If you’re wondering about the cost of food in St Lucia then this post is for you.
I always use these kinds of guides to help me budget for trips so after taking a vacation to St Lucia, I thought I’d put together a guide to help you out!
In this ultimate guide, I’ve included both food & drink prices, restaurant prices, grocery store prices and more.
Please note that all prices are quoted in USD.
Table of Contents
Food Prices
The first thing I noticed right away when I arrived in St Lucia is that the cost of food varies drastically based on where you eat.
You can literally get a meal for a couple of dollars at a street food stall or you could spend $100+ in a fine dining restaurant.
St Lucia has it all including cheap food trucks and mid-range restaurants, all the way to fancy fine dining establishments.
In this guide, I’ve included a range of options for every type of traveler based on my own first hand experience so you can price up how much you need to budget for food each day.
Here’s a quick overview of food and drink prices in St Lucia:
- If you plan on eating in local restaurants then budget $30 to $40 per person per day for food.
- If you plan on eating in mid-range restaurants then budget $50 to $100 per person per day for food.
- If you plan on eating in fine dining restaurants then budget $150 to $200 per person per day for food.
Below I go into more detail on the exact food and drink prices in St Lucia.
Restaurant Prices
As I mentioned, the cost of eating out in St Lucia varies drastically depending on the type of restaurant you go to.
All of the prices are based on my own experience after spending time in St Lucia. I’ve checked tons of menu’s specifically for their prices to put together this guide.
Here’s what you’ll spend per meal at various different restaurants in St Lucia:
- Dining in a local restaurant costs between $5 and $8.
- Street food also costs between $5 and $8.
- Lunch in a standard cafe will cost around $15.
- Dining in a mid-range restaurant costs between $13 and $45 per person.
- Fine dining restaurants easily cost $100 per person (sometimes more if you get expensive wine).
Here’s an overview of the exact food prices in St Lucia at a mid-range restaurant:
- A starter will cost between $10 and $13.
- A main course will cost between $20 and $45.
- A dessert will cost between $9.50 and $11.
- A breakfast meal will cost between $8 and $14.
- A cocktail will cost between $7 and $9.
- A soft drink will cost between $1.30 and $2.
- A bottle of wine will cost between $18.50 and $26.
- A glass of wine will cost between $6 and $7.50.
These prices are for a mid-range restaurant in St Lucia. Expect to pay less at a local cafe and more at a fine dining restaurant.
At a fine dining restaurant, you’ll easily spend $100 per person and more if you get a bottle of wine too.
Fine dining restaurants like Jacques Waterfront Dining charge $106 for their 3-course meal set.
Another fine dining restaurant, Big Chef Steak House, charge between $28 and $37 for a main course. Once you add on starters, desserts and drinks, you’ll easily spend close to $100.
You also need to consider the area of St Lucia that you’re in as it is expensive to eat out in some areas of St Lucia.
I found that the restaurants in Rodney Bay were particularly expensive compared to other towns in St Lucia like Castries and Soufriere.
This is mainly due to the fact that Rodney Bay is filled with fancy resorts and is a tourist hotspot. For this reason, you pay a bit of a premium to dine here.
I also found that the best way to save money in Rodney Bay was to head off the beaten track and try to find some local restaurants. It’s actually pretty easy to do this and saved me a ton of money.
You can also grab cheap food at food trucks and food courts for a reasonable price (yep, even in Rodney Bay!).
I did this a few times and they were genuinely some of the tastiest meals I had on the whole trip.
Cheap Places to Eat
My favorite affordable place to eat was Key Largo Italian in Rodney Bay which serves super tasty and affordable pizzas.
They cost between $10 and $15 each. You could also opt for pasta here for a similar price.
Spinnakers Beach Bar & Carvery was another great affordable option in Rodney Bay that I loved.
They have $9 cocktails (which are half price from 5pm – 6pm every day) and super tasty food. Expect to pay between $13 and $25 for your evening meal.
Lil Chef was my favorite spot for breakfast. I loved their omelets which cost just $7.50 and my boyfriend really liked their breakfast burrito which cost $11. A full English will cost $15.50.
Another one of the cheapest places to eat in Rodney Bay is at Lucian Cuisine. They serve local St Lucian food for a super cheap price.
Main courses here cost between $5.50 and $13 and you can get things like stew and various fish dishes. It was really delicious too!
How Much Do Drinks Cost?
Similarly, drink costs also vary depending on the type of restaurant or bar you’re in but less so than food.
Here are the standard drinks prices in St Lucia:
- A coke/pepsi costs between $1 and $1.50.
- A fruit juice costs around $2.
- A small bottle of water costs between $0.70 and $1.10.
- A cappuccino costs between $1.30 and $3.70.
- A cocktail will cost between $7 and $9.
- A bottle of wine will cost between $18.50 and $26.
- A glass of wine will cost between $6 and $7.50.
These are the prices for drinks in restaurants, cafes and bars and are based on my own firsthand experience being in St Lucia.
You will pay slightly less at a grocery store.
How Much is a Beer?
Being a Brit, we always decide how pricey a location is based on the price of a beer (if you know, you know).
For my fellow Brits (or anyone else that wants to know), a bottle of beer in St Lucia costs between $1.50 and $4.
The cheapest beer in St Lucia is the local Piton beer which generally costs between $1.50 and $2.50.
Imported beers cost more. Expect to pay between $2.50 and $4 for brands like Heineken and Strongbow.
You’ll usually pay less if you buy beer from the grocery store rather than a restaurant.
In a restaurant, you’ll pay around $2 for the local beer and $3 to $4 for an imported beer.
Is Alcohol Expensive?
I found that alcohol wasn’t ridiculously expensive in St Lucia. Prices were comparable to other countries like the US.
We bought a mid-range bottle of wine from the supermarket and it cost around $9.60. For a similar bottle of wine in a restaurant, expect to pay at least double that.
I regularly got cocktails for under $10 and the local Piton beer was literally just a couple of dollars. I tried to take advantage of happy hour deals where possible to save even more money.
The cheapest place to buy alcohol in St Lucia was definitely at the supermarket.
St Lucia Grocery Store Prices
To save a bit of money, I regularly bought snacks from the local grocery store.
You can get most things at the supermarket that you can get at home like bread, eggs, cheese, cereal bars etc.
💡Tip: To save money on food in St Lucia, fill up at the breakfast buffet, grab some snacks for lunch from the grocery store and then eat out for dinner.
That way you’ll only be paying for one meal per day at a restaurant!
Luckily for you, I acted like a proper weirdo and wandered around the grocery store in St Lucia making notes of all the prices so you know what to expect.
Here’s the average St Lucia grocery store prices:
- 1L bottle of milk costs $2.50.
- A loaf of bread costs $0.80.
- A box of 12 eggs costs $2.80.
- 1kg of cheese costs $11.
- 1kg of chicken breast costs $8.50.
- 1kg of apples costs $7.80.
- 1kg of potatoes costs $5.20.
- 1kg of rice costs $2.
Something else I noticed is that the locally produced goods were always pretty cheap however the imported goods were always a lot more expensive.
It’s also important to know which grocery stores to go to as some are tailored more to tourists and so the prices are higher.
Avoid the Massy Stores supermarket inside the Baywalk Shopping Mall. This is the main grocery store in Rodney Bay (which is a huge tourist hotspot) so prices are high.
If you go to the more local shops, you’ll get much cheaper prices as this is where the local St Lucian people actually shop.
There are several cheaper grocery stores inside the JQ Rodney Bay Mall. These are the stores I used when I stayed in Rodney Bay.
As well as grocery stores, look out for local farmers markets like the Castries Central Market as these are great places to stock up on fruit and veg for a very cheap price.
💡Tip: To save some money, don’t buy alcohol from restaurants. Buy it from the grocery store and drink it on your balcony instead. For more money-saving tips, read my guide on budget travel St Lucia.
And that’s it!
Thanks for reading this post on the food and drink prices in St Lucia which covers everything from restaurant prices, grocery prices and more.
For more budgeting tips, find out how much money to take to St Lucia.
Need more help planning your St Lucia vacation?
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