Cost of Food in Thailand versus USA

When we first moved to Thailand, we figured we could save time and money by eating at the food stalls and little family owned eateries in our new Thai neighborhood. But it didn’t take long to realize that we didn’t have it in ourselves to dine on Thai food all the time, so we caved in and starting going to western grocery stores and restaurants. As it turns out, the cost of food in Thailand is affordable enough to where we didn’t have to make extreme sacrifices in our lifestyle to enjoy our favorite foods.

Lifestyle Changes

The very first year we lived in Chiang Mai (2013) you could find us eating dinner at street stalls several times per week and cheap Western restaurants from time to time. There was even one month that we challenged ourselves to eat street food every day for lunch and dinner and to shop only at local Thai markets.

Although this practice was certainly wallet-friendly, we just weren’t happy with eating street stall dollar meals day in and day out. It was part of an experiment to see if we could stick to a $1,000 per month budget for the two of us and adjust to ‘Thai life’ but in the end it’s something we don’t recommend doing. It’s too extreme of a lifestyle change for us and there is no real motivation for us to stick to it since we aren’t on a shoestring budget and there are plenty of international grocery stores and restaurants in Chiang Mai.

Since then we’ve found a happy balance eating Thai food several times a week while incorporating many of our old American eating habits, all while spending considerably less than we ever did back in the States.

Cost of Food in Thailand vs USA

The ‘THEN’ prices show a monthly average living in the USA in 2013. The ‘NOW’ prices show a monthly average living in Thailand in 2015 excluding the month we spent in the USA in July 2015.  

DINING OUT
THEN (USA)	Chris ate out for lunch almost every day at work but together we ate dinner at mid to high range restaurants about twice per week Hardly stepped foot in coffee shops	$991 per month
NOW (THAILAND)	We eat out about three meals per week at mid range Western restaurants and another two meals per week at low and mid range Thai restaurants We often buy snacks from Thai food vendors We drink espresso drinks and fruit smoothies four or five times per week	$300 per month

When those expenses are added up, we used to spend $2,316 per month in the USA on grocery shopping, dining out, and drinking. But our cost of food in Thailand (adult beverages included) has dropped to $730 per month. It goes to show that even in Chiang Mai we can enjoy much of what we used to eat but still spend significantly less than what we did while living in the USA.

In case you hadn’t already, check out our latest detailed Chiang Mai Budget breakdown that goes beyond cost of food in Thailand and covers housing costs, the price of maintaining our health, and travel expenses, too.