Adventures in produce and other products

Assuming you have read my blog before, you know I don't need to talk much more about my love for Jumbo.  I hope it's pretty obvious.  Without it, I would have a completely different experience in Chile since the store carries most of the conveniences of any grocery store and even some American brands.  However, a couple frustrating things about it are that it is VERY inconsistent in what it carries.  So, for a week it will have tons of cheddar cheese, then one day it will disappear entirely and not return for a few weeks or months.  The same is true for many products, mostly things I love that happen to be familiar brands. Even in the Antofagasta expat group I belong to, people post things like "Organic apples in Jumbo today!", "Found syrup at Lider!" etc etc.  Thus, when I find something I love, I become a hoarder.  For example, today I found shredded cheddar cheese. This is a miracle because (A) I have never seen any kind of shredded cheese sold in the Antofagasta Jumbo, and (B) cheddar cheese is not a thing here.  Sometimes you can find blocks of Crystal Farms cheddar cheese imported from Wisconsin (that's right!), but again this is not consistent, but I have seen it, maybe once every other week or every month or so.  To be very clear about how excited I was about the shredded cheddar cheese, I have to admit I bought ever last bag on the shelf.  How many bags is that?  Only 5.  I have already used one and a half bags to make homemade mac n cheese!

While I don't have a picture of that, I got so excited about another product that I have NEVER seen here.  It's literally like a ray of light in the mundane grocery aisle, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

 That's right! Campbell's soup! How much is one can of tomato soup? In CLP it is $1.999.  Roughly $4 USD.  Yeah, crazy! I did buy one can I have to admit.  I will save it for "one of those days..."

Then, I got really excited again when I saw REAL PUMPKINS!! Yes, they do a weird type of Halloween celebration here, but I think only because all of their TV is American (dubbed), which means they sort of adopted the holiday.  I want to make sure you notice two things in the picture, one the price per pumpkin is $10 (these are not big pumpkins - maybe the size of a large cantaloupe) and that the pumpkins have faces on them.  That's right, PRE-DRAWN faces.  BOO to that!

Speaking of cantaloupes, I went to La Vega with my nana again on Monday (it truly is remarkable to get such a variety of fresh fruit and veggies).  And I found cantaloupe.  The things sold there are very seasonal (which makes sense), so you never really know what you're going to get. It was tucked in a small crate at only one stall (which is surprising because usually there are a bunch of stalls that sell the same things and you have to walk around the whole place first to find the freshest and best priced.) The cantaloupe that we found was about the size of two fists.  I took a picture and put a head of normal sized garlic next to it so you can have some perspective.  IT WAS TINY but very yummy (tasted like a normal ripe cantaloupe).  It was $2 for that tiny thing!  The funniest part was that my nana looked at me like I was crazy. 

My last thought of the day is a negative one about Jumbo.  The parking lot is horrific.  It is always very crowded, and worst of all, the spots are TINY.  I have two small children and usually shop with my double stroller.  This means that Isaac stays in his car seat.  Well, when two cars park next to me, I can't get his car seat in or out of my car since my door won't open wide enough! This last time it happened I literally couldn't get into any of my car doors with him and had to put him in the TRUNK while I backed up 3 feet so I could open the door.  Let me tell you, I was NOT happy.