Guangzhou - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Western groceries are very available. You can find almost anything here at western grocery stores or via online shipping. Cost is 1.5-2x the prices in the US. Local Chinese groceries are very cheap. Anything is deliverable for a very, very small fee. - Apr 2023
Imported items are quite expensive. A lot of produce is imported as well, meats are imported. It can be more challenging to find the cuts of meat that you are familiar with in the western world. Local wet markets are much better priced for fruits, veggies and meats. - Aug 2021
You want imported western items, be prepared to pay. For example, eight ounces of cheddar cheese is north of 10 USD. However, local produce at wet markets is plentiful and cheap. - May 2019
You pay more if you want to have a little security in what you buy, for imported items. It's usually cheaper to eat out. Put out some effort and you can get good fruit and veggies at wet markets. Those are pretty affordable. - Nov 2018
There are small stores in most of the family housing complexes. People use Amazon Prime Pantry to get other things they can't find. Prices are high. You have to buy imported meat, chicken, and milk, so be prepared to pay $10/lb for hamburger. There is a Costco-style supermarket where you can get some good deals. - Nov 2015
You can get just about anything if you're willing to pay. Cheese is expensive, as are Western cereals. There are a number of foreign food shops locally, and more down in Hong Kong, but it doesn't always come cheap. Some specific brands or specialty items had to be ordered via Amazon. Soda options were pretty much limited to Coke, Coke Zero or 7-Up. - Aug 2014
Ridiculously cheap---as long as you don't mind the cadmium, lead, fake labels, etc. - May 2013
Anything organic or imported is quite expensive. You can find organic vegetables at most major grocery stores but not many organic fruits. Groceries can either be really cheap or as expensive as what you'd pay in the US, depending on where you shop and how much you choose local over imported. In China, 'shopping local' isn't as desirable as in the US, given the country's food safety issues. - Apr 2013
It depends what you are buying. Local produce and products are extremely inexpensive. Dairy products like milk, cheese, and butter are very expensive, but widely available. - Jan 2013
Most things are available but will mostly be Chinese with all the writing in Chinese. For example it is extremely hard to differentiate between dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. both come in clear bags with Chinese writing. Prices are low for most cleaning supplies but do not expect great quality. - Oct 2011
If you buy local goods, they're dirt cheap. But then you can't be totally sure that they're not full of dirt or made of colored dirt; quality control is a major issue. Imported goods cost about double what you'd pay in the U.S., but there are at least half a dozen stores that sell these so you can almost always find what you're looking for. - May 2011
Expensive, unless you go native. Food safety is a legitimate, serious concern in China, so most of us drink imported milk, eat imported meats, yogurt, cheese, etc. If you buy the same stuff that you buy in the U.S., you will pay 5X the price. A box of cereal is $6 - 10 USD per box, small boxes of milk are 3 USD, etc. We have one store that approximates a version of WalMart, but it's expensive and has limited selections. There are big grocery chains here; people who brave these stores know to avoid saturdays and sundays when it's literally an ocean of people. - Jul 2009
Almost everything is available. Prices for Chinese brands are slightly cheaper than U.S. prices. Western brands are more expensive, but it's all affordable. - Jan 2009
