Food, Dining out and Entertainment could take quite a bit out of your wallet if not well checked.
You will be glad to know that there is quite a lot of fruit and vegetables that you could easily buy from one of the local markets – you won’t find that much frozen stuff, may be some supermarkets might have started doing that, but still fresh is fresh! Especially if all you buy is organic – that’s the beauty! $10 could fetch you a full large basket of fruits and vegetables.
Considering all the groceries; to keep your food, dining out and entertainment checked (I don’t know how big your family is), lets say for 2, you might spend about $100 to $200 a month. Depending on how much you eat and what you eat, you could spend even less if you don’t eat that much meat. The other trick is to avoid imported stuff, keep it Ugandan.
There has been rising prices every where and Uganda is no exception – that reminds me of the saying; ‘eating in is the new eating out’. Depending on how much dining out you do – you might fall in love with that food at that Ugandan restaurant round the corner. Yes! Why not, go for it!
… but again considering that you might want to keep the cap on the food, dining out and entertainment, dining out 10 times a month at one of the top restaurants in Kampala might be on the higher side – I will leave that for you to decide.
A good Ugandan buffet will go for $7 to $10 or some good Chinese for $10 – $15. The cost could be even higher especially when 18% of VAT is tacked away in the menu prices.
So, 10 times out at $15 – $20 per outing at a top restaurant in Kampala will cost you about $200 per month.
A night at the movies is cheap. Two tickets and some popcorn will cost you about $10 (even less if you are there on one of the concession nights that go for half price). And at the comfort of your home, DVDs are even cheaper; $1 – $1.5 (at that cost you are looking at the pirated one of course – wherever they come from I don’t know!)
Therefore, one night at the movies per month and say 10 DVDs will cost you at least $20.
More night life? – hmmm! Depends on what you are looking for really; entrance to a Night club will cost about $3 to $8 (for those that are serious about dancing the night away but the drinks could be quite expensive there)…
… Nevertheless, you will be amazed at how much free entertainment Kampala offers at night. You could easily catch the sound of a live Ugandan traditional dance troupe at one of the big hotels in Kampala on one of their theme nights. Ugandans love going out and indeed into the wee-hours of the night – join them and have fun!
And hopefully with that, your food, dining and entertainment will be sorted.