My adventures living on
a Caribbean island. Welcome to my monthly, or not so monthly adventures. We try
not to commit too soon here on island.
Impression #6
Sometimes in “the states,” we take normal day tasks
for granted. We don’t think we are, but when living on a Caribbean island, I
find that there are a number of everyday occurrences that don’t always work
easily, or at all, occurrences such as electricity, driving, or grocery shopping.
Yes, today I’m talking about grocery shopping.
Here on island we have two large grocery chains that
consist of two stores each. They are large because, well, their stores are the
largest. These are Pueblo and Plaza Extra.
We also have two large K-Marts which help round-out the typical needs
for groceries here. However, grocery shopping is not exactly easy.
First, a person must get used to a number of
differences. At these grocery stores, you are not allowed to bring your carts
out to your car. You may use a cart to shop, but then you must empty the
contents onto the belt and then leave the cart at the entrance to the check-out
station. A worker will come by and clear carts left in that major aisle of the
store. Then the bagger will put all the groceries into a different cart and
wheel it out to your car at which point one must then offer a tip. This reminds
me a bit of when I went grocery shopping with my grandmother . . . when I was
5.
Next, as you are shopping, you will notice workers
with brooms pushing a paper towel along the floor. My assumption is that this
is to catch any stray moisture on the floor that could cause someone to slip,
but as they do it slowly throughout the entire store, I’m not absolutely sure.
Also, you must get used to not seeing a product you
usually buy on the shelves for months at a time. Unfortunately, you cannot
simply go to another store and buy it as you will find that store’s shelves
empty too. You have to learn that if you see the Cheerios on the shelf today
and that is your cereal of choice, you need to buy it immediately as it may be
out next week and not be back for a couple months.
But be careful when stocking up. The product in
these stores is not rotated. Therefore, all the new items are placed in the
front, sold first, leaving the older items behind. This is a particular issue
down here because the stock that comes into the island is already close to its
expiration date. So even when put on the shelves that day, the expiration date
is often within a week or two!
Lastly, so as not to bore everyone with the technicalities
of grocery shopping on St. Croix, I will finish with the prices. These are of
course, high, as everything must be shipped in (except mangos and bananas :-).
So a gallon of milk is $5.99 and a container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is
$6.99. This is why I make my own ice cream every weekend because the 2 pints of
heavy cream is only $3.99 and it makes 2 ½ quarts. However, it is the price
range that will drive a shopper crazy. The little Fancy Feast cat food cans for
my cat are $1.05 at Plaza Extra, but at
K-Mart they are .52 cents. That’s more than double! However, buying paper
towels at Plaza Extra is $5 less than at K-Mart! It gives a whole new meaning
to the phrase “shopping around.” And no,
there are no “low price guarantees” here :-)
Lesson #6
Plan on a week’s worth of time to fill grocery
shopping needs, own a freezer and have lots of cupboard space for stocking up, and
most important, continue to let my husband do all the grocery shopping. He
loves the challenge ;-)
