Grocery shopping 101

I've now been grocery shopping for the first time in town. Granted, I haven't braved the open-air market yet – mostly because I don't trust myself to haggle successfully – but at least now I know where to buy spaghetti noodles and tissues!

Our morning began at the mission headquarters, where Mom can get money three days a week. After a brief stop at one of many local pharmacies, we arrived at one of our town “supermarkets” (a hole in the wall, about 20' x 8'). There we got most of our canned goods, Ramen (Indomie) noodles, spices, toiletries, soy sauce, and powdered milk. Some of our “gold mine” finds included coconut milk, which Mom says only appears once every few months; ground cinnamon; raisins; sesame oil; and even tapioca!

Next we went to the Lebanese store where Mom can buy imported cheese. (Not me. The price is just too high, so I'll learn how to cook without dairy products.) We got instant coffee, sugar, flour, couscous, and halveh (a favourite sweet sesame spread).

Our next stop was one of the bigger supermarkets in town. Mom avoids this store usually because we have to pay N20 to park (about $0.16). There we procured semovita for last night's dinner, some plastic containers in which to store my dry ingredients (did I mention we have a mouse in our house?), and an ice tray. We looked for a toaster, but to no avail – although there were lots of different electric kettles and even two microwaves!

Right across the street we went to the meat store, where we bought some pork (which is cheaper than beef). I coveted the bratwurst, but at N1400/kg ($5/lb), it's totally unrealistic with a weekly budget of about N6000!

Up the street and around the corner, we bought a flat of 36 eggs. (Mom used to buy her eggs from a woman on the hospital compound, but last summer, a huge truck ran into the chicken coop and killed almost all her hens.) Just across the street, we made a stop at the fresh produce stalls. From one man we bought all our vegetables and from his neighbour all our fruit. Luxuries included broccoli, strawberries, and potatoes! Yum!

Our last stop was the bakery, where Mom buys pita bread and can occasionally buy whole wheat pita. Not this time. So we both bought some white pita, and I got a loaf of regular white bread for sandwiches.

And finally we were on our way home! The whole trip took about 4 hours, and when we returned we still had to sort through our vegetables to figure out what was whose. Then Mom taught me how to sterilise the vegetables I wanted to eat fresh (only tomatoes this time) to avoid getting typhoid or whatever. Phew. What a morning! Now I just need to get my stove & oven working...