A Cuban residing outside the island shared this week on TikTok the details of her grocery shopping during a visit to Cuba, with prices far exceeding the country's minimum monthly salary. The video posted by Jennifer González under the username @jennifergonzalez2501 shows a bag of basic products with a total cost of approximately 8750 Cuban pesos.
"I'm in Cuba, I went out to do some shopping because I needed a few things, so let's see how much I spent on these little bags," says the young woman at the beginning of the 54-second clip.
The list of products and their prices speaks for itself: malangas at 900 pesos, a bag of bread at 500 pesos, two avocados at 100 pesos each, two packs of detergent at 1000 pesos each, a bunch of plantains at 150 pesos, a pound of bacon at 2000 pesos, and two pounds of ribs at 3000 pesos.
The total amount of that purchase is equivalent to almost three minimum monthly wages in Cuba, set since July 2026 at just 3210 pesos after a 53% increase compared to the previous 2100 pesos. The average state salary is around 7000 pesos per month, an amount that would also not be enough to cover a similar purchase.
At the informal market exchange rate, the picture is even more revealing: the dollar reached a record of 750 pesos on the very Tuesday the video was published, making those 8750 pesos equivalent to about 11.67 dollars.
The contrast with the income of Cubans is considerable. According to recent estimates, living in Havana costs a small family around 205,000 pesos per month, while a single person needs about 96,000 pesos to cover basic needs, figures that are significantly higher than state salaries.
Other reference prices in September 2026 illustrate the magnitude of the crisis: the pound of chicken reaches up to 800 pesos, onions cost 910 pesos each, eggs are sold at 150 pesos each, and oil ranges between 3650 and 7000 pesos per liter.
This type of shopping videos has become a recurring genre on social media, where Cubans both inside and outside the island document and discuss the prices of food. Other Cuban women have shown what they can buy with 5000 pesos, which serves as a popular gauge of a crisis in which the official inflation rate reached 25.19% year-on-year in August 2026.
At the end of her video, Jennifer González invited her followers to share their verdict: "Let me know what you think, whether you find it expensive or if you think it's reasonable."
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