Find treasure at ethic groceries!

[Packratona!]

You can almost begin to predict what is in the cooking pots in the neighborhood by what is currently on sale in local grocery stores. So follow the trail! This week I started conversations with shoppers in the new Latino/Jamaican/Haitian store in my area, about how they were going to cook with the ingredients they were buying. This is a great activity to engage in, in the vegetable aisle while people are selecting and counting and weighing. I have found that anyone who likes to cook is happy to answer your questions (but don't bother the store employees). Sample of items on sale this week: cucumbers 5 for a dollar, tomatoes 33 cents a pound, saltfish (Jamaican term for salted pollack) $2.78 a pound, onions 33 cents a pound, red bell peppers 78 cents a pound. I loved the store, so recommended it to a Jamaican neighbor. She went to the store and loved it, and recommended the saltfish. I make another recipe with that, but had never bought the bone in, which is half the price of the deboned that I usually buy. She made a fabulous dish with those ingredients that are on sale this week at rock bottom prices. Then she brought me a sample this morning: yum!!! And now I have the recipe! Eat on Jamaican ("foreign export") crackers. Will definitely make! I am going to go back to the store and buy the saltfish, as well as the Jamaican yellow yams that are on sale for 99 cents a pound.
I figure this can only help my budget; basing my week's menu on what is on sale each week. How do I balance this with eating up what is already in my pantry?

[iris lilies]

I love our ethnic grocery store! They have the fresh rice from Asia we buy both basmati rice and white rice.

[Packy]

I love our ethnic grocery store! They have the fresh rice from Asia we buy both basmati rice and white rice.I am just sitting here, wondering why, with all that land you kids have under cultivation(peas, cawwots, watermelon), that you don't diversify, and irrigate it and have Rice Paddies and grow your own? After all, you love the taste of fresh, home-grown food. Well, don't you? Food shipped ALL the way from Asia, and sitting on a grocery store shelf, can't be all that fresh. Most of those freighters have ship rats, that probably like to nest in the pallets loaded with rice, so they have plenty to eat. So, it might not be very clean, either. But, I could be mistaken. Hope that helps you some.

[JaneV2.0]

You can find good deals and flavorful foods and spices at ethnic grocers. Prices on staples like coconut milk and sambals are much better than in standard stores. I stock up at Uwajimaya and other resources once or twice a year. The last time, I even invested in a fresh durian. I found different flavors of curry powder at a Vietnamese store in Beaverton and stocked up. I also like the tiny cans of Thai seaoning paste: mussaman, green, yellow, and red curry--just enough for one recipe. Holy basil, lemon grass, galangal and ginger are much fresher and cheaper than at neighborhood stores--if you can even find them.

[pinkytoe]

All that talk about olives...and we're headed to the Mid-East grocery nearby this afternoon to get some. He has a bar with about twenty different kinds. All types of feta that they cut from a block and cover with brine. Produce like Lebanese cukes which I am going to try and grow this spring. DH used to sell him food products wholesale so he is always helpful with selections. I love perusing the aisles and looking at all the exotic pickles, jellies, spices and teas. And he makes fresh whole wheat pita bread for a very reasonable price. A little further away we have a huge Asian supermarket that is loads of fun to walk through. And a super mercado equally fascinating with tortillas made on sight and a large pan dulceria (bakery).

[Packratona!]

I am just sitting here, wondering why, with all that land you kids have under cultivation(peas, cawwots, watermelon), that you don't diversify, and irrigate it and have Rice Paddies and grow your own? After all, you love the taste of fresh, home-grown food. Well, don't you? Food shipped ALL the way from Asia, and sitting on a grocery store shelf, can't be all that fresh. Most of those freighters have ship rats, that probably like to nest in the pallets loaded with rice, so they have plenty to eat. So, it might not be very clean, either. But, I could be mistaken. Hope that helps you some.

I buy a lot of food at Asian stores that is actually produced in the USA. But I agree, we do have to be very very cautious of food processed in other countries (as well as in this country). Farm grown frozen tilapia, for instance.

[Packratona!]

All that talk about olives...and we're headed to the Mid-East grocery nearby this afternoon to get some. He has a bar with about twenty different kinds. All types of feta that they cut from a block and cover with brine. Produce like Lebanese cukes which I am going to try and grow this spring. DH used to sell him food products wholesale so he is always helpful with selections. I love perusing the aisles and looking at all the exotic pickles, jellies, spices and teas. And he makes fresh whole wheat pita bread for a very reasonable price. A little further away we have a huge Asian supermarket that is loads of fun to walk through. And a super mercado equally fascinating with tortillas made on sight and a large pan dulceria (bakery).
Yeah, you got it pinkytoe! Only thing better than those tortillas is a place where they go out and collect the corn and grind it in front of you, THEN make the tortillas (by hand, of course), then bake on a hand made clay stove/oven. You haven't eaten a tortilla until you've tasted them this fresh!

[libby]

All that talk about olives...and we're headed to the Mid-East grocery nearby this afternoon to get some. He has a bar with about twenty different kinds. All types of feta that they cut from a block and cover with brine. Produce like Lebanese cukes which I am going to try and grow this spring. DH used to sell him food products wholesale so he is always helpful with selections. I love perusing the aisles and looking at all the exotic pickles, jellies, spices and teas. And he makes fresh whole wheat pita bread for a very reasonable price. A little further away we have a huge Asian supermarket that is loads of fun to walk through. And a super mercado equally fascinating with tortillas made on sight and a large pan dulceria (bakery).

I am so jealous..