Grocery Shopping

     One thing I can't wait upon my return is Meijer's, one stop shopping place.  Today we needed some food.  First stop - Schnieder Supermercado, a very small grocery store.   You can pay with a credit card and they have American looking food (cans and boxes of food).  We purchase Cornflakes, spaghetti sauce, BBQ sauce, chicken, butter, pop, toilet paper, cookies (cremas and bon o bons' are our favorite), etc.
Then I need to find fruit and vegetables - which is sold at every corner.  But not all fruit is at every corner, so I need to search and ask around. Then meat - the butcher is a few blocks away to buy ground beef or a whole chunk of beef. They weigh it and put it into a small plastic bag to carry.  Then I want dry white cheese - but nobody has it except the meat/seafood market.  Jack almost faints, due to the smell, as parts of whole cows are hanging up to sell.  There I find my white cheese. Ana walks past another store and remembers it has her favorite bon o bons. So into another store.
This is my American grocery shopping - of what looks familiar and what I think I can prepare.  Next day, I go with Reina to purchase food for her to teach me how to make rice/beans and Empanadas de Maiseca.  I only have 200 cordobas ($8.00).  We walk up the road and buy  1 lb. of rice, beans and 2 lbs of flour out of giant bags.  I remember I want onions, limes, bananas etc.  She picks up some rice for herself as well.  I walk home with .30 left over in my pocket.
Later that day I walk past my imported American grocery store, Gladys', and purchase  32oz. Welch's grape Jam for $5.00. - to go with the 3 jars of peanut butter I brought down with us.

Here are some food prices:

Toilet Paper 6 rolls - $3.25
 Spaghetti 1 lb   -  $1.75
 Powdered milk 12 oz -  $4.00 - milk in boxes is even more expensive.
 Coffee  14 oz --    $4.25
 Corn Flakes 22oz - $4.50
 Apples - $1.50 per apple
 bananas $0.05 per small banana
 Pineapple, small and sweet - $1.00
 Watermelon - $4.00
 Ground beef - $2.20 a lb.
 Crema cookies  $0.90 a package.
 Oatmeal 1/2 lb  -$0.90
 Small container of banana boat sunscreen - $12    
 Spaghetti sauce - $2.00 a jar.
 Can of veggies or fruit - $1.50 small can.
 Box of cake mix for Ana's birthday - $3.00 for the mix and $3.00 for the can of frosting.
 Rice - $0.30 a Lb
 Beans - $0.30 a lb
 Flour  - $0.40 a lb
 Eggs - 30 of them for $5.00

Most of the time when I shop - I don't care how much it costs - I just buy what looks familiar and what I can make.  We could eat rice/beans and tortillas every morning for breakfast a lot cheaper than Corn Flakes - but I would have some very unhappy children.

Jack and Ana like the daily Comedor Food.  Usually rice and beans and a piece of meat in a sauce (chicken or beef).  We all like the Comedor food since we are all starving by 1:30pm after all the children have eaten and we have cleaned up.