We were relieved to find that when we went grocery shopping today for the first time, the prices were quite reasonable! Some things even stand out as less expensive than in America: cheese (and good cheese), yogurt (real yogurt, not the sugary, unnaturally creamy stuff you find in a Yoplait cup), cereal, and bread. Other things were quite comparable.
Other observations about buying groceries in the supermarket:
- The absence of frozen foods. No enormous aisles of nutritiously-worthless frozen dinners, foods, or even frozen vegetables!
- No plastic grocery bags. Practically everyone uses their own reusable bags and happily bags their own groceries.
- No high-fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils, very little saturated or trans fats. I’m an ingredient checker. If there is something in the ingredient list that doesn’t sound like food (monoglycerides??) then I don’t buy it. In America I often have trouble finding anything boxed/packaged without these scary-sounding ingredients. Today I had a hard time finding things with them. Yay!
- Fair trade is not a trend, it is the norm.
Being in a new place always heightens my senses to observe the way things are around me. But it is a good exercise to observe and reflect on things that we all do every day and perhaps become used to. I’m wondering: what things do you notice when you go grocery shopping, wherever you may be?
Posted by Molly on October 7, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I think the grocery shopping sound simply wonderful! Does the grocery store strike you as a “co-op” in the US or is it more like a grocery store of by-gone days?
Posted by Steph on October 8, 2009 at 2:00 am
I don’t believe it is a “co-op.” Just a regular grocery store, but obviously the standards for general grocery stores are different here.
Posted by Sara Brown on October 8, 2009 at 9:18 pm
After eating the bread and bacon in Scotland it will never taste the same anywhere else. Oh what we would give for a morning roll and back bacon!
Posted by Wes on October 9, 2009 at 7:53 am
Good to hear from you, Sara! We have tried the bacon yet, so we’ll have to indulge! The bread is amazing, although we hope to get into making our own bread at home. We’ll see how that works out. Aren’t you due for a trip to Scotland soon?