Will UK join the EURO currency?? what do you all think?

I was averaging out London...not talking about Zone 1 / posher bits of zone 2!  In some parts of London you can't get a garage for £200k!!!

Vicky

I think once you actually get to the UK, you will learn what you like and where to get it at the best prices.  It's really difficult to gauge how much your grocery bill will actually be until you are there.  In the US I tend to shop at one place only and buy things in large quantities....one-stop-shopping is the name of the game.  In the UK, I might buy some things at Sainsburys, some at Asda, some at Lidl, some at small local markets/bakeries/butchers/etc.  I didn't find the cost of day-to-day food items prohibitive, although having said that perhaps I have simple tastes...

Also remember that initially your grocery bill may be higher as you stock your pantry w/staples.  Once that's done, your bill should go down.

I can't help with any of this...I think that milk is the only thing on that list I ever buy from a supermarket!  I don't buy/eat meat, I don't have kids, and I get fruit and veg from the greengrocers or a market.  I do think that you need to realise that with lots of that stuff you don't know the quantities either.  For examply, the milk I would imagine is the price of 4 pints/two litres.  How big is the chicken or the gujons?  You simply can't tell if you are getting value for money by looking at this.

Vicky

I believe that people in Uk are making half salary compared to USA and paying double for everything.

That's way, way out.

Every thing is possible.
for longtime I have this idea of creating a database to collecting daily grocery shopping and recommend to consumer a cheap place to buy from on daily basic.

Example
You login to  this website and create a sample Grocery Shopping list and compare the price from different store in your area. On that day, you go buy it knowing in advance their prices. So I give the power more to consumer by monitoring daily prices for every supermarket in UK. after you come back to website and enter
the prices. After a while, we will have a huge database of grocery power by the people for the people.

What do you think ?
Does this idea exist already on the market? how about doing togother , we may become rich ..


kal


 

What I was getting at is that you may not discover what you really like until you are there.  For example, diet Coke in the US does NOT taste like diet Coke in the UK.  You might find that you don't like it and therefore no longer want to add diet Coke to your shopping list once you're actually there.  Also, you may find a local bakery that has wonderful bread that you love for 45p vs a big store brand for 59p.  You may prefer to buy your chicken and/or veg from a local farmers market, and prices are going to vary.  I did use Sainsburys online for an initial grocery shop upon my arrival in Edinburgh so that I wouldn't have to lug groceries home on the bus, but I might not choose to shop there ALL the time depending upon what's on sale and what I like.

Your idea for a website does sound intriguing.  Are you thinking kind of like the webcrawlers for travel (qixo.com, kayak.com, etc.)?

<Sorry for the hijack, everyone...>

This database will take some considerable work not only to get prices from all the various supermarkets in the various areas but also to keep up with daily and weekly specials that sometimes each individual store will have.  In fact, I often see an assistant with their reduced sticker gun putting reduced stickers on all kinds of items.  How far in advance do they decide these things and how would you get real-time updates of these?

I tend to echo some of the sentiments others have said about comparisons between US and UK foods.  Someone mentioned that Coke in the US is different from Coke in the UK - that is true, for example in the US they'll use corn syrup but in places like the UK and Canada I think they use real sugar.  I don't know about the diet version but there could be differences.  Also, when I moved to the UK I seemed to notice a much bigger effort towards high quality, free range, organic and local foods.  Supermarkets state what country or even which county food comes from.  Free range, organic eggs are all over the place (can you even buy battery eggs in the UK?).  When I left the US organic, free range type foods had a very small market.  I've noticed in recent visits they seem to be scaling this up somewhat but nowhere near UK levels.

There are a LOT of foods in the US which are processed and I really notice the taste difference.  That's not to say there isn't processed food in the UK but we often found ourselves going to Fresh Fields/Whole Foods and places like that in the US to get good quality stuff.
The prices between those and UK prices were equivalent if not more expensive.

In regards to mark-downs, yesterday we picked up a pint sized bottle of nice, freshly squeezed still lemonaid for £0.45.  You can get all kinds of cakes and things for £0.10 on clearance.  You can go to a farm shop and do pick-your-own veggies and they can be pretty inexpensive.
I think ultimately it will come down to what you want to buy and eat.  If you wanted to get florida oranges, well, yes they're going to be more expensive than if you lived in the States.

The coca cola I am drinking this very minute says 'sugar' on the label.

NB. I am only drinking it because it came free with a pizza I ordered last week.

Vicky

Someone mentioned that Coke in the US is different from Coke in the UK - that is true, for example in the US they'll use corn syrup but in places like the UK and Canada I think they use real sugar.  I don't know about the diet version but there could be differences. 

As a diet Coke addict, I can attest to the fact that there is a difference in taste depending on whether you're in the US or the UK.  I think it probably has to do w/the artificial sweeteners, but haven't actually compared the ingredients so can't say for sure...

From my local Tesco supermarket:

Fresh pasteurized milk, 1 Imp. qt., 53p
Mild white cheddar cheese, £1.52 per lb.
"Stayfresh" wholemeal bread, 28 oz. loaf, 48p.  
(Cheapest own label sliced bread about 28p., fresh baked loaves around 60 to 70p).
Own-label butter, 8.8oz., 58p.

Hi,

For the original subject of the post - The UK isn't about to join the Euro in the near future. The feeling amongst the voters is that we don't want to be 'over controlled' by the central EU government, and also that we don't want to give up the Pound Sterling as currency just yet! One of my best friends who lived in Amsterdam for 9 years supports the 'convenience' of the Euro, i.e you can travel from country to country using the same currency very easily indeed, no need to 'covert' as you see the price there in Euro's. As many UK Amercans like travelling, seeing as European destinations are much closer, I'd have thought a proportion would be in favour of having this convenience. Maybe once the currency settles more (I think the Euro is worth more than the US Dollar), various Euopean economies stabilise and theres more of a better feeling about it, the UK 'might' consider joining !

For MyOracleDBA & the latest 'pricing' comparison posts, remember you must research more 'avenues' of prices. Of course, online the many big stores can provide some insight. The golden rule is to compare 'like for like'. 'Comparing' prices is something which will always be done, and once you realise there's other places to buy from and usually cheaper it can make a 'substantial' and 'proportionate' difference.

If you decide ot live in a large urban multi cultural area, shopping at some of the ethnic stores can present good savings. That's what we do, do alot of 'main' shopping at tesco, and for other items, me mum nips down the road to the Indian shops.
If you're lucky enough to be able to shop at Costco or Makro and places like that, stocking up a little bit can present savings too. Being a 'keen' shopper and looking out for the 'buy one get one free' or 3 for 2' type offers is also a great way to get more.

These are all of course a little more difficult to do when you're not here but you get the idea.

As for your figures - well you're right, the average UK salary across all industries is a touch over £23K. that in current USD values is $47K (£1 = $1.86). The Average US salary across all industries is around $36K. Pricing of products/services between the two varies in ratio, some things are indeed twice the price here and other's are almost the same price. Overall though, there's no doubt that the USA enjoys some of the best pricing of products in comparison to UK and many other countries, it's just to get 'maximum value for money' here you have to hunt around/search out/be clever. In the US, you don't have to do that 'as much' seeing as pricing is 'good' in terms of income levels.

As for your idea - I think not many people are going to see they can save '15 p on an item'  if it means crossing town to 'joe bloggs' market or shop in order to get the item. I'm being slightly presumptous in this as I don't beleive there's 'that' much variance in grocery prices locally and to some extent nationally. e.g If a loaf of bread costs 65p around here in slough/windsor/maidenhead I can't see that same loaf costing 50p say in Newbury, swindon or reading, it'll probably be 63p or something. maybe in certain areas that loaf may be 55p or something but it'll probably be way too far away or in a shop the other side of town which doesn't have other items you want.

MattJ74 - you bring up a VERY interesting comment - You as an American have noticed an emphasis on organic, free range etc etc, and that it impacts taste. maybe you already know this, but hop over into Europe and there the food is MUCH better than what we have in the UK. I personally only have 'limited' experience as i've only really ever had food in Holland and Germany, but what I did have certainly shows up the 'general 'blandness'  of UK food. In fact I can still taste the meals I had in certain restaurants compared to here and home cooking was just so much more delicious! Although the UK has upped it's 'taste' bud preferences in recent years, it's nowhere near the same as on the continent !

I'll shutup now...
Dennis! West London & Slough UK!