Food Shopping in Mexico on a Budget

(First off, note we are posting two posts simultaneously. Also, pictures and the map are fully updated!)

Something we love about Mexico are all of the traditional markets. Many cities have a Mercado, and they´re an unbelievable array of food, crafts, and culture. The food is fresh and grown locally. You buy veggies direct from the grower. The chickens are killed early in the morning and brought to market that day, whereas the average chicken breast in a grocery store in the US was killed 3 weeks before you see it on the shelf.

Besides the freshness of the food, we also love the price! Since we are traveling on a small budget, we always try to find hostels with kitchens so we can cook ourselves. We love to shop at the market too, so to give you an idea of how we keep our costs down, here was our menu yesterday. All of our food except for breakfast was bought at the Mercado Principal in San Cristobal.

For the prices, we are using today´s exchange rate of $1 US to $12.2 Mexican Pesos. This is a particularly cheap group of meals (we do go out a bit sometimes), but we wanted to give you an idea of what is possible.

Breakfast – bread and pastries with jam, and 2 eggs each

Our hostel provides free bread with jam, pastries, and coffee - $0
4 Eggs bought at the Convenient Store - MX$5 (US $0.41)

Total for breakfast: MX $5 (US $0.41) which is US $0.20 per person


Lunch – Fruit Salad and fresh rolls with butter and jam

2 Rolls – MX $3 (US $0.25)
2 Mangos – MX $5 (US $0.41)
2 Banannas – MX $3 (US $0.25)
1 Piece of Pineapple – MX $2 (US $0.16)
Blackberrys – MX $10 (US $0.82)
1 Lime – MX $1 (US $0.08)

Total for Lunch: MX $24 (US $1.96) which is US $0.98 per person



Dinner – Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry over Rice

½ Bag of Rice – MX $2.5 (US $0.20)
1 Chicken Breast – MX $15 (US $1.23)
1 Head of Broccoli – MX $5 (US $0.41)
1 Carrot – MX $2 (US $0.16)
1 Jalapeno – MX $2 (US $0.16)
1 Piece of Pineapple – MX $3 (US $0.25)
1 Cucumber - MX $2 (US $0.16)
2 Small Onions - MX $3 (US $0.25)
Small amount of Soy Sauce – Negligible

Total for Dinner: MX $34.5 (US $2.83) which is US $1.41 per person. That is 3 meals for the day for a total of $2.59 US Dollars per person!


¡Buen Provecho!