Thought those of you on the other side of the world might be interested to take a trip through my grocery store with me. Grace took most of these pictures, so some of them are kind of random….but maybe that will entertain you.
My grocery store recently acquired a whole fleet of these car carts. I just stared at them and thought, Where have you been all my life? Did you really have to wait to get these when all of my kids are in school? Johnny’s too big, but he still likes to squeeze himself into them any time he’s with me.
Things I buy:
Cleaning supplies
Coconut oil from Kenya. I buy this occasionally. It’s wonderful, but it’s about $12 for a quart.
Clarified butter. This I buy and use regularly. Love the stuff.
Palm oil is the cheapest kind available here, so it’s what I use most often.
Tanzania produces amazing rice. So much better than what is available in the States.
Spices. Big selection. Love this.
I often buy popcorn, flax seed, and raisins from these bins. And look at that–quinoa. $2.50 for 100 grams (3 ounces). Yikes.
We buy American Garden mayo, ketchup, canned corn….. I’m not really sure it really is Born in the USA, but it’s closest to what we are used to.
I grew up on Nutella in Liberia, long before it came to the States. It’s expensive here, but worth it (of course).
We eat a lot of local chips, usually plantain or cassava.
Various sugars
Locally produced jam–good stuff.
Pringles can be found practically anywhere in Tanzania–even way back in 2001 when we first arrived. I have no idea why.
Cheese, usually from New Zealand. Expensive but usually available.
Eggs come in flats of 30. We go through about one flat a week. I’ve learned to only buy certain brands, because only some kinds have yellow yolks (the others have white yolks, which means the chickens basically ate dirt). The brand I buy aren’t very clean, but it’s worth it for the yellow yolks.
Milk comes in boxes from South Africa. High temperature pasteurized, which means it can sit unrefrigerated for months. Practical, but not exactly healthy.
The other option for milk is locally sourced, and comes in 1/2 liter bags. I get this kind sometimes. We also eat the local yogurt, especially when strawberry is in stock.
Frozen whole chickens. Great for the crock pot.
Ground beef, known as mince around here.
Cereal is at least $8 a box so we only get it rarely. It makes good birthday presents.
We only buy soda once in a while, but it is literally found in the farthest reaches of Tanzania. Soda used to only come in glass bottles, but I’m kinda bummed that in recent years, plastic has taken over.
We eat a lot of local honey. I guess a good way to know for sure that your honey is raw and organic is when you find a dead bee in the unopened bottle.
My filled shopping cart.
I buy most of my produce at another store, or at roadside stands. We have so much wonderful produce available and take full advantage of it.
Including the monster avocados.
Things that are available that I don’t buy:
About $6 a jar; not worth the price. I make my own from the plentiful local tomatoes.
Apparently Spam circles the globe. Not interested.
We also are not interested in vegetarian mock-duck.
Granola bars range from $2 to $5 each. We don’t buy them….unless they are expired and therefore on sale.
These come out to about $1 per tortilla. Instead, I buy handmade tortillas from a local non-profit bakery.
$6 a box. I make my own from scratch.
Nope.
Chicken gizzards. Nope.
Way too expensive for me. But I recently have found another brand that is more reasonable….about $5 for a container.
Chicken necks. Nope.
And since we don’t have a lot of processed food available to us, we can conveniently buy this whole bag of MSG to add to our meals. Ummm…nope.
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