The “casado” is the most common meal at most Costa Rican restaurants. It’s a plate that combines many things: rice, beans, meat, salad, and vegetable side dishes. In most places, it also includes a soft drink.
This popular dish has increased in price, as the cost of many of its ingredients went up significantly. The “casado” is 7.85% more expensive this year than last year. In 2022, you might have paid ¢3,000 but now you’ll be charged ¢3,235.5.
It might not seem like so much at first, but it adds up if you eat this typical lunch Monday through Friday. You’d end up paying ¢1,1775 more a week and ¢4,710 more a month. This is the twelfth greatest item of relative importance of household spending. People dedicate, on average, 1.29% of their income to this dish.
47 sodas and restaurants are consulted monthly on their prices for the Consumer Price Index published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. Economists believe that inflation will slow down. This won’t make food prices stop rising but they will rise more slowly, in a way that’s normal for typical economies.
