We are on an island. One that is not very good for growing things and really not that good for hunting, fishing maybe but the island is surrounded by a marine park and that makes fishing a little difficult. All the food comes in via barge once a week, weather permitting of course.
Thus the story. Food here is expensive. A package of ham costs about $6.00 US, not outrageous, on the other hand apples are about $1.80 US each, somewhat pricy. Junk food is horrendous. How about $10.00 US for a bag of Lay’s potato chips and the same for a bag of cheezies. The water on the island is fine so bottled water is not a necessity but we bought some anyway not knowing the tap water is drinkable and a gallon bottle costs about $10.00 US.
We dove at 7:30am each morning so there is no time for breakfast out. We bought enough food at the store to make breakfast everyday, we ate in one dinner, and 1/2 way through the week the dive crew suggested we stay out on the water for lunch and not use up time running back to the dock and return to the wall for our afternoon dive, so we made lunch each day. This was a tremendous boon to the budget.
At the ‘restaurants’ here, dinner is $55 US plus per person. The food is not particularly fancy or anything, it is just that there are not many eating places and they can get what they ask. You can come to one of the resorts and pay an all inclusive price which is better than the a la cart price but still on the expensive side. Or, you can eat at one of the two bars that serve food and save a tremendous amount of money and still eat reasonably well without having to cook. At the Little Cayman Beach Resort bar a burger, fries and cold slaw is about $20 US. The prices are similar at the Southern Cross bar. Another way to live here on less cash is to rent a condo with a kitchen and cook in sometimes. Even though the grocery store is expensive it is much less than eating out. We did not have a chance to join in on the all inclusive meals but we did use all of the other three methods of obtaining sustenance. I think the best alternative is eating at the bar. No cooking, no clean up and reasonable prices, the only downfall is the limited menu, which because I am a guy is not a big concern.
If you are headed this way keep your head up when doing your budgeting. If you are not on a meal plan and you intend to eat at the local restaurants double your normal food budget.