Grocery Shopping

I was sharing with my dearest friend Jennie about my typical grocery shopping experience here.  She was so surprised at the adventures, I thought I would share with a greater audience.

First, I want to exclaim my overwhelming joy to be able to cook full time for my family.  Since we've been married, our work schedules or life circumstances have interfered with my ability to be able to consistently prepare meals at home each night-which is a lifelong dream of mine!  Every time I played 'house' as a little girl, we always ate together each night as a family.  We eat with students occasionally during the week, but primarily we have dinner as a family.

I'm not sure how other Italians shop, and I know my friends in the 'burbs shop differently, so the following experiences are potentially unique to me living in the middle of downtown.  I shop once a week (with minor trips in between) and make a weekly menu to shop from.  I use the app "Clear" on my phone.  Its super fun and colorful and rewarding to swipe things off of my list.  Each Sunday night or Monday morning I compile a menu.  The items on our weekly menu aren't unique to Italy, just a combination of normal American foods and Italian foods.  The only thing missing from our weekly menu is anything with Cream of 'insert yummy food here' Soup.  Most of the foods I make are all from fresh ingredients without processed items, because those are my options here.  I looooove that about cooking here.  It obviously takes a little more time, but is scrumptious.

Here's what's on the menu this week: Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers and mashed potatoes, Key West grilled chicken, rice pilaf and cilantro lime slaw, Sfolgia (an Italian appetizer pizza) with spinach, tomato, pancetta, parmesan and granna cheese, Chicken Zucchini Rice Casserole and a green salad, and Beef Carnitas Tacos with Hill Country Salsa.

For all of our mexican meals, I was forewarned about the lack of taco seasoning and chili powder here-so we stocked up and brought lots with us.  We also brought baking powder, ranch seasoning, brown sugar, gravy mix, and vanilla.  We were able to find maple syrup at a specialty store, but we paid roughly over 4€ ($5.21) for a very small bottle.  We'll learn as we live here the delicacies that we'll kindly ask our visitors to grace us with :)

I read recipes thoroughly before choosing them for our week to make sure all of the ingredients are in our imported stock or easily purchased.  Some specialty items (like Oreos!) may be sold at larger groceries outside of the city center, but since those places require a bus ride, I don't included them in my recipe list usually.

I shop at a grocery store just around the block.  Its slightly smaller than an Aldi's, but arranged very similarly.  It's roughly 3.5 minutes in travel time.  Along with my list on my phone, I bring a euro coin, umbrella, our backpacking backpack and our rolling grocery cart.  Rolling grocery carts are frequently seen here and are typical for grocery transportation from the store to your apartment.  I shop for a whole week at a time-which I don't think its a crazy amount of food-but I've never seen anyone carry more than one lightly loaded rolling cart or 2 full grocery sacs here.  Maybe they go to the grocery daily?  Or they could work downtown, live in the 'burbs and only shop in the city at the smaller stores for immediate necessities?  No idea.  But I'd rather keep this experience to one day a week.

My entire receipt for the trip-I don't think that's tons of food?

I stuff my backpack in my cart and carry it down the 66 stairs from our apartment to the street and I roll on down to the grocery.  Upon entering, I use my euro coin to check out a grocery cart.  Its a small grocery cart compared to American standards, but even then-to date-I'm the only shopper I've ever seen use a cart.  Most use their own reusable bags or a small rolling basket.

The small rolling basket everyone else uses to shop.

I've never seen anyone shop with a grocery cart.  But I do:)  I put my rolling cart in the grocery cart and wheel around to the entrance of the produce area.  There are turn bars to enter, and a little gate for grocery carts, so I remove my rolling cart from my grocery cart, wheel it through with me through the turn bars with my left hand and try to simultaneously push the grocery cart through the gate with my right hand.  Hysterical to witness I'm sure.  I've only taken Finn with me once, he was strapped on my chest.  That was some serious maneuvering...

Renting the grocery cart.

After entering the turn bars, I'm in the produce area-that's roughly 15x12 ft.  I put my rolling cart back in my grocery cart-which looks very silly.  The produce and cheese areas are the most crowded in the store, so I have no idea where to put my grocery cart while I'm picking produce.  I try to place it out of the way, but because of the area size-its inevitably in the way and gets moved at least 3 times.  I then don a plastic glove (like a lunch lady) and handle my produce into plastic bags.  I then note the number on the produce sign, and weigh each item.  The machine prints a label and it goes on my produce bag for each veggie or fruit.  You can use the same glove for different produce, but you cannot handle the produce barehanded!

The glove/bag/weigh station for produce.

After I've piled up and labeled all my bags, I move on throughout the store.  There is a refrigerated and unrefrigerated milk section.   The eggs are not refrigerated.  You can buy 800 different forms and brands of parmesan and mozzarella.  Only mildly exaggerating.  The pasta aisle is huuuuuuuge.  Love Italy.  I buy bakery bread-but pop it in my freezer as soon as I get home and reheat as we use it.  If you leave it out, it will be rock hard by evening.  I bought plain greek yogurt today in hopes that it will double as sour cream.  I also bought large chocolate bars in hopes of chopping them to make chocolate chips for cookies!  Always an adventure.  I'm still in study mode-so I look at each item to know what they carry.  And to try and translate what it is.

A quick photo of the produce-taken as
I was moving quickly out of someone's way.

After I've made my way through the store, and back through the store, and back through the store, anxiety sets in as check out looms.  This is the scariest part of grocery shopping.  I swear the checkers are trained for speed.

You must purchase bags if you want bags, and you sack all of your own groceries.  But unlike Aldi's-where they place your grocery cart at the end of the checkout line to fill so you can bag, they just pile groceries in a 3x2 ft area at the end of the line!  In approximately 2.5 seconds.  Only mildly exaggerating.

So I get in line, and as soon as I see an inch of free conveyor belt-I pile my heaviest items mile high and then shovel the rest of my groceries out.  I remove my backpack from my rolling cart and place it next to the rolling cart in my shopping cart.  I try to run down past the cashier, because by the time I've placed my last item on the belt-she's already scanned 75% of my items usually.  There are no produce weighing breaks!  Only lightening speed.  So I race to the end of the line and shovel my heaviest items in the bottom of my rolling cart and I reserve my backpack for bruisable produce, bread, chips, and eggs.  I try to organize things as I 'bag' them.  But there's no time.  Usually, I've had time to put 2 items in my rolling cart, when she announces my total.  I try to remember where I put my key fob in this rush, toss out some cash (hoping I heard her correctly), get my receipt and go back to bagging ferociously.

In the time it took me to type the last sentence, the cashier has already checked someone else entirely, and their groceries are now encroaching on my pile. I amp up my bag time!  And try to get out of the way!  The most shoppers I've had piled up behind me is 5.  Horrible, I tell you.

 So when all is bagged, I cart over to the carts and hoist my backpack on my back and my rolling cart out of the cart, return my cart, and get my euro back.  Keep in mind-this whole experience elicits many stares.  But so does my hair.  And my baby.  I'm used to it :)

Then I roll back home down the street (not the sidewalk, because there are 6 steps on the sidewalk).  Today, I was grateful for my packed umbrella-because it was pouring when I left.  I get back into my apartment building (granted that I haven't been run over by a bicycle or bus) and call Alex.  Thankfully, he's been able to stay home with Finn during my trips, so I carry the backpack up the stairs and he retrieves my rolling cart from our lobby.  No one steals this overstuffed rolling cart of groceries, because they would have to lug it somewhere too :)

And voila!  We're set for the week.  We shove our food into our small fridge and cabinets and go on with our day.  Monday is also my laundry day-which is also quite the task without a dryer.  Bella Italia!

The next time you go shopping and enjoy your bag boy and large grocery cart and trunk space, think fondly of me and the sweet adventures we're loving in Bologna.