The Cost of Living in Tarawa

These scouring pads made me laugh!!! Read the bottom.

We thought we would devote this post to the cost of living here in Tarawa. Now remember when I give dollar amounts that it is in Australian dollars.

We have been able to find most staples such as flour, rice, sugar, salt, pepper, oatmeal, butter, milk, cooking oil, canned vegetables, canned fruit (peaches, mangos and pineapple), fresh eggs each week, hamburger, chicken, pork, bacon (in fact their bacon is excellent since they include the loin as part of the cut of bacon), and a few resturants that serve decent entrees. Bread is sold on the street so I just make bread every week for Susan and I. Still trying to figure out the oven as it cooks weird. I'll get the hang of it eventually. I have found some decent ice cream but it is a bit pricey. They do have soft drinks but the only major brand is Coca Cola which is fine for us but it too is a bit pricey. Then from time to time you find oddball stuff like french fries, hashbrowns(There are no whole potatoes on the Island and none imported), flour tortillas, etc. . When you find that stuff and you want it then buy it because it may not be around again for quite some time. An example is canned tuna in water brine that Susan likes. When we first got here she found some and bought 4 cans. There was more available but she figured it would be there. There is none to be found now and they don't know if they will get any more. I was happy to find flour tortillas but there was no cheddar cheese to be found. We did find some mozzarella cheese. Not that good for cheese crisps

The lobster man came by the school on Friday so I bought 2 medium size from him. We had them for dinner tonight along with some fried breadfruit. They are spiney lobsters, not as big as Maine Lobsters but they are still a decent size. Brother Suri still brings us breadfruit and coconuts weekly. The breadfruit we use in place of potatoes, they are quite good. We drink the coconut water and scrape the coconut for baking.

We have a cherry tomato plant growing in a pot on our front porch along with a leaf lettuce plant, a squash plant, and a spinach plant. So this little garden gives us a few greens. Breakfast foods are usually either eggs and hashbrowns, eggs and toast, oatmeal, or a breakfast cereal like Sanitarium Corn Flakes, or granola.
Dinner varies some. Since we have hamburger meat then we make most things that you would use hamburger for. We make instead of a BLT we make a BS sandwich, bacon spinach. If we get enough cherry tomatoes then maybe on one occasion we can have a BLT. The leaf lettuce I don't care for much.
OK now for some costs. We pay $690 a month for our apartment which includes water, electricity. There is no TV on the island so no need for that.
The average cost of a meal when we go out to eat is about $10 each. Some of the resturants have a nice ambience and others just good food.

Here is a break down of some of the food prices;
Bacon is $22 a pound
Hamburger is $7 a pound
Butter is $8 a pound
Milk is $5 a liter
24 pack of Coca Cola is $25 these are the tall skinny cans 12 oz
1/2 gallon of Strawberry icecream was $16.30
1gallon on Vanilla icecream was $23
1 large jar of  Mustard $18
1 small whole chicken $13
1 can of spam $12
1 can of corn $3
1 box of Kleenex was $5
1 small jar of honey $10
1 ham roast $32
1 small bag of Doritos $5
1 bag of mozzarella cheese $31.50

So as you can see this is why most families subsist on what grows locally and what they can catch out of the ocean. Rice and flour are fairly cheap so they can buy those items. Things are getting a little better as each year goes by. Susan and I are very careful since we are on a tight budget. Plus we just don't need a lot. We enjoy eating the local foods like breadfruit which helps with our budget. And when we do eat out it is not that expensive. We bake a few goodies from time to time. Today Susan baked some Petits Pains Aux Raisins, a French Pastery. She got the recipie from her Dad. It was a favorite of his when he and his wife served a mission in France.

Of  course when Susan was done cooking these treats she was done for the evening and just wanted to relax.