Buying what you need…exactly

Grocery shopping in the USA.
Check the fridge. See what staples you are out of. Add items to your list.
Plan what meals you want for the week. Add items to list.
Check laundry and bathroom supplies. Add items to list.
Take list. Lots of money or debit card. And, off you go to the store.

So far, grocery shopping in Costa Rica is the same. The difference comes when you get to the store.

Say you want celery. In the US you are going to buy an entire bunch, or at the very least. A cellophane bag of celery hearts. Here, if you need 1 stalk of celery for a recipe, you buy one stalk. If you have a headache and need to buy aspirin, you buy the number of aspirin you need. That’s right, instead of buying a bottle of 100 or more, you can buy one. I know this from experience. The first time I went into a pharmacy and asked for aspirin, the clerk asked how many. Of course I thought she meant how many bottles, so, I said “one.” And, she gave me one pre-packed aspirin (orange square next to bottled aspirin in photo).

Most food items are the same. For example, the standard spaghetti sauce comes in a 4-ounce package. There are several brands available including familiar names like “Roma,” but they are all 4-ounces. There are 2.5 servings per package - Costa Rican servings of 2 tablespoons each. Now, how does this compare to an American serving. Well, one day we happened to find a “normal” size can of Del Monte spaghetti sauce. That would be 26.5 ounces, of course. According to Del Monte, an American serving was ½ cup of sauce - about twice that of the Costa Rican serving (but what a difference those additional 2 ounces make on your plate).

There are other differences as well. You find very little in the way of frozen meals, and those that you do find tend to be quite expensive. But you do find rows and rows of different flavors of mayonnaise. Produce sections are comparatively small in our area, and believe it or not, we have a hard time finding bananas.

I think that the differences between stores in the 2 countries may have more to do with lifestyles than it has to do with eating habits. Since a great number of people here walk, take a bus, bike or taxi to the store, lighter bags are an advantage. Plus, a 30 minute trip with frozen food could be disastrous. Produce trucks routinely bring their fresh products to rural neighborhoods and many people grow their own fruits and vegetables. So, it makes sense here to buy only what you need, when you need it.