Housekeeping in Haiti: Grocery Shopping

I have really been procrastinating writing this post.  Curiously enough, this was one of the main things I wondered about before moving here, and yet now it is pretty much the least interesting chore.  Feeding my family has been a strange thing to re-learn how to do here.  So previously, I shared that I now make from scratch most of our food, such as bread, tortillas, beans, Mexican rice, etc.  But one of the main things I'm lacking is fresh food.  I really really really miss broccoli, and spinach, and pretty much anything green.  The rest of the fam really misses blueberries, and strawberries, and grapes.  Yesterday I saw a small bundle of grapes at the grocery store for $11.  Eleven dollars!?!  Needless to say, I did not buy them.  The tough spot I'm in right now concerning fresh produce, is many of these items are just plain expensive and sometimes icky at the grocery store.  Also, the selection is pretty small.  I can usually find cucumbers and apples.  Produce in the grocery stores come in saran wrapped packages, kind of like a pound of ground beef.  You don't get to select your own, and usually the yucky part is packaged slyly as to avoid revealing it's rotten spot.  It's a big bummer to open that $8 four pack of apples only to find that one or two are pretty squishy.  We do have two mango trees in our yard, and 4/5's of Krulls LOVE mangos!  To get affordable local produce, and a much greater selection, most of my American counter-parts go,  or send a Haitian staff member or house help to do the market shopping for these options.  The Krulls don't have any house help, therefore I don't go to these markets, yet.  Maybe one day when my kreyol gets stronger.  In the meantime, I'm researching gardening in Haiti, and looking into purchasing some sort of tower garden.  This crew needs some greens!

I don't have any pictures, because I really don't like taking pictures while we're out and about, and it has everything to do with {THIS}.

I've said it a lot, but I'll say it again:  Haiti is expensive.  While we don't buy many items on this list, this is a fascinating side by side comparison of some very common grocery items: {HERE}

I'll end on a positive note:
1.  I LOVE homemade stuff, and so do The Crazies.
2.  I've dropped some pounds, what's not to love about that?

**Learning to live in Haiti has taken some pretty major adjustments, as you can imagine.  Just living in Haiti seems to be a full time job in itself.  I know that before I moved here, I wondered how we would do the simple things we did in the States.  This is the third in a series of blog posts where I want to document how we do the basic house stuff in Haiti and share with those who are curious how we do things around here.  As a disclaimer, we're living a pretty Americanized version of Haitian living.  The majority of Haitians living here do not live the way we do, a fact that I am equally blessed by and ashamed of.**

Next up:  Getting the Mail 

Part One

Housekeeping in Haiti:  The Kitchen

Part Two

Housekeeping in Haiti:  Laundry