Thursday, October 10, 2013

What's 100 rubles worth? (the price of money part 2)

There's an old saying from Soviet times,
"don't have 100 rubles, have 100 friends"
based on the truth that money couldn't buy you what you needed, but enough well-placed connections could get it for you.
In the 1990s, with the surfeit of imported consumer goods and collapse of the internal economy (meaning also job loss and meaningless salaries), we heard the phrase reversed: 
"don't have 100 friends, have 100 rubles."
Today, even the lowest salaries are ones you could live on, but there's a lot more stuff to buy.  Certainly many people value money more than they once did, but maybe not as desperately as before. 
So, what can 100 rubles buy nowadays? (it's about $3)
--1 "shaurma" (rotisserie meat sliced into a flatbread with trimmings) it being Russia, the trimmings are usually shredded cabbage and carrots and a pickle), fast food at a street kiosk
--2 liters of milk at average prices (you can find milk priced at 35 rubles per liter, but that's only a few places)
--one-third of entrance to the zoo (300 rubles), or one zoo map booklet at the entrance
--1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of expensive grapes (about 90-100) (apples usually are 70-90 rubles a kilo) (this is at the street kiosks, not in stores)
--half kilogram (1 pound) of cheap frozen prepared 'pelmeni' (like tortellini)  (prices range from 70 to 150 rubles per half kilo depending on brand & store) (insta-dinner, boil and eat)
--about 2 small boxes of cold (dry) cereal of (some) domestic brands, or 1 small box of cold cereal of a foreign brand (Nestle, etc)
--package of clothespins at IKEA

--4 (small) rolls of toilet paper of good quality (average quality will be more like 80 rubles), again, depending on the store

--box of juice about 1.5 liters

--1 small bottle (250 ml about) of imported kid shampoo or body wash (again, depending on the store), domestic brands are cheaper (but I haven't found domestic brands which advertise getting rid of tangles...)

--some of the small cheap dollar store type toys (yeah, kid stuff is expensive)

--400 grams (less than a pound) of basic cheese (nothing fancy)

--cheap cutting knife

--basic salt & pepper shaker (they are not very common here)

--1 basic black plastic cooking utensil

--1 jar of "Uncle Ben's sweet & sour sauce" (500 ml)

--300 grams of raw meat (chicken pieces or "farsh" (ground something)

--half a kilo (1 pound) of small cucumbers (what are called 'Persian' cucumbers in California)

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