A Big Shop

Getting back to normal here required me to go out and do a big food shop today.  I have to say that I was almost happy to return to shopping at Lidl and Sainsbury's.  Although I spent more than I normally would on a food shop, i.e. £140, this was mainly because I had virtually emptied every cupboard and the freezer of food before we headed off on holiday, so more food than usual was needed and also because I hadn't yet made a menu plan for the month.

In part, however, I think the price of groceries in the US had made me appreciate how cheap food is here, and more especially organic food, which I hardly attempted to purchase in the US due to assuming it's cost would be so prohibitive, having seen the price of regular food.  As a consequence, quite a lot was thrown in the trolley today without even questioning the price.  It helped that it was the beginning of the month and money was not such an obstacle.

I also bought multiples of some items that were on offer and just couldn't be overlooked, mainly jars of various organic sauces that we use regularly that usually cost £2.40, but were reduced to £1.50. A few yellow label items that we use regularly were also found, that could be frozen and used later in the month.  These items will all gradually get used as the month progresses.  I think I bought enough food to more or less last at least a couple of weeks, which doesn't sound quite so bad.

It was a relief to be back buying familiar grocery products that are known to me, with no unfamiliar additives in them, ingredients that weren't listed on the packaging or calorie laden syrups that had been added to make things taste sweeter. Without wanting to sound disrespectful, I did find that you had to look carefully at labels, which I do here as well, as even fresh sausages had all sorts of additives added to them that I wasn't expecting. I do believe that labeling laws are different in the US too and some ingredients don't need to be listed as they might here.

One thing I did notice that was there was a lot of fresh produce from Canada for sale in the supermarkets, which confused me a little as I assumed most things would be grown in the US, considering what a large land mass it is and considering the variety of climates it has. I guess it is no different to us buying fruit and vegetables from all over Europe and the world, except of course, we could never grow some of them here. Like here, I assume the supermarkets source everything where they can buy it most cheaply and then ship it around the country.

We did make the mistake in the US, of unknowingly shopping in more expensive supermarkets, as they were the closest to where we were staying.  I guess you don't always know which supermarkets are cheaper until you've shopped in a few different ones.  We should have remembered from our last trip to California a couple of years ago, but we didn't.  It is a mistake that we will try not to repeat if we travel to the US again.  I must admit that it was mostly my fault, as after travelling for several hours to get to our apartment, instead of just buying a few bits to tide us over until the next day, I more or less did a big shop, and didn't wait to find a less expensive supermarket, such as Walmart in the vicinity.

I guess holidays when you get there, aren't all about shopping around for the cheapest deal.  I guess it's okay to just go with the flow, relax and not worry about it all too much, if you can afford to do so. In spite of the issues above, we ate pretty healthily and enjoyed our food whilst in the US, so I don't regret any of it.