I have often been asked by friends back at home – “So what do you do all day?”… My usual response is “Well grocery shopping is an entire day’s adventure here!” Gone are the days of quickly running out to Publix for a few items, or running to the 7-11 for milk at 9pm! And living in an apartment certainly prevents the weekly stocking up shopping! So I have had to adjust my thoughts on grocery shopping here!
There are basically 3 stores that I use here – Spinneys, LuLus, and Choithrams. Spinneys is a smaller grocery that caters much more to the western market here and carries many brand names that we would recognize. This was so comforting in the beginning when we were yearning for something familiar! But they know this and are a bit more expensive than other grocery stores in the area! They have an amazing bread section and I really like their produce. They are also the only store we have found that offers pork! There is a separate room in the back that one enters for the that! The dry cleaners we use is also located inside Spinneys! Parking for this store is very challenging. This has become more of an issue recently as parking areas nearby have become paid parking and workers are using the Spinneys’ parking lot for office parking. There is nothing that says they can’t, so there is nothing we can do at the moment! So I have learned to go in the evenings!
Lulus on the other hand is much larger and has an underground parking lot! This is wonderful during the hot spring and summer months! In size, this would be equivalent to our Publix. Western brands are not as prevalent but on the flip side they carry a huge selection of more ethnic items. I am slowly beginning to try these! Lulus has a larger local/Emirati customer base and offers a large selection of prepared ethnic foods-like chicken tikka, samosas, curries, hummus, and even fried bananas! I admit I have stopped there on days that I didn’t feel like cooking! (Boy do I miss the Green Turtle though!!) It is easy to see from wandering the aisle of Lulus what the locals prefer to eat. There is an entire aisle of yogurt based items, a huge fresh cheese section as well as a large selection of nuts & dates to buy by the kilo.
Choithrams is a small grocery about 2 blocks away from our apartment building. It actually has quite a decent selection of items, but because it is easier to walk there than drive due to the parking situation, I can only buy what I can carry home! This has become the 7-11 for us! This is where I run to when I’m out of milk, or the girls need another egg for the cake they want to make!
What I still find amusing is how all the grocery stores I have been to, identify the produce and meats by country of origin! Apparently there is a difference between mandarines from Pakistan and those from Egypt! (Leon prefers the ones from Pakistan!) Meat comes to us from Australia, Brazil, the UK, and even Kenya!
While it might sound nice to have such a selection of stores, the challenge here is that I can’t seem to find everything I need in just one place! Many of us ex pats joke about this! We have had to adjust our shopping lists to what is offered here, and mesh this with items that our kids like to eat! My other challenge is trying to remember at which store I found an item once it’s time to restock! And items are not always available at a later date when you return to buy it again! So we often stock up on things when we see them! At one point I had 7 boxes of a particular cereal in my small pantry because for 2 months I couldn’t find it anywhere! Some of us even call our friends from the stores if we see an item that we know they have been looking for! In addition, living in an apartment means I have to carry all the bags up from the basement parking garage. This prevents me from the one large weekly shopping trip! So I now have a routine where I go to Lulus once a week and then Spinneys more frequently throughout the week.
So to answer your question about what do I do all day.. many days are spent at the grocery store(s)!!
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