TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands food costs in grocery stores nowadays

I was reading a post about people bringing food down in a cooler and have sometimes thought about it. We will be on a land based trip for 10 days split between Virgin Gorda and CGB. Only thinking about it because I have no idea how much food is there in grocery stores anymore. I just recently looked at provisioning sheets from Bobby's and Riteway only because I don't know how else to get food prices and they wanted $10 for a jar of mayonnaise. Yikes. Would grocery shopping in the actual stores be different than reading a provision sheet from website. Also is there a duty tax on any food brought into the BVI and if so what is the tax rate on it and isn't bringing in meat banned? Anyone have any example of what a couple of pork chops or chicken breasts would cost at Bobbys in CGB, Leverick bay store or grocery store in Spanish town this would help me gauge a budget and/or consider bringing some stuff, thanks!

Bringing in meat is just fine. Taking it back to the U.S. is not allowed. Spanish Town will be 10% higher than Tortola and Tortola is 30% higher than the US. Costs a lot to ship everything. Yes, it is expensive in the BVI.

Figure about double costs in USA and you will be safe.. I have stopped worrying about food prices and just buy what I want.

I responded to your question on the TripAdvisor forum. We have checked full size coolers, lugged backpack coolers and finally decided to abandon coolers altogether. There are excellent vendors on island and we now just order what we need for delivery/pick-up and factor it into overall trip costs. BVI is not an inexpensive destination.

Tangerine, I agree with Thorsten and MIDiver that you simply need to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and accept the BVI food prices' levels. Having said that, because of my affinity for a particular brand or quality, I routinely bring with me some meats and dairy products that I cannot readily get on VG - but I've rarely been charged a duty on them; even if not, however, you have to include the ~$30 cost of checking a bag when trying to calculate how much you'll actually be saving.

We never check our Polar Bear cooler and always carry on. NEVER a problem. We don't bring specific items (frozen) to save money but to have what I want to cook for lunch/dinner a couple of times over 10 days.

we are not picky and don't look for special things. We are staying our first night at village cay and would have time to go to a grocery store in the morning before catching the ferry to VG. Taking into considerations reading some other posts about VG not having much stock do you think it would be wise to grab some things before heading over. For the meat; I know there is a little store at Leverick Bay where we are staying and last time we were there they even had a little deli seemed quite stocked at the time is that still the case? it was before Covid so don't know if things have declined since then. I probably am not going to hassle with bringing food in a cooler but probably stick dry items in luggage and we always brings backpacks. Our main concern is how much is meat in the grocery stores e.g., chicken breasts, pork chops, hamburgers etc. so we do know how to budget. thanks again.

actually just went to Bobbys website (didn't know they had one) and if the prices actually reflect what is on the website as in the store, a lot less expensive than I thought. I guess the $10 jar of mayo just threw me off. So boils down to Leverick Bay marina store do they still sell meats and have a deli?

They do both at Leverick but very limited selection until the market rebuild is done.

Tangerine, Chef's Pantry at Leverick has a nice little deli and a very good selection of groceries. As GeorgeC1 stated, the resort is in the process of erecting a new store (which will be much larger), but for now it's really a quintessential "hole in the wall" place (next to Pusser's).

Although it has no website of its own, but just a link on the general Leverick "shopping" webpage (https://www.leverickbayvg.com/shoppingleverickbay), if you email or call ahead of time, the staff is very helpful, tell you what's available, and set aside items for your pickup. Here's my contact there, and I can attest to Mrs. Christie's responsiveness and diligence:

Mrs. Nirvanie Christie, Manager
The Chef’s Pantry
Leverick Bay . North Sound . Virgin Gorda
The British Virgin Islands
Phone # 284-541-2881
Cell # 284-344-1621
Email: chefspantry@leverickbay.com

Hope this helps. MAF

Ha, we were just there two hours ago and got some light provisions. Thanks Chef's Pantry!

fitzhughlaw: wait what? I emailed leverick bay asking if their little marina grocery store was open and she said it has been gone since Irma and made no mention of this Chef's Pantry, anyway thank you for the updated info! I will email them.

As already mentioned in a previous post here, Chef's Pantry is in a small temporary location in the main building at Leverick.

Hey what size polar bear cooler works as a carry on. We always take our food also.
Thanks Sally

I think ours is a 24.

We use the Solar Bear Backpack cooler when we do bring items. It can then be used as a portable beach cooler. Great for the more remote beaches without services.

We use the 24 for carry on and 48 as a checked bag.