Grocery Shopping

In mundane post number two I have chosen the topic (as suggested by my sister) of grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping is something I do about once a week, generally on Monday or Tuesday. I spend about 60-70 NZD each week. There are two different grocery stores that I frequent. The first, Pak'n'Save is about a 5 minute walk away at the Fairfield Mall. It's a store along the lines of a Food Basics, with little in the way of amenities. It has fairly cheap prices and it's pretty easy to find things in the store. The second option is Countdown. It's a little bigger than Pak'n'Save and has a larger selection of goods. It's also more polished and has more the feel of a Zehrs or Sobeys. I prefer to shop at Countdown when possible but it's a little further away, about 7-8 minutes drive.

When I go grocery shopping I generally try to plan my meals for the week ahead of time. I was quite religious about this at first and I have very detailed plans saved in a spreadsheet for the first four weeks. Since then, I've become a little more free-flowing and flexible in my meal-making.

Grocery stores here are much the same as in Canada with a few notable exceptions.
1. There is alcohol in vast quantities available at the grocery store.
2. Eggs are not refrigerated. This made it very difficult to find the eggs the first time I went to the grocery store.