We also promised at the first of October to tell you about our grocery shopping. It may seem mundane, but anything done in an unfamiliar context is anything but mundane. In the States, we (or Jennifer) would jump in our car once a week and go to Wal-Mart and other grocery stores like Kroger or Aldi in order to get our food stuffs. We would even take coupons and watch sale adds in order to get the best price for the things we needed. Things are a bit different here. First, we don’t have a car to hop into in order to go to the grocery store. Second, there are few grocery stores as we would call them in the States. Third, we have never seen a coupon in Mongolia and sale adds, not to mention sales, for food items are extremely rare.
We have to eat, so we find what we need. While there are few conventional grocery stores, there are small convenience type stores all over the place. There is no need for a car since our main grocery store is right across the street. This has been one of our favorite places to shop for food and basic items since we returned in August. The picture shows where it used to be. It is now in the basement of the same building but with the same general layout as before. We have frequented it so often that the owner and most of the ladies who work there know us. It reminds me of a time when people in a community actually knew one another. Honestly, how many people do you know and see regularly when you are running your weekly errands? What we can’t find here, we can usually find at two other more traditional grocery stores which are about ten minutes and fifteen minutes walking distance from our apartment. These larger stores carry more import goods. If we have a craving for or need something that is less Mongolian, these are the places we go. One is between our house and Craig and Sarah’s house which is very convenient since we walk to their house at least once a week. This is also the store where we get our breakfast cereal! Yes, we have found a reliable and cheap source for imported breakfast cereal! The boxes we get are usually 750 grams which last a while, and at just over 4 dollars, they very reasonable even with our limited budget!
There is another store that we go to often, the Eggmart!!! It is next to our apartment building all of a minute walk from the outside door. Guess what we get here? If you guessed beef, you need to think about it a little more. We get all of our eggs as well as chicken from this place. We can get both cheaper here than any other place we have found. They also have turkeys for a reasonable price. This year we will have turkey during the holiday season! Two were purchased for our all team holiday meal, but we got one for us as well. We love turkey, and it is not a popular meat in Mongolia. Last year, we were quoted $100 for a single turkey. The ones we got for the team meal were about $28 a piece. A little pricey but affordable!
Occasionally, we need to go to a market. Two markets that Jennifer went to regularly last year are located to the north in the center part of town. Sometimes when we have to go into town we will swing by one or both of these places to stock up on stuff that we can only get there or that is the best price there. Walking into town has not been uncommon for us, but we generally take a bus. A third market is east of us. It is our least favorite market to go to, but it is also the best place to get certain things. The quickest way to get there from here is by micro bus, a souped up minivan that can usually fit twenty plus people. Needless to say, we try to avoid these except when absolutely necessary.
There is no guarantee that any of our regular stores will have what we need at any one time. Frequently, we may have to look around or do without. However, things here are much better than they were a few years back, as we have been told. Today, there are a lot of things available that used to not be including a wide variety of import items from Germany (we love the Germans!), Russia, China, the USA, as well as other countries. Many of these things are not only available, but they are affordable. Most food and staple items are regularly available, or if something is not around it probably will be in a week or two. It is certainly not the States, but we have nothing to complain about and are very thankful for the blessings that we have!
Next time we will tell you about our favorite Mongolian restaurants and food! Mutton and fat, there ain’t nothin’ better! (That is actually Craig’s opinion not ours!)
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