N'djamena - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Imported goods are available at large expat-friendly grocery stores like Modern Market and AG, but they are more expensive than at home. - Feb 2023
You can find a lot of staples, and if the Air France flights are running, you can usually find some frozen good and fresh fruit and veg in the supermarket. The cost for imported food is significantly higher than in the US (20 USD for a pint of cherries), and tends to be higher for frozen/fresh food that has been imported as opposed to shelf stable food. There are also vegetable markets that sell a decent variety of vegetables. You will need to bleach, bake, or peel produce that is not imported. Toilet paper is available, but not great quality or cost. The quality of dish detergent and laundry detergent isn't great, but it is usable in a pinch. - Aug 2020
You can buy anything you need but the brand selection will be very limited; the quality is low and the prices are astronomical. - Apr 2014
A liter of UHT milk will run you about 5 dollars. Two slices of ham lunch meat, also 5 dollars. A decent bottle of wine $10-15. The local soap and laundry detergent is made with very harsh chemicals that will tear your clothes to pieces in a few months. This is a consumables post. Use every ounce of your allowance or you will go broke quickly at the local stores. Even fruits and vegatables are expensive. Don't try and buy them yourself, Western prices are always more than Chadian prices. Most people augment their supplies with Metgrocer or the occasional order from Sam Traxx in South Africa. Everything is expensive here because it has to be flown in or driven overland from Cameroon. Customs corruption causes that overhead to go up even more. - Nov 2006
