Is Bulgaria REALLY cheaper than the UK?

[@FlatDerrick]

Economist here. Yes, Bulgaria is cheaper than the UK. Grocery prices are mostly an exception thanks to the vastly different approaches to agriculture and food retail in the two countries. This video exaggerates that by picking an extremely british based basket (cheddar, sliced white sandwich loaf, beans) topped off with fruits and vegetables that Bulgarians don't normally buy - especially not from supermarkets - because the country has such a large non farming agricultural sector.

[@Phiyedough]

Yes, I'm guessing that in Bulgaria a lot of people eat what is in season from the garden and in the winter they have stocks of preserved food like pickles.

[@emzfamily]

People in villages do but people in the cities live similar lives to people in most cities.

[@FlatDerrick]

@@emzfamily If that were true, there wouldn't be large amounts of gypsy women streethawking veg in Sofia.

[@emzfamily]

@@FlatDerrick there’s always people trying to make money on the streets. You see that in a lot of places.

[@FlatDerrick]

@@emzfamily There are, but in developed countries they don't usually influence supermarket veg prices.

[@Phiyedough]

I live in Croatia and get most of my groceries in Lidl. Most things mentioned are not items I buy but the prices in Bulgaria seem similar to those in Croatia. I virtually never buy beef here because it is at least twice the price of pork. The cheapest fresh meat here is a pack of 2 chicken leg quarters at €2.75/kg.

[@emzfamily]

yeah very similar to Croatia I think. We were in Zagreb earlier this year. Lovely city. We really enjoyed it there.

[@bellshooter]

At 9:00 you show what is clearly aged flatiron (similar to Ribeye) which in UK Lidl is £21.50-22.50 per kilo, so the same for similar products!

[@emzfamily]

Yeah more looking at the cheapest option in both countries rather than exact like for like. Cheapest steak available really.

[@gizemlikisi6213]

thank you for the video. could you compare other expenses such as rent, utilities, bills, and transportation too? also, I recommend you to use T market for grocery comparison since Lidl is bringing their products from abroad thus increasing the prices.

[@emzfamily]

I don’t know about rent as we don’t rent in either places plus it’s just too broad across the whole of the UK and Bulgaria to compare, same with house prices. London would be very high in the UK but smaller towns would be much cheaper. Sofia or a small Bulgarian town vs a rural village would also be very different. Utilities are generally cheaper in Bulgaria. It’s one of the lowest in the EU for energy prices. The UK is very high but is consistent and generally works all the time. In BG we constantly get charged for air instead of water because of useless management by the water company so that sort of offsets it a bit. I’ve seen quite a lot of Bulgarian produce in Lidl. I think Bulgaria produces a lot of things like mouthwash too which I’ve even seen in the UK from Bulgaria. Fruit and veg seems to be mainly from Bulgaria too except outside of non seasonal stuff and bananas etc. Meat is also from BG mainly like most countries. T Market doesn’t really seem much different to me either. A mix of products from Bulgaria and EU countries. Lidl and Kaufland are just way more conveniently located for us. I’ve also never been as impressed by quality in T market personally. Transportation is hard to compare too as the UK would have better overall transportation for trains etc but this can vary where you are. London is great of course but somewhere rural in the North East is going to be badly served. Buses/trains in BG will be cheaper of course but less connected than in the UK. I’m sure UK prices will be higher too for transport but it’s faster and better connected. Fuel prices are higher in UK too.

[@ourlittlefarminthedublinmo2359]

Hi Folks. Live your videos. We live in Lomtsi. Where in BG are you guys.

[@emzfamily]

Thanks very much. You’re not too far from us actually. We’re near to Opaka so other side of Popovo from you I guess.

[@writerlass5924]

Lidl in BG is not the equivalent of Tesco in UK! CBA stores or smaller grocery stores in towns are generally a lot cheaper than Lidl - only rich BGers and expats/foreigners shop in Lidl!!

[@emzfamily]

There must be a lot of rich people in BG as it always seems pretty busy to me with Bulgarians. Always found the quality to be lower in CBA. Not sure the prices were much different either to be honest. Tesco in the UK completes on price with Aldi which is generally considered the cheapest place to shop so I chose mainly Aldi price matched items to put that up against Lidl who we find to be generally the cheapest in BG that has good quality food.

[@writerlass5924]

@@emzfamily maybe it is area specific then - where I live in a small town near Varna, the Lidl is always quiet and is considered the pricey place to shop. The small CBA in the centre of town on the other hand is always busy and definitely cheaper - a more limited range of products perhaps but I haven’t had an issue with quality - so maybe it is a regional thing 🤷‍♀️

[@emzfamily]

@@writerlass5924 yeah could be quite regional. CBA isn’t as accessible either where we are.

[@andycale8831]

Why not compare lidl Bulgaria to lidl UK?

[@emzfamily]

Ideally we would but you can’t get prices easily online for Lidl. Maybe some items but not all. We took the view of comparing what we actually do ourselves. We shop in Tesco in the UK as they deliver but in Bulgaria we have to go to the shop so we go to Lidl. Tesco has lots of prices which match Aldi who are generally considered the cheapest in the UK so I think Tesco does compare well.

[@andycale8831]

@@emzfamily are you in Bulgaria?

[@emzfamily]

@@andycale8831 yes we are in Bulgaria.

[@andycale8831]

@@emzfamily and me 10 years now