No, this isn’t an amazing find at Craigslist or ebay, and it’s not paying $.12 for $68 of stuff at CVS or Walgreens. I wish. As I’ve lamented before, groceries are expensive here. A gallon of milk is roughly $8 now. There are no coupons, loss leaders, or even decent sales, so in some ways, I feel like I’m a pawn in this country’s grocery system.

But I’m tired of complaining and looking at what I don’t have. I’m not going to change this country’s economic system, out-of-whack as it may be, and by just wishing I had the methods of saving I had in the States, I can easily turn a perfectly innocent grocery trip into a need for a serious attitude adjustment.

So. Today I’m going to focus on something I do like here, which is the local market. Basically, every neighborhood here has a local outdoor market, something of a farmer’s market but much bigger. Umbrellas pop open early in the morning, and all day long, farmers shout out their wares in the local language, hoping someone will take advantage of their deal. You can find tons of wholesome, fresh stuff here – everything from fruits and veggies, to fish, nuts, olives, cheese, bread, eggs, and herbs. And I’m happy to say that slowly, slowly, most of our meals are coming from this market.

Our market is only open on Wednesdays and Sundays, so we make Wednesday the start of a new weekly menu. It’s really pretty fun to come home with a boat load of veggies, some of which will last until next week. (There are no pesticides or food enhancers that are par for the course in stateside produce, so not only are most things fresher and juicier, they also don’t last as long.)

I really should film us walking through the market one morning, but for now, photos of our week’s booty will have to suffice.

These bananas, broccoli, carrots, green beans, potatoes, grapes, mandalines (sorta like oranges, but green on the outside), and pears cost about $9. This photo doesn’t do justice the amount of food pictured – there’s a lot here for our little family:

I accidentally started dinner before taking the photo above, so here’s some of the remaining potatoes and carrots simmering on the stove:

These onions are about $.50 – I bought about a dollar’s worth, but by this photo I had already used around half:

Finally, here’s some pumpkin. This is how you buy it – they don’t really decorate with it, so there’s no real option of buying them whole (they’re not orange on the outside, anyway; they’re usually either an unattractive green or brown). But you can make this chopped pumpkin meat into probably about 8 cups of puree, and it cost around $1:

So this is my Super Savings Saturday, as an attempt to be thankful and cheerful for the way God has provided whole food at a reasonable price in our little corner of the world!

posted: 07 October 20
under: culture