The snowbirds who are already here in large numbers consider the local Winn-Dixie a major destination for kosher. With its own kosher deli and large selection of Israeli foods, as well as meats and bakery, Winn-Dixie is indeed a great place to shop if you are kosher.
Ironically, it is Winn-Dixie that recently cut the cost of an additional 400 items over and above the 1,500 grocery items that they cut in October, many of them with kosher certification.
But still nationwide and in many countries all over the world a family of four that adheres to kosher spends more than twice on food of an average American consumer of about $7,500.
The weekly Shabbat or Shabbos as well as the holidays is part of the reason as are higher prices for kosher food, particularly meat and dairy. US supermarkets that target kosher supermarkets recognize the disproportionate spending of kosher consumers that often does not conform to their population numbers.
Each week, kosher shoppers buy take-out, housekeeping goods as well as flowers in almost the same quantities that they do for a holiday.
One supermarket executive noted: “While the kosher sections in our store do well, our success with kosher customers is just how much they shop the rest of the store.”
In the UK, an observant Jewish lifestyle adds about $18,000 to the annual budget for a family of four, largely because of kosher food. Andrea Silberman, an economist at the Treasury, and Anthony Tricot, a consultant for Ernst and Young and a former government economist, created the “Kosher Chicken Index” – what they define as a basket of goods reflecting products that Jews are likely to buy in order to lead a Jewish lifestyle.
There are an estimated 284,000 Jews in the UK, according to Institute for Jewish Policy Research, around half of whom belong to the Orthodox community. In Israel, keeping kosher costs roughly half of what is in the US, largely because Israelis pay far less for such basic staples as bakery items, dairy, and poultry.
Israel is also a kosher country with more than 70% of all foods being kosher certified and 40% of secular Israelis keeping a kosher home, thus enabling the kosher customer to shop almost anywhere.
Demographers say that a family of four in the Orthodox Jewish communities has become the exception rather than the rule.
A Monsey family head of eight told Kosher Today that their monthly spending on food was well over $1700. It is these exceptions that have created a significant bump in kosher food sales.
The marketing analysts know that kosher is giving more profit to everyone so you can see big market places have huge selection of kosher to attract the customers ? And to make money …but don’t say that big chain markets and solo market places compete to sell for cheap no they compete to buy produce for cheap between them but to sell by the highest price to you ….
Q how to keep prices low – don’t buy …. But it’s not realistic
Hashem helps!
Considering I used to eat not kosher, my grocery bill has gone up 75% since keeping kosher. This is not an exaggeration.
From all the articles I read on COL there seems to be a common theme, tuition hikes, camp costs and all the extras. How are people supposed to afford this lifestyle without an education? From what I gather the past couple of years from reading COL, that people are not.
If something does not change soon, the bubble is going to burst.
Their prices are still high. Across the street is Kosher Marketplace. Competiton helps but even regular groceries are too high.
Kosher stores also skyrocket the prices cuz they know jewish people have no choice to buy from them so they can make a nice PROFIT……………
you do realize that most of these articles are about large stores or chain stores that can practice economies of scale? these stores order so much more product that they can get a better price for it and that do to the amount of items they sell they dont need to make as much profit per item then your average mom & pop store on the other hand your average local (jewish or not) store is a small mom & pop style store that probably pays more per item and needs to make more profit per item then the bigger… Read more »
Prices are almost double in the Jewish stores, till we realize that and stop shopping by expensive stores we will spend double on shopping
It’s very nice that everyone recognizes that US/UK kosher food is more expensive than nonkosher, but I see no solutions posited n this article. Where are the kosher businesses, va’adim, or rabbeim giving a line-by-line cost breakdown showing WHY kosher meats and other kosher foods are so much more expensive? We may be a captive audience because we keep kosher, but that doesn’t mean we’re not due an explanation.