This is quite a fun adventure....
I have no idea how it works over here in terms of getting food. All I know is that they'll let us know when things are expected to be on the shelf in the commissary (read: 2 weeks to one month away). We pretty much had a heart attack on our first trip to the commissary because of the outrageous prices. Cereal - $5-8, coffee - $12, oreos - $5 (and that's just the orginal!). Luckily, in time, we have learned to use John as much as possible to buy locally. There will be things that he tells us he either can't get locally or it will be super expensive. So I get that at the commissary. The downside is that there's no bargain shopping. If he says he needs something from the commissary, I pay whatever the price is.
The really fun part is that the inventory is always changing. When we first arrived, the shelves were pretty barren. Over the past month, they're restocked twice.
..... but you have to be careful.
We've been needing regular salted butter for awhile but the commissary has only carried unsalted (amazing how different chocolate chip cookies are with unsalted butter). The other week, they finally had salted! I saw that they also had the Land O Lakes buttery spread. We've been needing this for the bread that John makes. I picked some up and casually checked the expiration date - it expired one year ago! And this is something that they just put on the shelves too! Again, I don't know how it works. I do know that you have to check the expiration date on everything. They have tostito chips right now too. I thought about getting some and making fresh salsa for Stewart but all of the chips are expired as well. I don't want to chance it with buying them and then have them be stale. Maybe John can make chips???
So it's a fun adventure. It makes planning meals difficult when you don't know if you'll be able to find what you need. I'm making some cucumber lemonade today and just barely made the cut off for the lemonade concentrate! It expires next month. Granted ... some things I'll be okay using one month after expiration but if you're trying to sell me something that expired six months to a year ago, think again.
It just means that we'll have all these fun foods awaiting us when we move back to the states. Cream cheese, bagels, chips and salsa! :-)
I have no idea how it works over here in terms of getting food. All I know is that they'll let us know when things are expected to be on the shelf in the commissary (read: 2 weeks to one month away). We pretty much had a heart attack on our first trip to the commissary because of the outrageous prices. Cereal - $5-8, coffee - $12, oreos - $5 (and that's just the orginal!). Luckily, in time, we have learned to use John as much as possible to buy locally. There will be things that he tells us he either can't get locally or it will be super expensive. So I get that at the commissary. The downside is that there's no bargain shopping. If he says he needs something from the commissary, I pay whatever the price is.
The really fun part is that the inventory is always changing. When we first arrived, the shelves were pretty barren. Over the past month, they're restocked twice.
..... but you have to be careful.
We've been needing regular salted butter for awhile but the commissary has only carried unsalted (amazing how different chocolate chip cookies are with unsalted butter). The other week, they finally had salted! I saw that they also had the Land O Lakes buttery spread. We've been needing this for the bread that John makes. I picked some up and casually checked the expiration date - it expired one year ago! And this is something that they just put on the shelves too! Again, I don't know how it works. I do know that you have to check the expiration date on everything. They have tostito chips right now too. I thought about getting some and making fresh salsa for Stewart but all of the chips are expired as well. I don't want to chance it with buying them and then have them be stale. Maybe John can make chips???
So it's a fun adventure. It makes planning meals difficult when you don't know if you'll be able to find what you need. I'm making some cucumber lemonade today and just barely made the cut off for the lemonade concentrate! It expires next month. Granted ... some things I'll be okay using one month after expiration but if you're trying to sell me something that expired six months to a year ago, think again.
It just means that we'll have all these fun foods awaiting us when we move back to the states. Cream cheese, bagels, chips and salsa! :-)
1 comment:
I have enjoyed your blogs. Have you received my e-mail?
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