Belmopan - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Groceries are expensive and often expired. You can get local things like eggs, carrots, potatoes, chicken meat, mutton meat, rice, and sugar for decent prices, but anything other than that things are limited. Shipped in cold items sit unattended in aisles waiting for a staffer to eventually put it in a freezer or fridge. Milk and cheese and whatnot often are expired even if the date says it is alright, but cold items that are already date expired are often put on the shelves anyway and sold at discount prices. Eat at your own risk. Veggies need to be bleached or vinegar washed if consuming raw. Food and restaurants in general were the biggest issue for me in Belize as a whole. Sure there are coffee shops and restaurants, but I almost always got sick from them. I cannot think of a single time I didn’t get sick from a coffee I bought in town. The lack of food diversity and availability is my #1 complaint about daily living and just quality of life as a whole. - Aug 2026
Most basic things (and American brands) can be had on occasion. Something you bought last week may not be available for several months, or may not be offered again. American brand food items can be very expensive. I've seen a tube of jimmy dean sausage for 15 USD. This post has a DPO and diplomatic pouch, so many things are available from Amazon. Shipping times aren't too bad given the relatively short distance from the US. - Jun 2026
Most items have reasonable availability and there are enough options for various budgets. Sometimes you may not find exactly what you want when you want it but wait a week or order it on Amazon through DPO - Feb 2019
Groceries are cheap if you buy local brands, expensive if you buy imported American brands (and everything is Kraft). - Jun 2015
Anything imported will be expensive. The grocery stores are hit and miss. Sometimes they run out of something important (like peanut butter) for weeks but will have three shelves of mouth wash. - Jun 2015
The grocery situation is getting better all the time in Belmopan. There are several "supermarkets" that sell a range of US and Mexican products. The local Mennonite community operates an excellent dairy products company. There were only a few items we could not find in Belmopan. Many folks make an occasional all-day trip across the border to Mexico where there is a WalMart and some other US-brand stores. There is a twice-weekly farmers' market with excellent fresh produce available. - Jan 2011