This is the way we go to the store…

November 13th, 2012 in Our Travels Worldwide

In my first edition of my new series entitled….”THIS IS THE WAY….” I bring to you the ever important never ending…grocery shopping!

I am having to learn to do everything in a new way out here and I rely a lot on my husband. Which is out of the norm–that could be taken the wrong way, let me explain. Since I have known my husband he has worked non stop and owning your own business (at least in our case) took up every moment of his time. So I did everything else, made all the decisions, ran things the way I liked them, and I got very used to it. Now I need help talking to people, need help getting around, need help doing most everything. It is an odd feeling, a couple of times it has annoyed me, but overall it has been a good thing. Which surprises me. Our goal is though that in about a month I can take the kids where they need to go and do errands on my own. Spanish lessons, learning to drive a mini van in 1st gear, and not scrape out the bottom—here I come!

Alright though, back to “This is the way we go to the store” in *Costa Rica.

Tyler somehow made friends with a guy who ran the butcher shop at a carniceria in Utah and got him to save the best cuts for our dogs (we feed them raw meat). And he did it again here in a town called Esterillos. We actually get the scraps for free but it is also where we buy our meat for the humans in the house. One day Tyler went in and the butcher was cutting up the pig right on the counter–and Ty picked us up some yummy bacon right away.

Fish? Make friends with a local fisherman who brings around his daily catches later on that day. Or buy it from the guy who stands on the side of the road holding up his prized catch for everyone to see. Or you can pull over to a little house that has a fish sign near it. We had the most amazing sea bass this week—tasted like BUTTA I tell ya.

There are a big variety of grocery stores out here. A lot of neighborhood markets that are a bit run down, every gas station has a market, markets with a warehouse feel, markets that are cheap, and a market like Harmons (with artisan breads, organic items, etc).

Lastly produce. The local grocery stores have some great produce but luckily there is a farmers market here like no other. You all know that I love farmers markets so my bar is set high. who would have thought that out here it would blow us out of the water? We eat so many fresh vegetables and fruits now, everything has such FLAVOR. The pineapple is like eating candy, it is our new favorite snack. I am relying heavily on that pineapple because we have cut out sugar (and I am having major withdrawals). We also are brave and try something new every week, in the pictures below you will see the spiky looking red balls, that was the thing this week.

The price of things? Everything seems pretty similar to Utah although the produce and fish are cheaper. Then you have to let go of a lot of things you used to eat because they just aren’t available or too expensive. So I am learning to cook differently, even down to the snacks I feed the girls throughout the day. Learning how to do things all over again! Tyler cooks dinner every night and I take on breakfast and lunch. Not too shabby of a set up. I am still figuring out colones (the money here), it is odd to walk into a store and something costs in the thousands!

So…THAT is the way we go to the store…hope you enjoy the pictures as well:

(the butcher)