Paramaribo - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Overall, prices are affordable on American standards, but have noticeably increased since the 2020 COVID pandemic hit Suriname. If you can shop like a local then you are sure to save lots of money! Embassy/diplomatic shipments typically arrive between one to two weeks. - Apr 2022
I've been very pleasantly surprised by the availability of groceries here. Choi's and Tulip have pretty much every imported good we could want. For fresh meat, we prefer to go to Rossignol butchers, and for fruits and veggies we go to local markets. Suriname has some of the most amazing tropical fruit. I love being able to stop for fresh coconuts, papaya, mangoes and pineapple on the way home from work. The cost for locally grown items is extremely cheap. Imported goods are reasonable, but it's generally much cheaper if you're willing to buy Dutch brands over American brands. - Feb 2020
You can get some American products. The general rule is 'if you see something you like, get it all!' The stores don't consistently stock the same items. Produce is hit or miss in availability and quality. You can get US toilet paper at a high cost or cheaper (quality/price) local toilet paper. US products are much more expensive, but some are available here. - Jun 2017
The customs mark up is 50% so groceries can be quite expensive depending on what you buy. Currently you can buy just about anything an average American household might want - May 2016
Very little is produced in Suriname so almost everything is imported. Shipping can be inconsistant so one week there is lots of a product and then you may not see it for a few weeks. Even local milk did this. I'm not sure if they switch and do 1% all one week then produce whole for a week and switch or what but there were weeks when there just wasn't any local 1% that we bought all the time at any of the stores. Most imported goods run 2-3x the cost of the namebrand item in the U.S. No real discount brands available, although many will sell the soon-to-expire items at a discount. I frequently bought stuff about to expire and froze it, although I can tell you cereal does get stale and expire and it's not worth it :) but frozen cookies on the other hand are a gold mine! - Dec 2014
We spent about 2-3x as much on these items as we spent in America. For a family of four with young children, I found we were spending around $800 USD/month on groceries. It was a consumables post when we arrived so we used a lot of our storage and tried to order things online when possible. - Jul 2014
A bit more than in the U.S. - Sep 2013
Everything is now available, but you will pay for some items from the US.Some Dutch brands are available at fair prices. Produce is hit or miss. - Nov 2010
Stuff imported from the states is pretty expensive, but there is really nothing you can't buy here. - Feb 2010
