As a wife and mother, grocery shopping is an important factor in managing and running a household. Everyone needs to eat, and normally three times a day and seven days a week, right? That means there has to be a source of obtaining food in order to prepare it for the family. :) Obviously being a foreigner and only living here for two years, my experience will be limited, but I will share with you what I have experienced so far.
First, the biggest difference is that there are two main ways of buying food. One being the more traditional way and the other being a more Westernized way. The traditional way is by going to the public wet market, or as they call it here the palengke. A local farmer's market back in the US is a more picturesque and glorified version of the palengke. It is a place where they sell local fruits and vegetables. They also sell fish and meet and a limited variety of dry goods. There are several stales and vendors selling goods, and as the consumer you have the opportunity to haggle and try to get the lowest price. If you go often and your haggling skills are sharp, then you can develop relationship with specific vendors and become each other's "suki". A suki is a regular customer and/or a favorite store you shop at regularly. This would ensure you get good prices and fresh product once you become a regular at certain stales. One often goes daily, early in the morning, to buy produce and meat for the day. The advantage of going daily is it is fresh, and if you have limited means of refrigeration then you don't have to worry about the food spoiling since you'll cook it the same day. Palengkes are the best place to buy seafood, as the fish are usually still alive and flopping around when you purchase them, and also the best place to buy produce as it is usually cheaper and fresher. For fun, and to help give you a better idea of what it's like, here is a fun short video parody of life at a palengke.
The other way of buying food is at a grocery store. They have grocery stores here just like in the US. There are a few stand alone grocery stores with a parking lot in front just as you might picture in your mind your local Von's, Ralph's, or Aldi's. But in the area where we live those are few and farther between. Instead you will more likely find your grocery store at the mall. And the most common mall is SM. Practically every town has a SM mall. What is a SM mall? Well it is a mall, in the same shape as you might picture in your own mind. If you went to your local Target or Walmart, what other stores might you find in that same shopping center? Maybe a bank? Or maybe a cell phone store? What about a dental or doctor office? And maybe a restaurant or two? Now take all of those individual stores and put them as individual stores within a SM mall. Now also take your Target or Walmart, but first separate all of the departments inside the Target (food, clothes, jewelry, hardware, furniture, pharmacy, etc.) into individual stores, and then add them to your mall too. Now your SM mall is complete! SM is very convenient places to do all of your shopping and errands.
To get to the grocery store first drive and park in the parking structure of the mall. Now walk through the mall and find the entrance of the grocery store. Once inside things will look pretty familiar and it would register in your mind as a grocery store. So now let's grab a cart and go shopping!
When you grab your cart if have to decide if you want the large shopping cart or just a small handheld basket. Which one you choose will determine which line you have to stand in during checkout. The have lines designated for only the baskets and others for only the shopping carts. I guess it is sorta like your "10 items or less" lines back in the US.
Once you start going up and down the aisles here are some of the differences you might encounter:
- Milk. The milk is boxed and found in one of the aisles and not in the refrigerated cold section. Milk here comes in the powered form or in the UHT boxed form (ultra-high temperature pasteurized milk that enables them to import milk from New Zealand or Australia to be sold here). They come in 1 liter sizes. There are 3.8 liters in 1 gallon. So if you normally grab two 1-gallon jugs of milk in the US, then you'll need to grab 7 or 8 boxes of milk here.
- Portion sizes. Often you can buy what you in for just one serving because portion sizes are smaller here. In the toiletries section most soaps and shampoos and toothpaste are available in what you might perceive as travel sizes. The same options are true for condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces, oils, etc. If you are used to buying your paper towels in one big bundle at Costco, then you'll have to grab 12 individual rolls of paper towels from the shelf because they are sold individually or sometimes in a two-pack. But something you'll need to consider if your storage space back home. Refrigerators are smaller than the US version. This means you cannot stock up the way you would back home. Even cupboard space for dry goods is limited. So often even if you wanted to buy the bigger size, you opt for the smaller size because it is what will fit in your kitchen back home.
- Produce. The produce section looks similar as in the US. There will be some produce you might not recognize, and several of the ones you do recognize might look small and wilted since they don't grown in this climate easily. So you would do well to learn the local ingredients if you want fresher looking produce. One difference is you do not weigh your own produce. Instead you hand them to the employee stationed in the produce section. He will weigh it, price it and bag it for you. If you forget this step, then once you get to the checkout you'll have to wait as the employee runs back to have it weighed and priced in the produce section.
- Meat. The meat section might look a little different. They have several employees waiting to serve you. The meat will be displayed in a similar manner as in the US, but it won't be packaged the same way. Instead you tell the butcher the meat, the cut and the weight of what you want. The cuts of meat vary as well. Some are often labeled with the name of the local dish because they precut the meat in the way it is most often cooked. If you don't see the cut you want no problem! Just ask one of the many butchers behind the counter and he'd be happy to cut it to your desire.
- Eggs. The only difference in eggs is they are not refrigerated. Because they do not wash the outside of the shell when they pack the eggs into cartons, they last much longer without refrigeration. This means the eggshell will have some dirt and sometimes feathers on the outside, but it isn't a problem you just wash it before you use it.
- Imports. As you go up and down the aisles you will see brands you recognize since imports are common now. But right next to the brand you recognize you'll also see a local brand of the same item. The difference is usually price.
- Common ingredients. As you scan the aisles you will quickly see what ingredients locals use mostly in their cooking. There are entire aisles dedicated to soy sauce, oil, vinegar, instant noodles, rice, powered milk, and chips.
- Incomplete shopping lists. Even if you wrote out a complete shopping list, it is most likely that you won't be able to purchase everything on your list. Shelves are not stocked continually like they are in the US, so often there will be at least one or two items I was planning to buy that I couldn't because the store did not have it at the time.
- Difficult to find items. As you scan the aisles you will quickly learn which items are difficult to find. It will be those last remaining items on your list you never seem to be able to check off. Those items might be mustard, olives, floss, refried beans, tomato sauce without added sugar, cereal without high sugar, dill relish, powdered sugar, salsa, crisco and yogurt without high sugar. Most all of these are items I have found before, but it is usually hit or missed as these are not common ingredients here. Which means they might run of of stock or have none at all. Stock rotates so even if one store had an item before, that doesn't mean they will always have that item.
- Flexibility. Having items that you previously planned for your weekly menu but were unable to find at the store means that you'll have to be flexible. Being flexible means you will most likely have to go shopping again later in the week. I used to shop just one day a week back in the US, but here I find myself shopping two days a week because of portion sizes, storage space at home, and difficult to find items. The more I learn how to cook locally, using local ingredients and local recipes, the easier my shopping and cooking become...and the happier my husband's belly too since his favorite food is Filipino food!
- Checkers. When you get to the checkout register things will be mostly the same. First remember to pick the right aisle for the cart you choose. Second, if you are elderly, disabled or pregnant you get your own checkout aisle which often comes with a chair so you can rest. Instead of asking you paper or plastic, they will ask you eco-bag or box. The boxes they use are just the boxes from the products, so they come in different sizes and shapes. The boxers are very good as their job, as I have never had anything squished. After boxing, they will wrap it up in plastic rope and leave room for a handle, to make it easy for you to carry. This is helpful and necessary if you don't have a car and have to take public transportation home.
- Walking to your car. Remember now you are in a mall. So sometimes this means you have to push your shopping cart through the mall to get to the exit you parked at. Often the grocery store will have an exit that goes directly to the parking lot to make things easier, but this parking lot does not always have open slots. But no worry, because the employees pride themselves in service and will help you without hesitation to push your cart through the mall to your car. Even if this takes them 10 minutes to get all the way to your car, they do it without complaint. In the US you could ask for help to your car, but that's just it you have to ask. Here it is assumed.
By no means is this a complete list of differences. But hopefully it gives you a little better idea of the similarities and differences in grocery shopping here compared to the US. Some of these differences are fun and refreshing. Some of these differences just take getting used to and once you do it is no big deal. And some differences can sometimes lead to frustration or anxiety. And for those that tempt towards anxiety we have Philippians 4:8 to help guide our thinking.
True = what is found in God
Honorable/Noble = worthy of awe and adoration
Just/Right = harmony with God's divine standard of holiness
Pure = morally clean and undefiled
Lovely = pleasing or amiable
Commendable/Good Repute/Admirable = highly regarded or thought well of, such as kindness, courtesy, and respect for others.
Excellent and Worthy of Praise
It is true that I have never gone hungry. It is true that God has always provided me with food every day of my life, food with flavor to be enjoyed and not merely to sustain the body. The color, texture, and flavor of the variety of fruits and vegetables here really is worthy of awe. My need for food is a reminder of my dependence and lack of autonomy, I must depend on a holy God greater than me. Thanksgiving is in order that we live under the New Covenant and all food is now undefiled, pass the bacon please! The variety of food and flavors I am able to purchased and bring home each week are truly pleasing to my tastebuds. The kindness and respect and courtesy that the employees here show me is a difference to give thanks about. Thinking on all of these things reminds me of my identity in Christ and my place before Him. I am truly thankful for the privilege to get to experience His creative power in the differences in food and people and culture.
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