Hungry?

One of the most frustrating things to me (minor, I know) when we first moved here was grocery shopping!  It's not that there is a lack of food here.  There's a Chili's, Starbucks, and Pink Berry on every corner.  We have Applebee's, TGI Friday's, McDonald's, Popeye's, Little Ceasars, Papa John's, and of course a million restaurants with delicious arabic food.  Though we have all the above, it doesn't mean it tastes exactly like we are used to in America.  

Ketchup here is cocktail sauce - even though it says Heinz and is packaged like we are used to.  Fruit Loops (even though they say Kellog's) are not Fruit Loops.  If you look at the fine print, a majority of the grocery items say "manufactured in Saudi Arabia" or "Egypt" or somewhere similar.  Yep - if it looks like it and it feels like it, it doesn't mean it tastes like it!  

There are co-ops all over town - and of course some are new and nice and others you wouldn't want to step foot into.  However, no matter how new or nice they are always cheaper than the so called "American" grocery stores.  The Sultan Center and Lulu's are life savers for us, but they sure do put a dent in your pocket!  I go there every 3 weeks or so and can't get out for under about 80KD (about $300!).  All things American (legitimately imported) scream buy me (velveeta cheese, gold fish, and granola bars)!!  Basically, they take the U.S. dollar price and slap a KD on there instead.  So a $3 item become 3KD = $10.50.  Yep! It's expensive!!!

If you see something, you better get a lot of it because it probably won't be there when you go back.  I have learned to make due with what we can find, but it truly makes it stressful for me to cook a lot of things.  I'm not a cook really, so I'm very limited in what to get and substitute for what.   This has resulted in me cooking very little here.  :-)  It's frustrating to visit 5 different stores for one little recipe.  I'm just not gonna do it.  Luckily, my family is probably happy about this because they aren't forced to eat my delicious food as often as I would like for them too.  

Milk comes unrefrigerated and in a box.  You can get it cold, but it expires pretty much the next day or 2 days later so if you don't like going to the store every day to get your milk, you resort to this.  It pretty much taste the same and is not as gross as it sounds.  It just took me a while to get used to the idea, but now I don't think anything about it.

 You can usually only find Honey Cheerios in the local markets, but they are pretty much on target with taste.

 Pringles pretty much taste the same...

 For the low, low price of about $6 a pop, you can have yourself a can of Campbell's soup!  BTW - the majority of these products have English written on the opposite side.

Tuna - I don't eat it because I'm too picky about it, but my maid does.

Guess I should have taken some pictures of actual healthy food, huh?  I must have been hungry for junk food when I took these pictures.  The produce isn't quite as exciting to take pictures of - a carrot is a carrot, right?

I try to buy my eggs at the more Americanized stores because they usually seem to be a little cleaner (like the produce).  I have bought eggs many times with a little bit of poop on them and a few feathers tossed about. :-)  Guess that means their fresh, right?!

Hungry?