As a person who does not love to shop, I did enjoy the giant supermarkets in Charlotte – those giant combo grocery store-pharmacies where I could pretty much get everything on my list in a one-stop shop. Super bonus if I could also get school supplies, birthday presents, new clothes, and housewares. As the comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes says, “I’m approaching the age where I’m going to start getting my clothes the same place I get my groceries.”
So that has been one thing that has taken some getting used to since our move. While there are giant versions of our local stores, like a Carrefour Hypermarket, and even a Costco just outside of town, without a car, they are not really options on a regular basis – more of a special, we-had-to-rent-a-car-anyway-so-we-might-as-well-keep-it-for-an-extra-day-and-go-to-Costco basis.
When I’ve traveled in the past, I’ve always loved going into local grocery stores to see what kinds of things were available and what familiar things I could find; it is a great way to get a real feel for a place. However, those were just exploratory trips for fun; here I was actually responsible for stocking the refrigerator and pantry and creating meals that my children would want to eat.
When we first got here, grocery-shopping was a stressful, time-consuming process that involved a lot of using Google translate. I knew basic things like pollo, queso, leche, azúcar, and carne (thank you, high school Spanish!). But how do you say “cinnamon”? (canela) What the heck is “harina de trigo”? (wheat flour) What’s the difference between tomate entera and tomate triturado? (canned whole tomatoes vs. chopped) It would take SO much longer than I’d anticipated just to do a simple shopping trip, and afterwards I was often too brain-tired to actually COOK the meal I’d shopped for. I missed the days of running to the Harris Teeter, knowing exactly what a need and exactly where in the store it was, and being home in 20 minutes. Add having a picky eater to the mix, and I would get exhausted just thinking about planning and prepping for meals.
Seven months on, I have to say I have pretty much nailed my grocery shopping game and have come to enjoy it (notwithstanding a brief period when the store closest to us closed for three days and COMPLETELY reorganized and I had to kind of start over with the finding of everything). Aldi has the bagels we like and the three-pack of frozen pizza. Carrefour has the premade salad with the dressing Harrison loves, the frozen pizza Henry prefers, and the nuggets and chicken patties he likes. (It’s also where I do most of the daily shopping). The Lidl on the way home from Harrison’s school has really good produce and meat sections. And the Mas has American style cheese that our youngest picky eater deemed “acceptable”. The Hiper Oriente has an entire wall of ramen noodles that my oldest would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let him. My Spanish classes have helped make label reading faster, and the whole process is just easier and less stressful now. And my awesome rolling shopping trolley doesn’t hurt either! I do sometimes miss the convenience of one-stop shopping (Farmacias are completely separate from the grocery stores, and I sometimes yearn for a good Target trip), but overall I’m happy with the smaller, more easily navigable stores, and I’m proud of myself for doing so much better navigating them.
It’s a good lesson for all things about adapting and adjusting to a new culture after a big move – everything takes time. Solo tiempo, as my Spanish teacher regularly reminds me.
Next challenge: buying meat at an actual carniceria!
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