Grocery shopping

I finished up my two days of grocery shopping today. I try to do 2 stores a day because it takes so long to get in and out....and I thought Walmart was bad. Try black Friday every day!!! Yesterday, I went to Kero and Maxi (the one like sams). Kero had a box of individually wrapped pork chops for only $23 and there are probably at least 10-20 in the box. I probably won't have bought them but someone else here has tried them and said they were good. They also had some ribs in a box for about the same price so I got them and will give them a try. I hope they are good....but if they are I can promise you that they will not have them next time I go....that's how it always works. Then I went to Maxi and I had my driver go in with me because you have to push a big cart around and everything is in bulk and it is so heavy and it's just easier with his help. Plus this is the store you have to check out all your stuff and of course sack everything yourself and they give you a receipt and you go to another line to pay and I don't like to leave my cart unattended. So I go pay and he gets in the line at the door so the person can check every single item off your receipt that you bought, they really put the Sam's door person to shame. Anyway, we went to Maxi and I had a lot of stuff to get here and of course they had nothing. It looked like they were closing or something. No produce, no eggs, hardly any meat, no juice for the boys. I was complaining about it and my driver said, "You probably shouldn't come here on Monday's because everyone buys everything on the weekends and they have to fill it back up". I just wished he would have told me that when I told him I needed to go there. Also, I noticed that a lot of the stuff is expiring at the beginning of October....so I will not be going back until after the first week of October because they will probably not have much.

Today I went to Shoprite and Casa De Frisco. I did really good at shoprite and found tons of stuff. I have slowly learned that if you find something you like buy lots of it because you probably will not see it again for a month or longer.

I took a picture of the honey just because I couldn't believe this little jar of honey cost $6.99

These are like roman noodles or so I hope. I will have to try them tomorrow.

Cream of chicken powder soup mix....I sure hope it is good because I have a lot of recipes I could use this on.

Sesame seeds of all the things on my list I didn't think I would be able to find these but I did and I couldn't find Mayo. :-) No ranch for us until I can find mayo...out of the 4 stores not one had any.

These are a 1/4th of the bananas that the gardener brought to me today....I said I would try them one more time and if we don't like them this time I will give them to my neighbor.

Things I couldn't find that were on my list were pepperoni pizza, tortilla chips, ice cream(I found ice cream cones which I have never seen before but nothing to go in them), mayo, juice boxes, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro. Another thing that I finally got accomplished this shopping trip is when I go to get hamburger meat and chicken and I tell them I want 3 kilos but I want 1 kilo on each tray....they never understand and I end up with all 6 lbs on one tray and when I get home I have to divide it up myself. Today I had my driver go in and I explained it to him and he got it right...yeah Baptista!!! Also, he got them to put 4 chicken breast on one tray instead of all 8. It's so nice when he goes in shopping with me because he will go exchange my money while I start shopping and then he comes in and carries the basket for me and helps sack my groceries. It is a lot less stressful having him there for sure. Sometimes I feel a little weird but he doesn't seem to mind. 

So from two days of shopping I hopefully got enough to last us for 2-3 weeks minus the fruits, veggies, bread and lunch meat.  I spent about $700....it makes me sick to my stomach that I spent that much. I feel guilty or something but I truly only got what was on my list. When the boys come home from school and want a snack it is very limited on the amounts here because I don't want to go shopping again. :-) Not only do you have to go to at least 4 different stores to find everything but you have to check the expiration date on everything you buy and also where it is from. Most of the stuff is from South Africa and that is ok....but some things are not so you have to watch were it comes from. Looking at every single item for this information just makes it take that much longer and the smell is not always good and everyone always in your space makes for a long day. I am getting braver though and stand my ground a little more when people try and cut in front of me because they only have 1 item and I have a whole basket full. It is definitely a different culture and I remind myself constantly that I am not in the US. :-)