At the Grocery Store

Shopping here is always in adventure since everything is written in Russian at all the grocery stores. I can usually do okay using the pictures on the packaging but when it comes to reading my receipt that's a whole other story. Here is a picture of my latest receipt with important words underlined:

From August 2010 #1

Do you see how this could be confusing, especially since I'm not learning Russian! Well, with a little smattering of Russian in our vocabulary, my ability to read Russian (it has the same alphabet as Tajik), looking over my grocery list and with the help of Google Translate I can usually figure out which item was which. Let me share what this receipt shows:

1. 2 bags of cereal ("zabtrak" means breakfast, $1.80 for two small bags, about 13 ounces)

2. 1 bag of frozen mushrooms (I'm not sure what the underlined word means (oops!) but the first word, "grib" means mushrooms, however, I recognized this by the price, 10.5 ounces for $2.60)

3. 1 pack of bacon ("Bekon" tipped me off for this one and yes, you can get bacon here, it's just pricy so we don't buy it much. This is the only time I've bought it this summer. This is a surprise for Drew's birthday so don't say anything. It cost $3 for a really small pack.)

4. 2 packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts ("file" and the fact that I'd bought two packs helped me recognize this one, $4.76 for 2.2 pounds)

5. 1 box of Feta cheese (I recognized this one by the brand name, "Fitaki", $4.85 for 17.5 ounces. This isn't exactly like Feta in the US. It's a lot more creamy but is a great substitute.)

6. 1 pack of puff pastry dough (I had to look this one up on Google translate and it actually translates as "puff dough with no trouble." Interesting. $2.25 for one pack)

7. 1 box of apple juice ("Nektar" tipped me off on this one, $1.10 for 2 pints)

8. 1 pack of spaghetti (I recognized the brand name "CMAK" for this one. $.62 for a 17.5 ounce pack)

9. 1 toilet bowl cleaner (I recognized "Tualeta" for this one, $1.55 for 25 ounces)

10. 1 pack of cookies (I had to look this up and the first word, which I forgot to underline, means waffles and that's the type of cookies they are. $1.20 for a small pack.)

11. 1 pack of frozen blueberries (The first word, "chernik" is blueberries and I remembered the price. These are also a surprise for Drew's birthday. $3.70 for 10.5 ounces)

12. 1 lemon (The first word says "Lemon" so I got that one easy. 1 for $.66)

My final total was $27.43!

So, as you can see this is a chore. However, the more I do it the easier it will become. Most things I get for really good prices, as you can see. However, some things are more expensive like the frozen foods and the bacon. I buy them sparingly but combine this with buying fruits and veggies at the bazaar and food here is quite cheap, at least in the summer. For instance, I can get seven green bell peppers at the bazaar for about $.40! This will change in the winter and the selection won't be nearly as good but for now we're thankful and enjoying it.

Okay, enough about groceries. Hope this was interesting!