A recent conversation in our house:
Tauna: Can you pick up some eggs and milk from the store on the way home?
Erik: Yeah. It seems like we just went to the store yesterday.
Tauna: We did.
That's right, we go to the store everyday in Japan. It's such a change from what we were used to "back home." Before we left we were staying in Door County, WI, a very rural area 30 minutes from the nearest large town. Grocery shopping included a long drive, a list, a cart and car with a big trunk. We usually bought enough food for two weeks.
But here there are no carts and there is no parking lot at the store. Nearly everyday we make the 5 minute walk to our Super Market. We pick up a little basket and pick out the things we want to eat that evening and maybe the next day. We then carry it all home. We usually go together, because four arms are better than two. We also frequent our neighborhood vegetable & fruit store.
It's taken some getting used to (and we are definitely getting a bicycle to make the job easier) but the great part of going to the store everyday is that we waste very little food. Hardly anything ever spoils in our fridge. We also eat a lot healthier: no box meals or frozen dinners here because there is no room at home.
On Saturday, Tauna took a trip to Costco. She took an empty suitcase with to fill with food. Successfully, she bought home cheese, sausage, peanut butter, granola, oatmeal and other goodies. Costco is very cheap compared to our local Super Market. And the best part, they have huge blocks of cheese and peanut butter. It took her over an hour to get home with the suitcase of 50+ pounds of food. She had to take four different trains, and at one station there was no elevator. The extra effort makes the cheese taste 100% better.
