Making or spending money
It’s really no joke to say that Norway is expensive.
Shopping is a conflicted mission.
For more than a year I have been choosing to buy almost all my groceries organic or fair trade and because I worked in a supermarket as the fruit and vegetable manager I also tried as much as possible to support that movement by reasonable price setting and favorable marketing of those products.
First, let me explain to you why Swedes go to Norway to work.
The upside – the salaries are higher which means you can work less time and earn money quickly. The taxes in Norway are lower than in Sweden. Again, a better income.
The down side – everything is more expensive.
This means, that if you’d live like you normally do you’d end up spending all your money on food, transport and other activities and your whole reason to come to Norway would be lost.
Therefore when the organic eggs costs more than twice as much as the other eggs, and eggs being your primary source of proteins and something you eat a lot of, you’re hoping the hens didn’t have to suffer in small cages and that the transport between the farm and the store wasn’t too long and the fact that you ride a bike to work and compost as much as possible, make up for it.
One onion costs as much as 1 kilo would cost in Sweden.
Potatoes cost four times as much.
Not even the salmon, which you’d think they have a lot of, is cheap.
If anyone has any good advice on cheap cooking, that doesn’t include imported tuna or tasteless tomatoes sauce, please let me know.
OJ, att det var dyrt visste jag… men inte SÅ dyrt! Helt sjukt ju! Förstår att det är jobbigt för dig.. vet ju hur noga du är med kvalité och bra råvaror. Men nu ska du väl inte stanna så länge till i Norge om jag förstår dig rätt? 1 augusti skrev du.. vart bär det av sedan? Hem till glada Hudik? 🙂 Ser helt fantastiskt vackert ut där uppe men är du inte lycklig så är det klart att du ska “move on”. Nu har du ju provat iaf! Hoppas att du kommer förbi här på din Road-trip, hade varit jättekul att ses!! STOR KRAM
Japp, du vet hur jag är! 🙂 Jag har tänkt komma förbi er ja! 🙂 Måste ju träffa lillkillen medans han är liten! 🙂 Vi hörs om det! Stor kram tillbaks!
It is amazing the difference in prices. One wants to do the right thing while at the same time one has to be aware of their finances. It is a modern day conundrum.
Yes, its tricky – or as tricky as we make it. I guess it has to with what we are accustomed to. Its always a little difficult to adapt to new patterns. It has been challenging to live here but maybe the extra that I have paid on groceries in stores, has influenced my creativeness when cooking (using stems of broccoli and cauliflower, beans, stock and wild herbs)
Its an interesting discussion though, the one about what is best for nature (including ourselves) vs our wallets (coins and notes).