There are some very intersting aspects to shopping here. First I had to learn how the weather affects our food. Ideally we would shop like they do in Europe, buy today only what you will eat today and got to the store again tomorrow. But with the roads being the way they are - and me being the way I am - I do tend to stock up. Costco was my dream store!

The first time I asked for celery the lady held up a slightly limp half a clump of celery and asked me "how many?" I said one, thinking I would have to settle for this scrawny thing and she proceeded to break of one stalk. I laughed, paid for it and realized how smart this was. How much celery has rotted in your refrigerator because you really only needed one or two stalks? So I get to buy just what I need.

Likewise with cabbage, papaya or watermelon; they will cut off whatever amount you ask for. Cigarettes can also be purchased one smoke at a time! Weird?

Apples tend to be expensive; $1.25 to $1.50 BZ each but some of them are very fresh and crispy. You have to learn which ones. Some are so heavily coated with wax it is impossible to eat the peel.

Ugly carrots. We call them that because they are not all the same size, shape and color like the pretty (we call them plastic carrots) you get in the US. Ours are sometimes short, often fat and have knobs - but by jumping Jehosophet do they taste great! - My grown daughter would NEVER eat a cooked carrot. I asked her just to taste one. OMG it is now one of her favorite foods here. She said I had ruined her as she could no longer buy anything but organic vegetable in Southern California.

Some stores open the big bags of dog food and rebag them into one pound plastic bags. You will never know what you are getting. I've had to stop buying the 50 lb bags because of the humidity here. Before it is all gone sometimes it has molded.

The humidity also affects baked goods; moist stuff molds. If you buy Belizean baked goods you will find them very dry. It took me years to figure out the mold thing which they obviously got generations ago.

I used to like Kashi cereals but learned I had to open the cardboard box, pull up the cellophane and check the bottom for bugs. Bugs seem to love Kashi.

Pancake mix needs to be kept in the refrigerator. One of the stores even keeps their supply in the chest with meat. I have always kept my flour in the freezer but never considered other flour products.

There are foods that we have only seen in refrigerators that are stored in the open air here. It does take some getting used to. For instance eggs. Here they are fresh and the inventory moves fast. In the US they have been kept in cold storage for who knows how long?
Bananas range between 4 or 5 for $1 BZ. Unlike the ones shipped green to the US, these are pretty ripe when you buy them. You MUST take then out of the plastic bag as soon as you get home or by the next day they are mush. I put mine in the refrigerator. In the US we were told to never put bananas in the frig. I don't know why.

Here's my favorite trick. I buy a bunch of apple bananas anytime they are available. At home I peel them all and put 4 each in a snack bag and zip it closed and put them in the freezer. Anytime I want a treat I get out a bag of bananas, a tablespoon of peanut butter and a couple of Casa Pan Dulce shortbread cookies. I cut the bananas into bit sized pieces and put a dollop of peanut butter and a slice of banana on a cookie and bite in. The different textures, temperatures and flavors give my mouth a party.


Harriette
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