Grocery Shopping with your FSUW

[ScottinCrimea]

I tried to explain the concept of checking accounts to my wife and ultimately we both gave up and she is more than happy to let me handle the finances, though she is very quick to point out how I am doing it all wrong anytime I attempt to explain where the money is going and how it seems to disappear so fast. She is very content to have not a single penny in her pocket as long as she knows that all the necessities are being met, but she also delights in surprising me with something she buys for me from the money that she manages to squirrel away.  As far as grocery shopping, she hates it and is fine with me doing it on my own.  It helps that over time I have learned what items she prefers and in Ukraine I was the one who did all the grocery shopping.  For some bizarre reason I delighted in bantering over prices with the babushkas there.  She hates the bread here so I have had to modify my buying habits to buy what is more similar to Ukrainian bread and I have to allow her the occasional visit to the Russian produce store so she can buy the "real" stuff.

The cool thing about my wife is that she has a degree in civil engineering as well as construction materials and management.  We can spend all day at Home Depot and both be in heaven.  Put her in a clothing store and she is as miserable as I am.  It requires extreme measures to persuade her to buy any clothes for herself.

We had all of the ingredients for spaghetti and I told her that I would prepare that for her, but while I was away yesterday she decided to take the initiative and cook it herself.  It seems that all was going well until she decided that it needed a bit more flavor, so she pulled a jar of salsa out of the refrigerator and added it to the sauce.  For some reason she believes that the pasta and sauce should be mixed together during the cooking process.  We now have a very large pot of Mexitalian pasta that is mine to enjoy for the next few days.

[Gator]

Scott wrote,

We can spend all day at Home Depot and both be in heaven.  Put her in a clothing store and she is as miserable as I am.

When you discovered that fact, I hope you got down on your kneees, kissed the ground and praised the Lord!

[Vaughn]

It seems that all was going well until she decided that it needed a bit more flavor, so she pulled a jar of salsa out of the refrigerator and added it to the sauce.  For some reason she believes that the pasta and sauce should be mixed together during the cooking process.  We now have a very large pot of Mexitalian pasta that is mine to enjoy for the next few days.

Scott, my hope is that you enjoy each and every forkful!! Yikes! Regarding bread, my wife finally
gave up looking and bought a top grade bread machine, and is perfecting home recipes through trial and error.
We nearly NEVER shop together when it comes to food and clothing - with the exception of outdoor summer
markets.

It just occured to me that when we visit Home Depot together, she invariably wanders out to the garden center,
while I'm usually deep in the hardware and tool aisles.

[Kuna]

It's Saturday morning I've just been told we can't go fishing until after noon...  "We need to go shopping first".

"Shopping?  What do we need?"

"Ohhhh Kuna,  we need to go Russian shop for bread."

I'm telling you...  bread has become a focal point of our lives!  I can't believe it's come to this!   

But seriously...  Like Vaughn and his wife our friends (Aussie bloke and Uke Wife of 12 years) actually use the bread machine option.  While we've now found a Russian Shop with good bread I wold hate to see what would happen if we went there and they were out of stick.

Looks like we need to find a good bread machine.


Vaughn... what brand of bread machine do you have? I've heard they vary wildly in quality and results...

[ScottinCrimea]

Scott, my hope is that you enjoy each and every forkful!! Yikes!

I will eat every bit with a smile on my face and a "thank you, dear" after each helping.  I'm no fool. 

[AnastassiaAsh]

I like Home Depot and Lowe's too. Slowly but with confidence we are trying to buy new things for our place. I don't really like the construction or remodelling itself but the result is something i am always excited about. I enjoy choosing paint, decoration items or other things we might need. Of course both Tim and me do it together. I love our house being converted to our needs even more. So convenient beautiful and nice. For the first time in my life at last i have my own office!  (tax deduction  ).

As to money (I dedicated a separate thread to this here http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=4450.0) I manage everything in our family. I very rarely use checks, sometimes a credit card and most of the time a debit card. We do not spend unless we save for it. We do not have debts other than our mortgage.....All payments are electronic and some automatic. Have $30 cash but rarely use it, i am used to a debit/credit card.

[AnastassiaAsh]

Well, I must admit, one of my small weaknesses - my milk 'runs away' on the stove more often than it should and boiled water for tea evaporates faster than I usually expect ! Haha.  I walk with a timer attached to my shirt now...

[Vaughn]

While we've now found a Russian Shop with good bread I wold hate to see what would happen if we went there and they were out of stick.

Out of Stick?? That's one example of what I love about language, LMAO!

Vaughn... what brand of bread machine do you have? I've heard they vary wildly in quality and results...

Years ago, we picked up a Sunbeam cheap on eBay. You get whatcha pay for - Elvira threw it away
last summer. She graduated to a Breadman Pro, store bought, about a hundred American dollars. It
does everything well, including saving us gasoline burned on trips to the Russian store.

Out of stick. Kuna, you slay me.

[SANDRO43]

and boiled water for tea evaporates faster than I usually expect !

Why don't you get one of those "whistling" teakettles ?

[Admin]

Out of Stick?? That's one example of what I love about language, LMAO!

Years ago, we picked up a Sunbeam cheap on eBay. You get whatcha pay for - Elvira threw it away
last summer. She graduated to a Breadman Pro, store bought, about a hundred American dollars. It
does everything well, including saving us gasoline burned on trips to the Russian store.

Out of stick. Kuna, you slay me.

We owned a Breadman Pro for a while and it did a good job. Replaced it with a Zojirushi, and it is phenomenal. Here is a good site with machine reviews and recipes and more -- http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/

Freshly-baked bread - nothing better!

- Dan

[Jumper]

Kuna said

Last night I watched a frequently played out pantomine where my wife goes throughthe process of selecting the PERFECT item from a bunch of similar products

between the tomatoes , and that bit ,,your killing me Kuna! LOL 



i'm wearing my been there, done that , shirt. 


 still doing that actually..

[AnastassiaAsh]

Why don't you get one of those "whistling" teakettles ?

Thank you Sandro, I know, I go through the stages of kettles and pots, back and forth. Kettles don't look clean in a month though and it is so hard to clean them. 

[KenC]

Anastassia,
We have a glass electric kettle.  It has an automatic shutoff and being made of glass aloows you to see how much water is in it and is easy to clean too.
KenC

[Simoni]

  When Lena asks me to go "shopping" with her, I say "sure Honey, as long as we can hit Fry's too." (Fry's is a mega electronics store)  Works everytime!
KenC

Yeah, I love Fry's too.  And Best Buy.  Marina likes to shop at a fabric or hobby store (for hours!!!!) so I always duck out to Best Buy while she is there!

In terms of groceries, Marina was AMAZED at the veggie sections at american super markets.   Aisles and aisles! The one we use had a "thunderstorm" every half hour with noise and light flashes and "rain."    Marina took pictures back in Aug 2006 when she first saw the selection and sent them home.  Now it's "old hat."

[AnastassiaAsh]

Anastassia,
We have a glass electric kettle.  It has an automatic shutoff and being made of glass aloows you to see how much water is in it and is easy to clean too.
KenC

something like this?

[KenC]

Similar

[AnastassiaAsh]

Ok, cool, I will let Tim know. Maybe my life will improve now considerably. 

[KenC]

Yeah, I love Fry's too.  And Best Buy.  Marina likes to shop at a fabric or hobby store (for hours!!!!) so I always duck out to Best Buy while she is there!

In terms of groceries, Marina was AMAZED at the veggie sections at american super markets.   Aisles and aisles! The one we use had a "thunderstorm" every half hour with noise and light flashes and "rain."    Marina took pictures back in Aug 2006 when she first saw the selection and sent them home.  Now it's "old hat."

Simoni,
It is a shame that that period of amazement passes so quickly.

Lena buys only organic fruits and veggies with no hormones added.  She considers the regular grocery store fruits and veggies picture perfect tasteless fakes of real veggies and fruit.  Most of her grocery shopping is done at Trader Joes and Jimbos natural food stores.
KenC
(Glad to see you back)

[Lily]

what is price difference between organic and non-organic food? also, how do you know that the food marked 'organic' is really without hormones?

[AnastassiaAsh]

I loved Trader Joes back in Seattle.  Their dried fruit among everything else is awesome. I shop in both usual and organic stores. It gets expensive to shop in organic all the time.  But I always buy cage free or omega 3 eggs, raw honey, whole grain breads, toothpaste without fluoride and things like that...

[KenC]

what is price difference between organic and non-organic food? also, how do you know that the food marked 'organic' is really without hormones?

Lily,
I would esitmmate that there is a 25% to 50% increase in price for organic non hormone foods.  The "natural food" stores here are rather passionate about their products almost to the point of being obsessed by it.  I never would worry that they would slip in a nonorganic item.  Also "truth" in packaging is a big deal here in America.  Any news station would just love to be able to expose a fraud like you suggest, if they could.
KenC

[Simoni]

Simoni,
It is a shame that that period of amazement passes so quickly.

Lena buys only organic fruits and veggies with no hormones added.  She considers the regular grocery store fruits and veggies picture perfect tasteless fakes of real veggies and fruit.  Most of her grocery shopping is done at Trader Joes and Jimbos natural food stores.
KenC
(Glad to see you back)

  Thanks, Ken.

We live all the way across the country from you, in sunny Florida, where we get great fresh veggies and fruits.  In fact, we just returned from shopping at the street market, which is across the street from our condo.  Here are some pics I snapped, using my phone....

Looks good, smells good, tastes great!

[Kuna]

Organic can sometimes just be good marketing... 

A friend of mine told me about his brothers greatest marketing brainwave related to his mango farms and packing business in Northern Australia.

The region where he grows the most beautiful mangoes is unique because of the absence of pests - thus negating the need for insecticides...

As all of his mangoes are grown chemical-free he now separates the perfect ones (without skin blemishes) from the slightly marked ones... 

A few years ago he was selling the perfect ones for about $14 per tray and repackaged the marked ones as "organic" (which they are - but the perfect ones are too) for $26 per tray.

AWESOME!  Those people that love organic get exactly what they want and those that just want perfect fruit get organic whether they want it or not! 

Everyone is happy!   

[SANDRO43]

A few years ago he was selling the perfect ones for about $14 per tray and repackaged the marked ones as "organic" (which they are - but the perfect ones are too) for $26 per tray.

Is he now selling BOTH for $26 per tray ?

[I/O]

Lily: Down here there is a registration process for "Organic" farms. Several different levels, depending on what niche of the market they wish to access. It has some fairly strict guidelines and I know of one farmer doing 10 years in prison (I seriously doubt he'll serve anymore than 3 years) now for serious breaches of the system, effectively amounting to fraud.

Notwithstanding, as KenC points out the media will have a field day with anyone flaunting the system. Organic is BIG business now. However, as more farms go that way, prices are becoming more reasonable. On average, we would pay perhaps 10-20% more for registered organic produce.

Better "Naturally" produced products. I notice most Russians seem blissfully unaware of the almost trainloads of pesticides and herbicides coming in from China, incidentally, the same manufacturing location most of ours and I suspect many other countries chemicals for agriculture come from. Anyone remember the Aural (SP?) sea fiasco in the USSR days? But it would never happen now in Mother Russia, yeah right.

I/O