Luanda - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Groceries can be expensive if you're buying anything imported but generally they are not as high as we expected. You can get most things here but it may require trips to multiple shops and often things will disappear completely for periods of time. - May 2021
You can find cheap goods as long as your willing to go to four or five different places. You can find almost anything you want, maybe not the brand you are used to but an equivalent. - Jun 2019
I spend less here on groceries and supplies using the unofficial exchange rate. Sometimes you need to go to several grocery stores to find what you need, but there is good quality and lots of choice. - Mar 2017
Potatoes are currently out all over the country. There are regular rations on sugar, flour, and milk. It is not unusual to find you must go to several grocery stores to put together a meal, even of solely local food. All imports are expensive when you can find them. - Apr 2016
Availability has improved since I arrived but has now gotten worse due to import restrictions. Costs vary widely. Seasonal tropical items aren't bad, but if really want broccoli on the wrong day you can pay US$11+. Strawberries can be US$10 for 10 berries. Cheese and ice cream are pricey. Fish is surprisingly expensive and poor quality. Bread, milk and staples are relatively reasonable. Overall, we get one of the highest COLAs in the world so it is fine. - Mar 2015
This has improved greatly with several larger grocery stories opening as well as South African chains. There is a smaller grocery store near the Embassy that people use and there are individuals who resell fruits and vegetables on the street. When buying local produce that is in season, the quality is good and prices reasonable _ this would be pineapples, bananas, mangos, lettuce, avocados, onions, peppers tomatoes. Meat is very expensive, nearly all is imported and quality is hit and miss -- much of it is covered in freezer burn. Again one of the bizarre situations is if you want to buy local shrimp, it is very expensive; but a pound of shrimp imported from Mozambique is much less and will cost about US$15 per pound. American products cost about 30% more. Wine is very cheap from South Africa and Portugal and hard booze is cheap too - no tax. The U.S. Embassy has a pouch and Amazon is a lifesaver. Advice would be to pack as much liquids and cleaning products in your HHE and use Amazon for everything else. - Aug 2014
There are several decent grocery chains with products mostly from South Africa and/or Portugual. They may not have American brands, but the availability of basics is ok. Prices are high, which is why the USG staff get a 50% COLA. There are not as many dairy products here as in the US or Europe. You can get one or two kinds of Portuguese cheese (and it is pricey) but we miss a little more variety in that area. Ice cream is expensive and not great-- often thawed and refrozen due to power issues. - Jul 2013
Terrible quality, very expensive. Ship everything you can. - Apr 2013
fresh vegetables are often difficult to get, most grocery items are imported, which makes everything very expensive and difficult to get - Aug 2011
Some products are available, but they are of low quality and are very, very, expensive (2-3 times what those products would cost in the States). - Aug 2011
High costs but you can find most anything (ex. Cauliflower=US$35). - Apr 2009
