Food prices on Maui?
 

We are honeymooning for about 8 days in July. We have a condo in Kihei for that time with a full kitchen and we plan to cook most of our own food. Can anyone give me any sense of prices for vegetables, etc.? And, what is average for a nice quality dinner on the beach? We are thinking of maybe 3 nice dinners, and probably a couple snacky outings, but mostly buying our own makings. Anyone have experience with this? Thank you!

Be prepared for high food prices. We bought groceries for breakfast and lunch in our condo and it was over $100! Look very closely at fruit and vegetable prices and buy only local produce, the rest is imported and very expensive ($11 for a bunch of grapes)
Dining out wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be and we found lots of fun restaurants in Kalama Village (Bada Bing, Pita Paradise, Alexanders and Life's a Beach are all very reasonably priced).

Food shopping on Maui is VERY expensive; that is, if you're not a member of the store's "club". For instance, at Safeway in the Kihei and Kaanapali areas, sign up at the check-out counter for their "preferred customer card". This gives you enormous discounts on the food items you'll probably get for your condo. Their pricing on the shelves is actually a dual-tiered pricing -- one for preferred customers and one for -- you guessed it -- all others (i.e. tourists). On one shopping trip alone, I saved $40 on a $100 food bill! Worthwhile, to say the least. And very easy to apply. No muss, no fuss, just a simple "who are you" application. No credit check at all.

Happy travels...and Aloha!!

We have Safeway where we live, and I was told by a Hawaii frequent traveler not to forget to bring my card when we go to Hawaii, shop carefully and you can save a bundle, including bottled water. As seattlesue said, feast on local produce and forget apples and grapes for 8 days. Do a search on this forum for where you can get fresh fish. Happy honeymoon!

SeattleSue how did you manage to spend OVER $100 on groceries for breakfast and lunch? That is far too high unless you have 8 people!! You can eat breakfast and lunch in restaurants for far less than that. Groceries are expensive on Maui but not that expensive.

i guess it depends where you're coming from...we're from the nyc area abd the groceries and restaurant prices did not seem that high. there are many places with great prices,our family of 5 spent just about what we usually spend at home.

We did not buy groceries on Maui however we have bought groceries on the Big Island and Kauai. I went on line prior to the trip and signed up for the Safeway card. It was a matter of filling it out and handing it to the cashier at check out. Very easy. Milk was about $6 per gal but they were running a few buy one get on free promotions on milk, OJ, etc. We also bought vegtables at Costco and frankly, I don't think we ended up spending that much more there than at home.

hi Filbert - we also stayed in a condo in Kihei last year too. We went to one of the bigger grocery stores in town (don't remember the name), and the cashier just gave me a temporary 'preferred customer' card which was very helpful. Just hang on to that to use. Don't remember spending a huge amount on food, just the very basics for what we wanted to prepare. Like someone else said, don't remember it being that much more expensive than home.

Just an fyi, for a good quick inexpensive meal, try Maui Tacos, also in Kihei.

There was a series (from 2003)called &quot;$40 dollars a day&quot; which occassionally reruns on the Food Network hosted by Rachel Ray, one episode of interest was &quot;<b>$40 a day on Maui</b>&quot;, here is link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2003/07/16/DD283971.DTL

I recall reasonable 3:-O milk 3:-O prices last October at Walmart and Kmart on Maui.

With regard to beachfront dinners:-P out, figure on at least $50 per person, ((D))((D))((B)) and appetizers more.

Try this link for $40/day series info:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...6/DD283971.DTL

Thanks so much everyone. This really helps. I'm wondering what you would budget for food, if you were to buy makings for breakfast, lunch, some dinners for 8 days...and eat out 3-4 times. What would be your price range?

Also, if you got a safeway card from a Safeway in your home town, am I correct in thinking that you can use the same card in Maui?

Yes, you can use the hometown Safeway card anywhere. The budget really depends on what the 2 of you like to eat, a bagel/muffin or cereal for breakfast, or eggs/bacon/sausages? Sandwiches for lunch (you can take them with you for a picnic on the beach)? Dinner can be simple to gourmet, all depends.

For inexpensive meals not far from you, we liked the deli in the Whaler's General Store at the Shops at Wailea, lots of different choices.

If you have a Costco card, there's a Costco near the airport where you can pick up a lot of grocery items on your way to the condo. I didn't find food prices to be that expensive. Stick with local produce and fresh fish, these are bargains. For a nice dinner out, I would say an average of $100-150 for two people including appetizer, entree, and a glass of wine.

We always take a few packages of homemade tortillas from home.
I buy eggs and cheese and we have breakfast taquitos, fish and shredded cabbage + salsa for great fish tacos, lunch meat and veggies for wraps and various fresh ingredients are used for quesadillos.
Coming from Texas, it's not possible to find quality flour tortillas in Hawaii!
Heck, they are hard to find here!
Anyhoo... it has saved us mucho dinero on many trips.

Just like the previous poster, I bring several items with me when I go to Hawaii which saves a lot of $$. Why spend money on condiments, spices, canned or dry goods when they can easily be slipped into the luggage?

You can get a Safeway or Foodland card the first time you go shopping in Maui, or bring your Safeway card from home. You will save a lot that way. Also, once you get to Maui, check with the hotel and see where the farmer's markets are in the area - these are a great way to save $$ and get a taste of local Maui culture at the same time. There's also a fresh fish market.

As far as dinners out - I really enjoyed Leilani's next to Whaler's Village and it wasn't too pricey. There's a cool pancake house in Lahaina, right across from the big banyon tree that might be fun one morning.

ALso, in the Cannery Mall near Kaanapali, there is a food court. Of course you'll see the usual chains - IHOP in Kihei, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, etc. But it's so much more fun to try the local places. In Kahului go to the shopping center (don't remember the street names) and there are several good places to get local food.

A local secret: Long's Drugs. Mu husband buys his local-grown, grass-fed beef at Longs at half the price of the grain and chemical-fed mainland beef found at the grocery stores. You will also find upcountry produce at Longs, especially on Saturday morning, when they have a farmer's market. Also, you can find beer and wine at mainland prices at Longs. I shop at Safeway only for sale items. I think that part of the reason for the higher prices at the major markets is that they know they can get the prices from the tourists.

Message here_today_gone2maui: Beef and produce at Longs Drug? What Longs is this? I have got to go there.

Message filbert264: All these posts are excellent advice. We also eat most of our meals in when we go to Maui and I find that the one thing I miss most is salad. Lettuce is way too expensive in the markets and that is one meal is one that I will go to a resturaunt to get.

Lahainaluna: I shop at the Longs in Kihei. Check in the back, by the liquor department. They often have gorgeous bags of fresh upcountry mixed greens, half the price of Safeway. There is no better salad than one made with fresh Kula greens and topped with fresh papaya seed dressing! They usually have mushrooms and bell peppers at realistic prices, too, vs. the prices found at the markets. are I am not sure if the other Longs have the same inventory. On the mainland the Longs in Solana Beach has fresh produce and a big grocery section, whereas ones near Pasadena, not so much.

here_today_gone2Maui: That's great news! We just checked online and find that the Longs you are speaking of is 1/2 mile down the road from our condo. Thank you so much. I assume that you don't need a special card to buy there? Also, if we went to the farmer's market on Saturday, would there be any organic produce? We like to eat organic, but are willing to eat non-organic during our trip if it would be way to expensive. Thank you...

It's hard to know if the produce at the Long's farmers' market is organic, but if you go to Hawaiian Moons Natural Food, just down Kihei Road, you can get all thge organic produce you could want. An even better place to shop, with a larger selection is Down To Earth Natural Foods in Kahului, I also recommend Mana Foods, if you get over da other side to Pa`ia. Prices at all three arfe generally lower than at the supermarkets.