Shopper details the exorbitant price of groceries in rural Alaska where a bag of tortilla chips costs a staggering $11

If you think your grocery bill is expensive, you’ll feel better when you see the prices at a grocery store in rural Alaska.

TikTok Creator Grant Magdanz grew up in a small town called Kotzebue on the coast of Alaska, population about 3,000, and often shares his experiences online.

Although there are beautiful views and close-knit communities, the cost of grocery shopping is a bit more expensive than in many other parts of the country. Grant shows users how expensive it can be.

“I’m standing right by the brand new supermarket that just opened a week or two ago,” he explained in a clip shared on TikTok.

“The cost of living here is very high because there are no roads in or out,” he continued. “Everything has to be flown in, so let’s take a look.”

He then showed off a few items in the store, starting with Darigold butter, which was on sale for $8.14 but normally costs $9.19 per pound.

These can be purchased online for a dollar or two less than the grocery store in Alaska.

Grant further showed that a gallon of Minute Maid orange juice costs $9.19 and a bag of Tostito tortilla chips costs $11.29.

The orange juice normally costs $3.29, and the tortilla chips around $4.99.

A 12 oz bag of ground coffee from Starbucks costs $17.43, usually around $8.99, a large box of Honey Nut Cheerios retails for $11.05 (usually around $6.99), Oroweat bread costs $9.49 (usually $5.49), bananas cost $2.99 ​​per pound, and six rolls of toilet paper cost $9.99, which hovers around a similar price to others shops.

Finally, a bouquet of flowers costs a whopping $89.99.

Users were shocked by the prices and wondered how anyone could afford to live in the city.

‘What’s the reason you live somewhere so remote and expensive? Is everyone making about six figures?’ one user asked.

‘It suddenly seems cheap to live in New York!!’ wrote another surprised user.

“I wouldn’t waste that much food there,” another joked.

‘But on the plus side it’s -30 degrees and the wind chill, and in winter you get three hours of sunlight a day! Yeaa!’ someone else joked.

Although there are beautiful views and close-knit communities, the cost of grocery shopping is a bit more expensive than in many other parts of the country. Grant shows users how expensive it can be

In a follow-up video, Grant explained that wages are higher in Alaska, before shedding further light on what most people do for food and why people choose to stay in the city.

“People mainly eat food they catch themselves,” he explained, showing fishermen on boats.

‘Caught nothing? That’s okay, people will share it with you – often before they have enough for themselves.

“Family is a priority,” he continued, adding that people in the community are there for each other in good times and bad.

“So yes, milk is expensive and the cost of living is a real issue, but people choose to stay regardless because there’s a lot here that you can’t do anywhere else,” he concluded the video.

It’s not just Kotzebue that’s weighing on community life, because in the heart of the Alaskan wilderness lies a small town sometimes called “the city under one roof,” where the population lives in just one spectacular building.

Located 60 miles south of Anchorage, Whittier is home to a remote community where 217 residents call one building home, but their unique living arrangements are as fascinating as they are isolated.

The city is only accessible by car ferry at the harbour, or by car or train on land via a lonely, slightly creepy one-way tunnel that closes at night and opens at 5am, further adding to the mystique of the city strengthened.

The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel – the longest highway tunnel in North America – stretches 2.5 miles, connecting Whittier to the Portage area and then to the Seward Highway in Southcentral Alaska.

Once inside, almost all of Whittier’s residents live within the walls of Begich Towers, a former army barracks that served as a “secret” military facility for the U.S. Army during World War II before being converted into residential housing later in 1974.