grocery adventure

Back home, I normally hate buying groceries just because it was a mundane chore but now, being in a new country, it is a weekly expedition! And today was no exception…

We fought through a surprising yet short-lived snow/hail storm enroute to the trolley (aka shopping carts) area and proceeded to the produce area. While everyone raves about purchasing their fruits and veggies at farmer’s markets, Derby’s market occurs, I believe, on the second Thursday of every month, making it quite difficult for many to attend! We’re still amazed that all produce is pre-packaged neatly in plastic containers and mesh baggies, while still grumbling softly to ourselves that we miss selecting our own oranges and tomatoes (I mean what’s the likelihood that all 7 apples are picked to perfection?). Funny enough we can’t seem to find spinach sold as a head but only in frozen form (actually the bag contains frozen spinach in single serving cubes, making sure you abide to the food guide of 5 daily portions of fruits and vegetables) and as pre-washed (which I always wash again always) leaves.

While most grocery stores offer internet purchasing and home delivery services, we do find good fun reading the labels on every items (cream vs. double cream vs. really thick double cream vs. clotted cream) and spending at least a good 10 minutes in the biscuits (aka cookies) and crisps (aka chips) aisles before selecting our ‘treat’ item for the week. We do find their storing of eggs in a non-refrigerated aisle particularly odd but their presence there is slowly growing on us. Cans of frozen concentrated juices do not exist here but their substitute is known as squash juice, and surprisingly is not made from any part of a gourd – just add water to the concentrated fruit syrup.

We have to navigate our trolley through the hoards of people in the aisles, as everyone is aware that shops close early on Sunday. (We made the mistake once of coming in at 5 minutes to 4pm and being shooed out) We both find the trolleys here not particularly easy to drive and it’s an ab workout, targeting the obliques! As we approach the checkout, it’s the same process: I fish out my rewards card out of my extremely thick wallet that always contain more cards and old receipts than cash, while my partner in crime systematically organizes our purchases on the conveyor belt to make sure our packing a bit easier (always an engineer at heart!). And yes, we have to pack our own groceries (something I haven’t had to do since shopping at the GCS). Being me, of course, I have to treat it as a game and make sure I don’t get too far behind the cashier’s quick scanning hand but it’s always opening those darn plastic bags under pressure!