So over the past few months Michelle and I have done a lot of grocery shopping and I've had the chance to get a good look at the selection. The first thing I want to talk about is the availability of certain foods. As far as I can tell, you should be able to find almost anything you want in one of the larger supermarkets which are organized in a similar way to most supermarkets back home. Whenever I walk into our local supermarket, Beiseia, it's almost like walking into a Meijer back home. There are fresh vegetables and fruits in the front and household supplies in the back. There are even import food aisles where you can pick up everything from tacos to Chinese sauces.
We've found it quite easy to make typical food that we might find back home like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches or French toast.
Granted, some things are more expensive than they are in America. Generally the expensive things are foods not traditionally Japanese. Meat is a classic example, especially beef. As are diary products. Other things that tend to be expensive are packaged snack foods like cookies and chips which come in smaller bags than the typical American is used to. However, Japanese staples like fish, vegetables, soy, noodles, and rice can be extremely cheap. A vegetable stir-fry with green peppers, onions, bean sprouts, broccoli, and a packet of sauce is a good cheap way to make a meal. Your local supermarket may have a discount cart for vegetables which is where we've often found things from bean sprouts to cabbage to gobo (burdock root.) And of course, anything you can mix with rice is cheap and easy. Fried rice with vegetables is also an option as are about any kind of noodles. Try making yakisoba with cabbage and worchester sauce. And if you're not too picky, you can pick up cheap packets of instant curry which when combined with a good portion of rice make a filling meal.
Michelle and I have a small collection of recipes which I may post at a later date.
Also important is the fact that many perishable items go on sale a little bit before the store closes for the night. The time varies from store to store but 7:15 at the Hikone Beiseia is when the bentos and sushi go on sale at half price. Various other things such as the fried foods and bean and meat buns also go on sale. The meat that expires soon goes on sale around 5:00. Just stick it in the freezer when you get back home and you should be set. Make note of the time your local supermarket starts marking down prices and go slightly early. People tend to arrive and grab what they want before they start marking down because it's possible to have an employee mark down food that you already have in your hands. Just grab what you want and wait until the employees come out then line up with everyone else.
Give the employee your food and he or she will place a new barcode sticker on it with a discount price.
We've found it quite easy to make typical food that we might find back home like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches or French toast.
Granted, some things are more expensive than they are in America. Generally the expensive things are foods not traditionally Japanese. Meat is a classic example, especially beef. As are diary products. Other things that tend to be expensive are packaged snack foods like cookies and chips which come in smaller bags than the typical American is used to. However, Japanese staples like fish, vegetables, soy, noodles, and rice can be extremely cheap. A vegetable stir-fry with green peppers, onions, bean sprouts, broccoli, and a packet of sauce is a good cheap way to make a meal. Your local supermarket may have a discount cart for vegetables which is where we've often found things from bean sprouts to cabbage to gobo (burdock root.) And of course, anything you can mix with rice is cheap and easy. Fried rice with vegetables is also an option as are about any kind of noodles. Try making yakisoba with cabbage and worchester sauce. And if you're not too picky, you can pick up cheap packets of instant curry which when combined with a good portion of rice make a filling meal.
Michelle and I have a small collection of recipes which I may post at a later date.
Also important is the fact that many perishable items go on sale a little bit before the store closes for the night. The time varies from store to store but 7:15 at the Hikone Beiseia is when the bentos and sushi go on sale at half price. Various other things such as the fried foods and bean and meat buns also go on sale. The meat that expires soon goes on sale around 5:00. Just stick it in the freezer when you get back home and you should be set. Make note of the time your local supermarket starts marking down prices and go slightly early. People tend to arrive and grab what they want before they start marking down because it's possible to have an employee mark down food that you already have in your hands. Just grab what you want and wait until the employees come out then line up with everyone else.
Give the employee your food and he or she will place a new barcode sticker on it with a discount price.
2 comments | Leave a comment
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}