- Look, mom, there's mangoes! Oh, and kiwis...
- Mom, there's strawberries!
- How much are they?
- It's $5 per pack. Can we buy them?
There's something to be said when adults and kids get over excited at the size of a supermarket and the stuff you can buy at relatively good prices. After spending so much time in the Bahamas, where food availability is often an issue and finding good prices is even more rare, finding a good grocery store is a real treasure, for both adults and kids,
The first time this happened to us was when we got to Puerto Rico. At first we were just glad to find a good-sized store, comparable to the ones we see in the USA and Canada. Then, we got really excited when we noticed the prices were even cheaper than what we are used to paying in the USA. I literally felt like a kid in a Toys-R-Us store! The first time we went shopping, we filled a whole cart with veggies and fruits. The cashier had one look at everything and said "Wow, you guys eat healthy!". Our response was simply that we were coming from the Bahamas and the availability there is not quite the same.
Of course, living on a boat, the other issue is how much you can actually buy. I usually go to the store with a cart and a backpack. I've gotten quite proficient at packing everything neatly to accommodate as much food as possible in both items. I put the heavy items on the cart first and everything light on top of it or on the backpack. Of course, at times, I underestimate how much I'm buying until I start putting everything away and realize, too late, that I bought too much. So, often, I walk back to the boat with the cart, the backpack and a few extra shopping bags. If the kids are with me, I got two extra pairs of hands to help me out too! Of course, being the caring and considerate mother that I am, they take the light stuff and I take the rest of it. If Ernesto is shopping with us, being the polite and caring husband that he is, he takes the backpack.
When we got to St. Martin, one of the first tasks to do, was to provision. Coming from the BVIs, where things are not cheap (I paid 10$ for 5 kiwis once), our fridge was quite empty. The SuperU on the French side of St. Martin was a great surprise. It's big, cheap and French! That means lots of great cheese and great $4 wine bottles. And, quite conveniently, next to the store there's a boulangerie (bakery) where you can buy a french baguette for $0.70.
Then, of course, comes the task of getting the full-to-the-rim cart into the dinghy, drive to the boat in sometimes-not-so-calm waters and get the still full-to-the-rim cart off the dinghy and to the boat without dropping anything to the water. We have, indeed, lost a whole gallon of milk and a can of mushrooms to the mighty seas.
Once everything is aboard, is time to organize the newly bought items. Any packaging that can be disposed of, is removed and, if necessary, contents are labeled. The reason being is that, apparently, cockroaches like to lay eggs on the cardboard and we don't want any such creatures on our boat. Another reason is simply garbage. We want to eliminate the amount of trash we generate when we can't get rid of it.
And then the moment comes when you have to ask the most basic of questions: "Where in hell do I put all this? Did I buy too much?". Every space on the boat is used to the best of its capabilities and maximized. I have food stocked away pretty much in every single part of the boat. It has paid off very well when we are in places where there's no groceries stores or the food is just ridiculously expensive.
- Mom, there's strawberries!
- How much are they?
- It's $5 per pack. Can we buy them?
There's something to be said when adults and kids get over excited at the size of a supermarket and the stuff you can buy at relatively good prices. After spending so much time in the Bahamas, where food availability is often an issue and finding good prices is even more rare, finding a good grocery store is a real treasure, for both adults and kids,
The first time this happened to us was when we got to Puerto Rico. At first we were just glad to find a good-sized store, comparable to the ones we see in the USA and Canada. Then, we got really excited when we noticed the prices were even cheaper than what we are used to paying in the USA. I literally felt like a kid in a Toys-R-Us store! The first time we went shopping, we filled a whole cart with veggies and fruits. The cashier had one look at everything and said "Wow, you guys eat healthy!". Our response was simply that we were coming from the Bahamas and the availability there is not quite the same.
Of course, living on a boat, the other issue is how much you can actually buy. I usually go to the store with a cart and a backpack. I've gotten quite proficient at packing everything neatly to accommodate as much food as possible in both items. I put the heavy items on the cart first and everything light on top of it or on the backpack. Of course, at times, I underestimate how much I'm buying until I start putting everything away and realize, too late, that I bought too much. So, often, I walk back to the boat with the cart, the backpack and a few extra shopping bags. If the kids are with me, I got two extra pairs of hands to help me out too! Of course, being the caring and considerate mother that I am, they take the light stuff and I take the rest of it. If Ernesto is shopping with us, being the polite and caring husband that he is, he takes the backpack.
When we got to St. Martin, one of the first tasks to do, was to provision. Coming from the BVIs, where things are not cheap (I paid 10$ for 5 kiwis once), our fridge was quite empty. The SuperU on the French side of St. Martin was a great surprise. It's big, cheap and French! That means lots of great cheese and great $4 wine bottles. And, quite conveniently, next to the store there's a boulangerie (bakery) where you can buy a french baguette for $0.70.
Then, of course, comes the task of getting the full-to-the-rim cart into the dinghy, drive to the boat in sometimes-not-so-calm waters and get the still full-to-the-rim cart off the dinghy and to the boat without dropping anything to the water. We have, indeed, lost a whole gallon of milk and a can of mushrooms to the mighty seas.
Once everything is aboard, is time to organize the newly bought items. Any packaging that can be disposed of, is removed and, if necessary, contents are labeled. The reason being is that, apparently, cockroaches like to lay eggs on the cardboard and we don't want any such creatures on our boat. Another reason is simply garbage. We want to eliminate the amount of trash we generate when we can't get rid of it.
And then the moment comes when you have to ask the most basic of questions: "Where in hell do I put all this? Did I buy too much?". Every space on the boat is used to the best of its capabilities and maximized. I have food stocked away pretty much in every single part of the boat. It has paid off very well when we are in places where there's no groceries stores or the food is just ridiculously expensive.
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| At the superU in St. Martin with the mighty cart and backpack |
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| Electronic price displays at the store. So cool. This is the first place I've seen this. |
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| Helping hands, enjoying a treat |
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