Most of us are disappointed when we come here, expecting supermarkets to be the same as in the USA. When I first came to the area, 9 years ago, there were only two old Calimax and Commercial supermarkets. Commercial has added a new, larger store. WalMart went down about 3 years ago with a supermarket that includes food. Coupons are not used here, so there is no marketing madness for these items. Calimax does offer a saver card to track purchases. Each item has two prices, one with a card and one without. Most often, give a small tip. The same goes for the bags of your products. It’s easy to get out with the same amount of groceries that could be bought in the states for about half the price. California, one of the highest priced places I have ever lived for food, looks like a big bonus.
The first thing I noticed in all of them was the bakery located near the entrance. They serve themselves. One takes a pizza pot, a pair of tongs, and begins to choose from mostly weird looking pastries. The only ones I knew were Mexican wedding cakes. Big puffs of what looks like cookies with sprinkled with sugar, of different colors and sizes. Other cookies and muffins in different looking textures and colors from what we are used to north. Since it seems sensible to try new things in a new country, I would choose about 8 and take them home to try. My favorites were cakes in the shape of butterflies, covered with honey and baked to brown. Almost everything comes with dusted sugar. Sugar is mostly outside, as many pastries are not very sweet, but heavy in texture, without a lot of flavors like lemon or almonds that we used to have. Cakes tend to be more flavorful and moist, so I recommend sticking to them for your sweets. Bread is good. Quite reasonably priced, about thirty cents per roll about five inches long twice a day. Some buyers download their pizzerias to about twenty or thirty of them immediately after they leave the ovens.
Products here are cheaper than in the states, like many grocery products such as meat, cheese, fish, and the like. Do not expect from 3 to 4 passes of cooked frozen food. Or as a large array of different elements as you might expect. Most of the food here is cooked from scratch. You can buy frozen pizza, but the quality is not very good. Tuesdays are cost days in commercials and WalMart, with loss leaders such as 10 grapefruits per dollar. These days may be full, so prepare for this. Iridescent product displays, select your own cuts of meat from the refrigerated cart.
You will find that more foods like papaya, banana and mango have appeared in Mexico. Mexicans use a lot of plum tomatoes and various chili peppers. Dried peppers are also found in the production department. They are quite fragrant and excellent with beans, gum, and chili pots. Some of the best salsa I've used are chopped chip peppers, which give them a flavor. Quinterro and parsley are abundant, but not basil or other special herbs that are not normally grown here. Canned tomatoes are not common here, but Mexican tomatoes are often fresh from local fields, and the smell, like tomatoes, seems to smell.
You may be wondering about knowing Spanish. A bit, of course, not painful, but pointing to pork chops and showing four fingers, works quite well. Pounds are not used, kilograms. A kilo is about two pounds. If you want to get half a kilo of turkey ham, you ask for a media-kilogram. The cost of this approximate pound of turkey ham is three dollars. Meat cuts are different. Pork chops are often about half an inch. Lots of beef and good. The beef is cut into small pieces and is used mainly for carne asada. Tacos should use this most of the time. It does not age or marble, and probably the grass fed beef. Pork is tasty as well as good value. A chicken is wonderfully cheap if you like legs and hips, usually about sixty cents a pound. Mostly he was cold.
Most cereals will look different. One of the items that I really like in the hallway is the milk in the box. I first saw milk in a box in France a few years ago. It is so easy to use and lasts much longer than milk in milk gas. In the passage for baking will not be everything that you used to see. Less blends. More types of flour for cakes. Hard pressing to find a yeast or baking powder of a less giant size. Perhaps chocolate chips, but not nose oil or other countless flavors for baking.
The cleaning passages will not have 30 different types of laundry soap, which I find refreshing. Some of the specialty items, such as removing stains on hard water, should also not be. Pretty basic things like bleach, floor cleaners, dish soap, and ammonia.
Some people prefer the taste of some American items, such as butter, and wait until they cross the border to buy them. Many complain about the lack of taste in beef, although the chicken has more taste. It all gets used. Experiment a bit, try new items when you buy and compare for yourself. You will find shopping in Mexico if you go with an open mind.
