoes and avocados are worthless- but you can find everything else here. Obviously, peanut butter and other products are harder to find, but definitely not impossible. There are specialty stores that carry western products. - Jan 2015
There are a wide range of groceries available and I rarely felt limited there but I wasn't looking for certain brands and got very comfortable with substitutes and making almost everything myself. Everything is cheap if you stick with local products. - May 2014
Two supermarket chains (Narodny and Beta) sell mostly Kyrgyz, Russian and Turkish groceries. There are specialised Korean and Chinese groceries. Clean and well-organised markets around the city sell fresh produce. Prices range from good value to dirt-cheap. Chinese and Turkish clothing and footwear are easily available. - Dec 2011
