Trivia & Tidbits Thursday - Grocery Shopping (Part I)

This week's topic is grocery shopping in Gabs! (I call it 'grocery shopping', but some people here call it going to 'the market' or going to 'the shops'.)

One of my favorite stores for grocery shopping is Woolworths. If I remember correctly - they are a British-based company. (I could look it up, but I just don't want to at the moment---it will soon be midnight for me. Maybe if you have nothing better to do, then you could Google "Woolworths" and let me know what you find.) Anyway, I like their products. Their breads are wonderful. Their produce is always fresh. Of all the milks we've tried here, we like the Woolies (easier to say than Woolworths) milk (lowfat) the best. And, of course, theirs is the most expensive in town.

Another thing you should know about this particular 'grocery store' - this 'market' is located in the back corner of their clothing store. Kind of like a mini-mini Target in the US. It's small. Really small. Don't ask how many square feet. I'm terrible at guestimating that kind of stuff.

Anyway, there are about 4 aisles in this market - and as you can see in the first picture above, the aisles are short. The aisle above is of the snacks, juices and bottled water.

This is a pic of the fruit section. Apples, melons, grapes, berries, etc.

Pic of some of the 'ready made' foods. Choices are chicken nuggets (really good), varieties of samoosas (our favs).....

My photographer wanted you to have a close up of a samoosa package.
Samoosas are phyllo filled with a slightly spicy beef, chicken or vegetable mixture.
We like beef the best. You bake them in the oven for about 10 mins. I like to dip them in mustard.

The yogurt and pudding section of the dairy case.

The block cheeses. Gouda is a popular cheese here.
I prefer cheddar.
If you look to the top left corner of the pic, you'll see egg cartons.
Only brown eggs are sold in Gabs. They taste the same as the white ones from home.
This Woolies is the ONLY store I've found in Gabs that refrigerates their eggs.
All other stores stock their eggs on a room-temp shelf.
This is where I buy my eggs. They are sold in 1 1/2 dozen cartons.

Though not easily conveyed in these pics - is the fact that options of products offered is EXTREMELY limited compared to the US. For example, this is the 'paper products' offering at this store. This store sells 2 varieties of toilet tissue and 1 or 2 choices of paper towels. I don't get my paper products here. Too expensive. As for paper towels - I order those from www.alice.com. Brawny is my brand of choice, which is not available here - nor is Bounty. The quality of paper towels offered here is poor.

There I am, at the 'till' (check-out). The little blonde head in the bottom left of the pic is our youngest child - bagging groceries. Yes, we had our canvas bags. No, we don't get stared at funny when we use them. Recycling is big here - so bringing your own bags is a welcome sight to the clerks. And, if you don't have any canvas bags, the clerk usually has some at the till that she'll sell to you.

I'll post more pics next week - or maybe the week after - of the inside of another grocery store. I think my photographer won't mind snapping photos again. She doesn't charge me too much - just a candy bar.