SPECIAL EDITION #2: You Gotta Be Kidding!

Just a quickie post as I start wrapping up my trip. Today was my last full day, and I need to post Day 7 and Day 8 (today).  Tomorrow will be a short day before I catch my plane, and I plan to take a few photos around Reykjavik.  Then I will likely make make one final post after I get home and process my adventure.  Give me some time on that one!

In the meantime, I thought you'd be interested about what things cost in Iceland.  While I cannot speak to every consumer good, I do have an idea of the cost of food and gas since I have of course been buying these.  In a word: EXPENSIVE!  Also, while I didn't buy any here, beer, wine and alcohol is also expensive based on what I have read on line (I did however buy some single malt scotch in the duty free store after I landed, and the prices for that were pretty reasonable).  Consequently, I have to believe that most everything here in Iceland is expensive.

I think the primary reason for the cost of goods is the simple fact that Iceland is an island, and a relatively small one at that.  The climate is harsh and much of the land is not arable anyway, so agriculture is not very big here (there are LOTS of sheep, but I don't know if this is for meat production or just wool, but in either case, lamb meat is expensive as well).  And, I didn't see much industry to speak of, though I'm guessing there is some light to medium industry around Reykjavik in particular.  Of course, fishing is big, but man cannot live on fish alone!  As a result, most everything must be shipped or flown in.  How do Icelanders afford things?  I have no idea, and I will leave that to you to figure out.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you a few examples.  First, gas.  The campervan I have runs on diesel, which right now costs about 200 Krona per liter.  100 Krona is equivalent to about $0.94, and a liter is slightly more than a quart.  So doing the math, this means diesel is going for a whopping $7.83 per gallon!!!!  Fortunately, I think I've been getting pretty good mileage, but that price is still insane!

Now food.  Food prices are crazy too.  While some items, such as pasta, rice, bread, some condiments, etc. are not too bad, meats, fruits and vegetables are outlandishly expensive, especially when fresh.  But even canned and frozen vegetables can be costly, for example.  Following are some examples in pictures (and these are from what is considered a "discount" grocery chain in Iceland called Bonus, which has a pig in their logo!).   To figure the cost in USD, keep the math simple and just divide by 100.

Boneless/skinless chicken...that's crazy!

Pork chops.  Better than chicken!

Icelanders LOVE hot dogs.  I don't know what why, but you will see many different brands and varieties, and you can buy cooked hot dogs everywhere, including gas stations.  Cost is pretty reasonable, which may be why they love them!

I thought cheese would be cheaper, and to be sure you can find some less expensive brands/types, but I found this pretty surprising.

Quite a bit more than we pay for yogurt, but I could live with this price.  Skyr is a very popular brand, and it is very good.

Ground beef, perhaps a couple pounds or so.  Nuts!  (Yes, expect for plain ol' salted peanuts, nuts are very costly too)

Icelanders like their dried fish, usually Haddock, and there are many different varieties, usually pretty expensive.  I bought a cheaper and smaller package just to try it.  It wasn't too bad, but then again I like some weird things.  The fish is thinly sliced and air-dried, so I suppose this would make it fish jerky.  A better analogy, though, might be pork rinds since they are crunchy.  Fish rinds?  Nah, I like fish jerky better.  Burps after eating this stuff is pretty interesting, however.

I can't imagine Icelanders eat many salads with this price (or perhaps they are really small salads).

Can you believe this one?  The only produce that I found halfway reasonable cost-wise was carrots, so I ate a lot of these.

Now that's just not right.  By the way, I saw quite a few American brands here.

Another American brand.

Even canned veggies are costly.  I was craving mushrooms one day and bought a can that cost over $2.  $2 for fungus!

Not too bad

Cereal.  Also, notice the door on the right.  That's a walk-in cooler.  They have all the refrigerated items, such as milk, yogurt, meat, cheese, fresh produce, etc. in these kind of coolers.  Pretty neat idea, and it may be more energy efficient.