Ah Spain!

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[Music]
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Hola, welcome to our Spain. How's it going? It's Bueno, Tanya, Kal,
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Moen. What are we going to talk about today? Well, I think we are going to talk I don't think I know. I'm telling you what
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we're going to talk about today. Be decisive. Be decisive. Um, we're going to talk about grocery shopping in Spain. We've
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talked about other kinds of shopping and kind of given the overview these things of of all the different kinds of stores
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and shopping experiences, but I think we really need to delve into actual grocery shopping because it changes by the
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different brand of store you go to and each brand each store in that chain will
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be a different experience as well, right? Yes. And then there are some things that actually are universal. So, you know,
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it's there's something very exciting about grocery shopping in another country, but it's also can be a bit
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intimidating if you've actually moved there and you're thinking, I will never understand how all this works. But if
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you're if you're on holiday, it's like kind of fun because it's like it doesn't matter when you're messing it up. But if you're actually doing your weekly
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shopping and you're like, I don't know how to do this, it's like it can be a bit stressful. So, we're going to try and make it very simple and kind of give
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you some tips and tricks as well. And um I think maybe just start with the
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different stores that we have just the names of them and that way when people are looking for places to live they can see which one is around them you know
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and and how they use them. I don't know about you, but so I use kind of all the stores to varying degrees, right?
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There's like there are the consumes and your mercanas. We've talked about those and your carors.
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And there's another chain called Mossi Moss that I don't know if we've mentioned in the past, but there's also your your Aldis and your your your
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Littles. The Littles. Um, now for you, you're in the city. I mean, we have we have since we live further
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out, we generally have one store that's kind of close to us and then if you're
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in you might have two, but I mean you're generally kind of your closest one is going to be something but then we have
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things like Aldi and Little and another one is Family Cash. Those you sort of have to drive to. They tend to be a bit
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further away for us and some of them aren't even in the city. I think family cash maybe family cash isn't in the city but there
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is one in Burhusot like so it is on like the rims like the kind of the suburbs that touch the city I've seen them there
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in yeah and then Alcampo so we have our grocery stores consume like you said Care
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um Dia is a sort of a small one Massie mass Aldi little family cash alampo but
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the the family cash a little bit some of the family cash alampo and care for can
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have more things, not just food. I mean, really getting into like, you know, clothes and more Targety type
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situations. Um, so there's a bit of a variety of just grocery stores and then ones that have more. So, I've seen Family Cash
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have like pool things and stuff, but they'll have like, you know, like I've I think I've seen like beach chairs there and stuff, but they'll have a bigger
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section because I feel like the car for Alcompo is more like a Target Walmart kind of experience where, you know, you
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get all of that under one roof. And Family Cash can be like that. Family Cash in there's certain Family Cashes
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that I've been to where they actually sell appliances like dishwashers and toasters and they have a whole appliance
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section and then they're like you were talking about their kind of pool supply sort of section is a little bit more
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like an Aldi or a little right where they have like a little section where you can get some random things but they're a bit more kind of organized and
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it's like you actually have a pool section as opposed to Aldi and little where it's like here was a section of random things that we think you might
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like and we do. We love them all, right? And it changes every other day. And you're like, "What? I I found this
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thing. Kids go to I I was just telling the kids the other day, they had this um a marker set and I was like, "It was
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really cheap. Go to the store." And they went and they're like, "It's gone." I'm like, "It was just there yesterday."
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And then with the family cash, they will actually have a section of plates and glasses. So, it's like a very mini
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version of like a care for where they have a little bit of everything sometimes, but a very small section of it. So, it's very it's useful. And the
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Family Cash sort of getting into like price ranges. Um the Family Cash I think has really
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good deals on almost everything, but the I' we've found that their fruit and vegetables isn't the greatest. So we
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don't do that, but we'll get the meat and everything else, dog food, all the other stuff there. I will add what they what they don't do
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in produce they well make up for in in that is I'm I the the price that they
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have for meats is and and the quality is superb. So, I'm often amazed when I do get the
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chance to get up there that I'm like, "Oh, we're having lamb for dinner tonight, kids." Right. Yeah. And then the consume and
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meodana massy mass. I'd say they they are different, but they're sort ofish. I
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would say in the similar range and they tend to be the ones that are in every single town everywhere.
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These would be your everyday kind of grocery stores that'll have more, right? like the Audi and Littles, they have
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some basics all the time, but things can change. So, you know, and products come and go, right? You get it almost like
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that kind of Trader Joe's experience sometimes. You're like, I love this product and then it's gone. And so, you can run into that there where these
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other stores are your kind of everyday your Safeways of America. Um, but they are different where like the consume I
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think is a little pricier than the Mercadonna, but the and consume has a broader selection of brands where
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Mercadonna for the most part is their home brand with some sprinklings of other brands in. But like if you're
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going to get chips, they're all the Mercadonna brand except for a couple Lays and Pringles bags thrown in. Um,
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where consume has all the brands, right? I will say that the my experience with
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the Aldi and the little is is very similar to the experience we had an Aldi near us in America and it was like it I
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I couldn't do my regular shopping there. Like it just you like you said, you never know what you're going to get there. So it's it's very similar here.
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The Aldi and the little is like it's fun. We had an Aldi near our Spanish
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class and I would go in there and sort of find some things and occasionally find a Trader Joe's branded thing and I
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would get super duper excited and it would be like peanuts and I'm like we have peanuts.
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Well, that brings something good. The Trader Joe's items they have are just they put the name on a package of
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something they've never sold in America at Trader Joe's. Do you think? Yeah. I mean, I know it because I've
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seen things like this has never been there's Yeah. And it's not the good stuff. And I'm like, if you're going to do that, bring us something that we
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miss, you know, because have some good stuff. Yeah. And man, Americana, too. I
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I will sort of some Meadana has everything you need, but you're not going to find specialty things. Um, and
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and some of those specialty things might be from another country. And I'm not just talking about like America or England or
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something. And if you're looking for like a a special Asian source or something, you might actually find that in consume. Very unlikely to find that
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in Americana. They're very good at all your basic stuff, but you want something special, that's probably not the place
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to go. And we are fortunate here that we have a Massie mass um in Puall that does
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a lot of British things. So, if I want a little bit of taste of England, they'll have the bestow gravy and like all these
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sort of, you know, the squashes and all these things there and and that's super.
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Um well I know when I'm in pusole I always make it a point to bring my backpack and go into mass mass. Yes
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I will drive there and be like we have to stop by Massie Mass and I've been to Massie Masses in other places like
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Betterra. It's that and they're just regular like the care for and the consume. So right.
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Yeah. Um, and then beyond that, beyond the different grocery stores, we have the the Futa Evoras. And that's just a
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that's going to be like an independent, but it might I mean, it could be a chain as well, but that's your kind of basic
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um they're selling fruit and vegetables. They might have some cans of things, right? Right. They're on your corner. They're
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your corner fruit market, right? And some of them are more gourmet and some of them are not. And some will sell like
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fruit that's pretty much supposed to be eaten that day. Um, they're I think they're getting they're getting you
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know, or I don't know where they're sourcing them from. And then there's some that are very high-end and very
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expensive and they have these like beautiful jarred soups for serving of one because you can't get two soups out
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of that jar, but with with little cloth around the the top, you know, like the the very designery things.
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I think they can be they can be a good place to find little gifts if you're going to someone's house for dinner or
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something or lunch like to find something that maybe is a little more special than what you might find in a
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supermarket. Um, but they might also literally just be selling fruit and vegetables and that's it and then like
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you know just some sodas or something. So it just depends on where they are and they are there there are a lot of them.
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I mean, you would think they would there wouldn't be a lot, but I think people here really are shopping there and then
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going to the grocery store for meat and and fish and things like and milk and stuff and really getting their fruit and
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vegetables from these smaller shops. So, they're like all over the place and some of them are amazing like you said and
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some of them maybe not so much. So, um but it's a way of shopping for sure.
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Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. And then maybe that's why some of these and then they could be right next to Americana. Like I'm always surprised,
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right? Oh, there's three. Um there's like three within like a stones throw of the merkodon. Like you have to pass them to
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to the merkad across the street down the block at the end of the block. And I guess what's also good is like if
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you're frugal like I am and you can keep I for some reason I keep prices in my head so I can be like, "Oh, I know
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that's cheaper." So I remember to get the cherries on the way out because they were cheaper than what Mercadana had them at today or something like that.
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I'll And it will be it will be a quicker shop. you just go in, get your stuff, and leave. So, it's it's not a full grocery store. So, there is that aspect
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to it if you just need to get those things. Um, right. And then each of these, so in regards to
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sort of how to shop when you start when you get into the shop, there are we have discount cards here, too. Not all of
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them. I think we've decided that Maradono is maybe the only one that doesn't have it that we've been. I
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haven't. Yeah. If if they do, I haven't seen it. They've never asked for it. So, and that's one of the things they will ask
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you when you're shopping. If you go shopping, if your Spanish isn't very good, when you go out to register, when you go
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out of the register, they're going to ask you for two things. They're going to ask you if you want a bag, and they're going to ask you if you have the card for the store. So, just be prepared for
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those two questions, unless you're Americano, in which case it's do you want a bag. And if you don't know what the question
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is, listen for the word telephone or NIA, because they may be asking for your ID number or your phone number to access
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your card, right? Your discount card. Yeah. And I was very stressed when we got here because we we've always lived
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next to a consume and they're they're so nice the people that work in the shops and it's all very chill and I went down
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there and they had like one register open and the woman I was like do you have a car? I don't have a card. Like would you want to get one? I could do it
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for you right now. And I'm thinking well I can't do it right now. I'm going to have to come back when there's no one waiting because
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that doesn't seem that's not something you should do when there's people waiting. But they really they don't care
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and you can it's fine to wait for everybody to do their thing like nobody's stressed. So um she and she did
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do it very very quickly. I ended up having to because that was the only way to do it. So one day I just had to do it and um
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it does work and it's quick. And I would like to add too to people that are coming here from foreign
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countries that are moving here. These they a lot of these stores have apps and some of them are Spain specific even
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like these international ones like the little. So, if you're keeping your like say your Apple ID, I don't have a Droid
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so I don't know how those work, but like my Apple is region. Your ID is a region. So, you may have to add another Apple ID
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to your phone. Switch it to that one to download the apps here if you want to keep your your main region to America
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for all or whatever country for your apps, but you can do it. Just a heads up. Yeah, there's a lot of apps you can't
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download unless you've switched your phone to Spain. Um, that's not going to be the only thing. Also, the parking apps. I mean
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there's a there's a lot of things that you might need that that will become an issue. Um and yeah, you'll get the
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discounts maybe coupons and stuff on those apps as well. So if you are move next to a store that has one, it it's
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worth signing up for it. The other thing that was very unique I think was the
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weighing of all your own vegetables and fruit in certain supermarkets and having to wear gloves and all of that all of
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that business. Right. And I it has not been it has been more often than not unfortunately that
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I've gone to the front without having weighed it and had to like run back and weigh it or someone else has come and
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done it. And again, you're waiting and everyone's looking at you cuz you're the the town idiot who didn't do it.
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But you know, in in our defenses, not all stores are the same. So Mercadonna,
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there's only like one thing you weigh uh and actually you don't even weigh it.
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They weigh it, but there's certain like Mercod weigh your own. Let me just try that. You don't have to weigh anything
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your own. There are items that are weighed that are weird that they still weigh up front but not which is like
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but not by and some of them are changing some of them are changing it. So we've had a store where they took the weighing out
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of you doing it and moved it into the register and the register would weigh it as you go. Um so they some of it is
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changing. You might have it in one way and then they change it and then in our consume they suddenly started weighing pastries and I'm like why?
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Right. Right. So consume you're still weighing yourself. Mhm. Mercadonna, you don't weigh yourself.
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What's the store that switched? Do you remember? Or was that a local store? We I think it was the Gosh, I'm trying
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to It must have been a consume. I have to I have to imagine it was a consume. They took the weighing out and was
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suddenly like, and also just to be clear, you can be in the produce section
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and some of the stuff is already weighed and done. So, not everything that's in the produce section needs to be weighed.
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So, you have to look at the you do have to look at the um the little symbol next
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to the what you're picking up. So, let's say you're picking up um some potatoes or something or like you know whatever
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tomatoes. There's going to be a little sign that will will either have a number on it or not and not the price number,
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but the number that you punch in to the to the weighing station. So it might say
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give you the price and all the information, but then it might have in a big circle it might have like 60 or something. And that is a number that
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when you go up that is the number for the for the piece of produce that you have. So if it doesn't have that number,
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chances are it's a whole item like a piece of lett like a a whole lettuce or something that is doesn't have to be
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weighed. Just as a price, right? So we haven't really made this any simpler. I don't think we've made this any simpler at all.
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We're just letting you know how confusing it is. So when you go in, you don't feel like um you're uh not smart
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for not knowing. We're letting you know, but you still have to figure it out for yourself because it will depend on the
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store and it will depend on the item. But just assume that most things need to be weighed. You'll need to use gloves to
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pick things up, put them in the bag, take them over to the weighing station, find the it's all pictures. You can go
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through and find the thing that you have and then you know and then you get a sticker and put it on. Otherwise, you
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just don't want to be the person that gets to the front with all of the stuff that you've purchased, not weighed, because that will be irritating for
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everybody. I did that once because they're, you know, the Mercadonna does this, and I
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didn't have to weigh it myself, but it is the weighed things, which are these like hostess type pastries, right? Like
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your kind of ding-dongy type things. And they had all these. And the kids were like, "Oh, can I have some?" Like these little prepackaged brownies and cakes. I
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said, "Sure, get a one of each." And so I l them up and the woman was like, "You need a bag for that. I've gotta weigh
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it. And so I was I mean she wasn't like in a bad mood. It was just it was just like how do you not know this? And can I
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but they're prepackaged. Like this is a scam. I to be to be fair on that one.
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You're not I've seen so many people Spanish people not weighing those and being told that that is a because it
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doesn't make any sense that these prepackaged things that could easily just be given a number like they could
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easily be 10 or 50 cents each and be done because they're all prepackaged. Right. Right. There's no reason. And I
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have seen so many people do that. So to be fair to you. I don't think that's a foreigner thing. I think the Spanish are
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also like a little bit confused by that one. Yeah. Makes no sense. It makes no sense. It makes no sense
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whatsoever. And then the other thing is they have prepackaged obviously cheese
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and meat and everything in the store. You can just go in and get a whole chicken or go in and get your cheeses,
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whatever it is you want to do. But they do have a most stores, some of them a little different, a full, you know, fish
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counter, meat counter, connoisseuria, like all these things to you need to get
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a ticket with a number in order to then be in line to wait. And especially if
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you go into at a time when it's busy or you go into family cash where it is always busy,
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I always suggest you go in and get those numbers first and then start shopping because you could easily be waiting 15
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20 minutes more for to get in to be the first in line for that. So that's kind of like a local trick.
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Right. Right. Um, I will say though that like um like like consume versus
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moradana when it comes to the meat counters and the fish counters and those things. Um, this is where consume kind of they
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well, you know what I I wouldn't say elevates more. They they're elevated in in in different ways, right? So consume
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has a meat counter and a deli counter and a fishmonger counter where Mercadana
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does not. They have a fishmonger, a very good one. And I was very surprised when I went to get salmon. They had
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prepackaged salmon and the whole salmon was like like almost a third of the price as the packaged one. And I was
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like, "Well, I'll just buy the fish and deal with it. That's so much cheaper." And then they were like, "Oh, no. Do you want it cleaned and deaded?" So, she did
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all the fling. Everything that was going to be in the package she did for the price. And granted, I was throwing away
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the cost of like the tail and the head and and that kind of stuff, but it still came out much cheaper than buying it
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having already been done, even though she was doing all that work. And to me, that should be more expensive because it wasn't factory done, right? Like she
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Right. That should be that should be more expensive. And I found I have found that like that is one place where I would say Aldi and Little probably shine
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is in the frozen like fish fillets like salmon and stuff like I' I've found them
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to be quite a bit cheaper. Um, but like you said, in a consumer or Americana, you have the option of going up to the
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fish counter or going into the refrigerator section and getting stuff that's pre-done or the freezer section. They have, you know, fish in all those
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in all those places. And they will they will vary by price. Yeah. But it's weird
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that the that having the person do it for you right there and then is actually one of the cheaper ways to do it.
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[Music]
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And the hack is you get your number first, order the fish first, then do your shopping, and then come back for
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it. So, she's doing it while you're out shopping. So, you're not wasting time. And there is the convenience of having it done. But, if you get in there first,
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order your fish, then do all your shopping. It's ready for you to go. So, you haven't really wasted any time. Not necessarily. But I I've also found
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that like the the like we haven't been able to get things necessarily cut like
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they will cut anything the way you want it theoretically, but we still haven't found anyone. Even when we ask for lamb
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chops to be cut thick, they still end up in the bag way too thin. And we just haven't mastered this at all. So, we
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need to like go visit different places, I think. And then the other thing that I think is fun, if you're if you're asking for meat for stews, they call it taco
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meat. That is cubed meat. So, if you just want like to make a stew or something, you're actually asking for
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taco meat, which also doesn't make any sense because that's obviously not the type of meat you would put in a taco.
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Yeah. I don't know how that translated that way at all. No, maybe they put maybe they do tacos
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that way. I have no idea. But that is what you asked for. And that's once I figured that out, it made things a lot
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easier. Now, the other thing I've noticed with the Mercadonna versus the consume is Mercadana has a haman counter like you
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would find a deli counter. They have an actual just homone counter with maybe
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five to seven legs on the stands and they're in there all day slicing them because they have, you know, in like the
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kind of like prepared deli section. Not prepared, but you know, like the prepackaged sliced meats and stuff,
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they'll have homones there from national brands kind of thing, right? like a theor
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on there next to but they're slicing it and packaging it
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in front there and and it's much it's nicer. You can get the biota, you can
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get the SIBO, you can get all these different See how I threw those words from our
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special. See how remembered that poco about Hammon. We learned something.
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Imagine and they have that there where in
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consume they'll have like maybe one or I mean the consume in the city I don't know what it's like where you are but here they have one or two legs and then
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they'll have like chunks of han legs that I guess they're slicing on the like the the deli slicer not chipping away at
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it as they do on the actual leg slicer right it's like um it's the round blade you know that
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use them deli um in our consume we do not have any um actual hammons being sliced. It's just
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they've they've obviously cut off chunks and then you can slice it at the meat counter at the deli counter and have it
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sliced and it is freshly sliced but it's not like a whole leg that they're slicing it off. And I
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the Americana is very it seems very fancy and they're definitely doing a
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nice they're slicing a nicer leg of heon than is probably in the in the deli
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section of the fridge. But it's person that's standing there slicing those is also slicing and packaging it
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as well while they're waiting for somebody to ask for it. So you can get the freshly sliced already packaged and
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and vacuum packed right in front of that counter too which is is ham on from those legs as well. And
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they're they're quite a bit more expensive but obviously because it's a nicer it's not because the guy is standing there doing it. It's because
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it's a nicer ham on. Um, so you have the option of a regular whatever and then the fancy fancy. But I kind of like that
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about meodana. Americanas if you walk I mean the ones that we have out here
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they're they don't sell as much stuff in them but they're big aisles and you know
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it's it's a very nice shopping experience whereas the the merkadana meodana. Yeah. Whereas the consumes more
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regular I think in that regard. Yeah. Yeah. And but the merkadanas in the city versus the country still sell
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the same items. It's just a much wider wider aisle and they'll have 27 ketchups instead of 10 ketchups on
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the shelf or whatever. Like I will find But it's not new. They have more Meodonna does a lot of
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their own Hatienda brand, right? It's a lot of their of their own well their own brand. It's the same stuff rebranded,
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but it's with their packaging. consume has a bit of a mix of their own brand and and like regular stuff I think. Um,
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and then also the one of the things that I have found here that I would have had
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to I feel like go to a more of like a Costco type place in America for is they
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will have refill bags of um of hand soaps and refill bottles of like
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cleaning spray and things like that in these little grocery stores, whereas you can buy the the bottle once and then and
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get the refills after, which I think is kind of Um, and I think that differs from store to store and it different it was
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different in stores to store in America too, but I think here I found more of it. What I also found was interesting here
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and I think you saw this as well is that when you buy your cocoa powder, like your Nesquick type stuff, you can buy
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the tin once and then they have these huge bags that you can use to refill it, which is kind of nice as well. But it's
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it's kind of like then then you feel like you're shopping at Costco because but when it when it finally runs out you're like but how could it have run
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out? I had like this giant bag of Nesquick like you you're shocked again that things run out and it's like God
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this is really annoying. But it is nice. We you know you buy the tin once and then you're just refilling it. Um but it
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it was it was funny like I sent I sent Jard in to get something shopping for for something for coconut milk the other
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day and he couldn't find it. It was in such a weird place. Like it wasn't with any of the other tinned things. It was
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over in the the aisle with the with the creams. Right. Right. Which is I guess it's kind of a
24:58
creamish, but not really. So, no, that's how it is here. Yeah, that's I've seen that that Yeah, the it's
25:04
there, but yet but what's also funny is at our store, the store that I shop at most, the creams and the coconut milks
25:10
with the cream, but it's also the same aisle with the ketchup and the mayonnaise. like they're all on the same
25:16
shelf and I'm like that is such a random mix. Soy sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise,
25:21
cream, coconut milk. H okay. Okay. Well, our cream in our consume and
25:27
the whipped cream and the coconut milk and the and all that is next to the
25:32
refrigerated section of Hammons. Oh yeah, that makes complete sense. Is there a battery? Is Is there a car
25:38
battery there too to buy? That's over by the dog. We we have may have said this in other
25:44
episodes about shopping or just life, but these stores here, if you're coming from another country, I mean, I I guess
25:50
we could probably say this about anywhere in the world, make no sense. And each each brand of store has their
25:59
own way which does not duplicate another store. Meaning that if you're in like in America and you shop at Safeway or Vans
26:07
or Albertsons or Publix, all the stores have the same layout. There's the stuff you're supposed to buy on the outer rim
26:13
and the inside rim in the inside of the store is like your junks and processed food. And in here, no. And just because
26:20
one store does that that it's not like they're all the same where okay, yes, we always have cleaning supplies on the
26:26
lefthand side and something on the right hand side and everything. No, not at all. Not at And it does make it a bit
26:32
annoying to like just run into another store because you are somewhere because
26:37
it's never going to be the same. And because of how they arrange things, they will arrange things not just
26:43
differently, but you know, you might find the peanut butter here and then there in another store. And like you said,
26:49
like the milk's here or the eggs are here and it's like Yeah. They can't even they don't even organize that within their own brand. So, it does make it it
26:56
makes it makes it much more sense just to continually shop at your own one,
27:02
especially if you're in a hurry. But yeah, we you and you do get used to it. But it's like I like you said, I think I
27:07
think we have mentioned this before. If you can't find something because it's not where you think it should be, don't assume they don't have it. Like go ask
27:15
for it and look for it because it it most we I have found pretty much everything I've needed here. It just
27:20
isn't always where I want. So definitely ask, look, people are like really nice. They will walk you around the store. I
27:26
remember looking for coconut milk and it was very hard because I didn't know the word for 10 and they took me to the
27:32
coconut milk next to the regular milk the to drink you know and I'm like ah yeah that's right but that's not what I
27:38
want. So yeah. So, you found the coconut milk
27:44
to drink like the kind of with the soy milk that kind of Yeah. If you want a milk substitute,
27:49
but it's also with the the coconut water will be with the alcohol.
27:56
Like, it's with the with it's with the mixers that are next to the alcohol, like where the squash is and where the
28:02
grenadine and these sorts of things are. You'll maybe find the coconut water, but the coconut milk as a substitute for
28:08
milk will be next to the milk. But then the coconut milk in the can is over by the cream for the cooking. Yeah. So,
28:13
right. But that's why I'm saying once you know, you kind of stick with your grocery store. And I think I mean I would do
28:19
that also in America. It's easier because even if you're moving it, you're still you're still you know exactly
28:26
where things are in your store. But they definitely it's it's it's fun. It's a fun little um adventure. And the eggs,
28:33
we all we've all know about the eggs, right? That um that they um are not refrigerated. refrigerated
28:39
and and they are different in every store. So where where do where where does one find eggs in Nakura?
28:45
In Naka, we find eggs all the way in the back of the store as always. Next to the kneria next to the meat counter.
28:52
Okay. Yeah. And then in the care that we have also over by not near the meat counter,
28:59
but they have a meat counter in K4. I don't think they do. They just have a fish counter, I think.
29:04
I No, they do have a meat counter. Yeah, they do have a meat counter. They have like a deli section. So it's behind the deli center like the but by the produce
29:11
all the way in the back over there. Yeah. Well, the merkadana in the city, they're in the produce section. Which to me
29:18
makes the most sense after I've lived here a long time. That makes the most sense. Yes.
29:23
And it's in the middle of the store. Um and one could say, "Oh, it's easy. On your way into the store, you see them."
29:29
But also, it's brilliant because they're on the way out, so you're not putting them at the bottom of your rack. Right.
29:35
So that's very clever. That makes them good. Yeah. And also, don't refrigerate them
29:40
when when you get home. They don't need to be refrigerated. But if you do refrigerate them, don't then take them out and put them on the counter. So,
29:45
pick one. Right. And you're supposed if you refrigerate them, from what I've heard, is you're supposed to wash them before because it's the bacteria on the egg
29:52
that keeps them fresh on the counter. And the reason why they're refrigerated in America is they've been washed. They've been washed. Yeah.
29:57
That Yeah, that makes that would make sense what I've heard. Oh my god. Yes, I think that's very
30:03
true. Um, but can we say one thing about the
30:08
stores here that I think is amazing is how clean they are. They have the They have those what are those things called
30:14
with the ice skating rings? Zambonis or something. Zambinis bands. Yeah, I think maybe you're right. Zambonis. It's probably
30:19
something something like that. They've got one of those 24/7 just going up and down the aisles cleaning the floors at these
30:25
stores. I'm like, what do they think's happening on these floors? Yeah. And amazing. I'm trying to think
30:30
if I've ever seen anything broken sitting somewhere with like, you know, a cone, you know? I mean, it just doesn't
30:36
seem to happen. Like, if something happens, they're like on it. It's insane. It's really, which is very nice, I think. And you
30:43
just, you know, don't don't run into them. They are there. And they are moving pretty slow. They're
30:49
not going to run you down. That's true. Yeah. But we can also say things that I
30:56
think is it's still two years in is taking me to get used to is not shopping
31:02
like an American. Um where you like stock your cabinets and stock your
31:08
fridge thinking you're going to eat it because the stuff does expire very quickly here. They're not using the same preservatives. So you know if you're if
31:16
you're buying something that you normally think is going to last for a few months like mayonnaise. America buy
31:22
mayonnaise 6 months later that mayonnaise is still good in your fridge. Here it's not. It's you know they say
31:27
eat it within 30 days and you might get another 5 days out of that but it's changing. Its consistency is changing.
31:33
It's been my experience. I don't know. I haven't had problems with with mayonnaise but I definitely I tried to
31:39
make my own mayonnaise and it was so good. It's so easy but that really lasts like a day. Like that's it. That's all
31:45
you have if you're making your own. But I would highly recommend that to anyone speaking of mayonnaise. So good. Um,
31:50
I've I the issue is with sort of, you know, bread and and these things. I mean, they just get they get moldy
31:57
really quickly. So, you know, you've got your fresh bread, either freeze it or or it's in going in the trash, as well as,
32:03
you know, like you were saying, even stuff that goes in the fridge. Um, it's it's not going to last as long.
32:08
So, you do have to shop a little differently and be aware of that. But, you will learn that lesson like like we
32:14
have. If you don't, it's definitely going to happen. And
32:19
like things like olives, right? Jared olives, certain things like that you think are going to last forever and you open up, you're like, "Why is there a
32:25
layer of mold or scum on top of this that I'm not used to?" And you're like, and it says on the I bought a thing of
32:31
like cocktail onions. I was like, "Oh, let's we'll make martinis one night with cocktail onions." So, I bought it and
32:37
then I just kept in there like, you know, I took a few out and left it in there. And I mean, I came back to it like two months later and they were all
32:45
like brown and it was gross. And I looked at the jar. It said consume within five days. Who's gonna eat 75
32:52
cocktail onions in five days? You might also want to check your fridge. I don't know. Maybe you should maybe should be able to last a little
32:58
longer than that. So maybe maybe check your fridge. Yeah. But it says consume within 5 days. How
33:04
are you going to consume that within 5 days? Well, you're clearly not drinking enough martinis. That's not Well, I don't need to drink
33:11
that many martinis. Somebody obviously does. That's consume.
33:16
Maybe. Maybe they're designed for something else. I I chop those up and stick them on salads and stuff because I
33:22
found some in the fridge and I was like, "That looks like a a good salad addition." So, there it went.
33:28
There it went. Yeah. And I I think it's I think overall it's a very like one of the things that
33:34
has that ch when I was shopping and looking the the difference in the different in the things that they have a
33:41
lot of and not and not a lot of. I mean, you'll find an aisle of olive oils obviously, whereas in America, you'll
33:47
have like two or three brands to pick from, right? I mean, it's not so quite so vast, even though they have so much of everything. So, the things that you
33:54
will have a ton of here of choice is like olive oil, um, you know, the
33:59
hammons and and cheeses. Maybe not a huge variety of international cheeses, but a huge variety of different types of
34:04
cheeses. And then totally peculiarly, Nutella. You will have the Nutella. the
34:10
brand of the store will have its own Nutella and there's I think three or four different other brands that have decided that they can do better than
34:16
Nutella at a cheaper price and it's not that much cheaper right so no and there's hundreds of them and they
34:22
and but you know it's not that much cheaper but it is cheap compared to like buying Nutella back in the states but you know but
34:29
I went I went to consume the other day because I I was like Tanya says they've got peanut butter here so I'm going to
34:35
see if she's right now so I went there and I did find peanut butter but they have it in two sections of the store.
34:41
So, two separate places and they're different brands in the different spaces of the store. And neither of those
34:47
spaces made sense to me. But then when I went I was like I saw the thing of Nutella and or a Nutellaike items and it
34:56
was a good five foot wide of the shelf top to bottom of Nutella and then that's
35:01
where they had the two different jars of peanut butter. Yeah. At the top the tiny little ones at the top. Right. I mean Zena loves it. It's like I mean you have an aisle of
35:07
Nutella and like two peanut butters, but when we first moved here there was no peanut butter and then I did maybe they
35:13
had it in that one aisle for for protein and stuff, but they really didn't have it. So now that they've moved it to the
35:21
Nutella and the jam section and we've got like I think I mentioned before, we have our crunchy and smooth now, which
35:28
is like what? And it's so not my thing, so I couldn't care less, but it was still a thing,
35:34
right? Even though I don't eat it. And well, I mean, it's just since we're on peanut butter real quick. Peanut
35:39
butter isn't consistent. So, the stuff that they sell at consume is nothing like the stuff that you buy at Mercana.
35:45
Oh, really? It does not look the same. They have peanut butter at Madonna. Oh, yeah. And it's delicious. It to me
35:52
the Mercadonna peanut butter tastes like that Laura Scutters back in the States. I don't remember that. That was the kind
35:58
of natural with the oil on top. I'm getting a face from her cuz she doesn't like I don't know. I would not know a peanut
36:03
butter brand from another peanut butter brand cuz you're talking to the wrong person about that.
36:09
Right. Sorry. I can fake it. Ooh, peanut butter. Yummy. Tell me more about the brands in the
36:15
States. I will say what I do like about it because I do Okay, so I buy the This will probably make you all cry. I buy
36:22
the peanut butter for our dog because the only way I can brush her properly is by giving her a plate of peanut butter
36:27
to lick and then she forgets about the fact that I'm trying to brush her. So, but she doesn't like the crunchy one cuz
36:33
I tried it and she's like, "What do you this?" No. So, I'm not doing that. But what I like about it is it is just
36:39
peanuts blended. I've never looked at the ingredients and found a whole bunch of other stuff. So, there might be
36:44
different brands like you said, but I do believe they are all just peanuts blended, which I love. I have the ones that taste just like the
36:52
GIF. There's like little will event will occasionally have one that's like a Jify kind like a GIF. um the where it's made
36:59
with um I think it's palm oil they put in it. I have not checked those ingredients to see what the difference is. I know the ones that we get at
37:05
Madonna is is all just peanuts yet. It's just that delicious peanutness. But
37:11
sometimes you want your Skippy. Well, not me, but yes, I'm sure people
37:17
do. But you can find something here now, so everyone will be happy. I think other
37:22
than that, I'm trying to think if there's anything else that's kind of special. Usually they have pizza in the
37:28
refrigerated section but also in a frozen section. Um so if you are a pizza
37:33
person definitely make sure you check out both. Um and different brands I
37:39
think. Um so that's and they also make these nice little mini pizzas which I love because those were always a really
37:44
good size for Zena when she was younger. Um well they'll sell them like in two and three packs so you only have to cook one
37:50
at a time which are nice. Um, we were just at um the store the other day and
37:56
we were um this was a um you know what we never even did oh an a Spain moment
38:01
at the beginning of this episode. So Oh my god. I have I have an a Okay, good. A Spain.
38:06
Oh my god. I should have totally brought this up in the beginning. We can totally totally did that. Sorry audience. Sorry,
38:12
but here we go. I have an Oh, Spain. It was really just a oh why a why. It was a
38:17
why Spain moment. We were at the at the Merkadana. look at the pizzas and know we are in a foreign country and we
38:23
realize some of the pizza toppings do not gel well with us and we're not used to like tuna on the pizza and I I think
38:29
you may have said to me you don't mind tuna on pizza we have not tried I would prefer tuna over pineapple if I
38:35
have to make a choice over something weird but yeah well how about this gosh what was how about this how about hot dogs on
38:43
your pizza it's Frankfurt is what it said on it Frankfurt or pizza who is that like who is that geared for
38:50
do you I have I don't know anywhere in the world that's putting hot dogs on their pizza, but the the girls and I looked at
38:56
each other and we just said, "No, you didn't even try it. It might have been really good." Okay. No, we're not. I mean, I'll try
39:02
things, but I mean, I'll eat cow heart, but I'm not putting hot dogs on my pizza. That we have found your limit of what
39:08
you will try. Well, maybe instead of starting with the
39:14
Asane, we should end with the As Bain because that's kind of the I feel like we've sort of reached the limit of um
39:20
suggestions and things that we have for grocery stores unless you have something else. No, I think that's that boils it down.
39:28
That boils it like boils it down. And I'm really sorry about the Frankfroto pizza. Just blinders as you walk by them.
39:35
Yes. Well, aa aa leego Tanya
39:41
and then I'll just saygo. Good. Right. That's another episode. That's another episode.
39:48
Bye bye. Hey, can't get enough of us? Follow us
39:53
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40:05
See you next time. Bye.