Grocery shopping is an adventure; we are never quite sure what we will or won't find. We shop for groceries at a number of grocery stores depending on what we are looking for and where we may have other errands to attend to, but there are two grocery stores where we shop the most. Which we shop at is usually determined by what we need to purchase or how much time we have.
The closest grocery store is Super Spar by Game City Mall. This store is close enough that we often walk there if we only have a few items to purchase. It takes about ten minutes to walk and almost ten minutes to drive there.
The second store takes about ten minute to drive. It is Pick n Pay at the Molapo Crossing Mall.
Fruits and vegetables are safe to eat without washing them in bleach water first and there is generally a pretty good variety. Prices at the grocery store seem much higher than we are used to in the United States while restaurant prices are generally cheaper than we are used to.
The grocery stores are usually pretty well stocked but if we are looking for something specific we may have to go to three or four stores or we may not find it anywhere. Chocolate chips, sour cream, celery, green onions, cottage cheese, certain spices, Mexican foods, cupcake cups, and nuts are examples of things that may be difficult to find. The Super Spar we shop at usually has sour cream but the Pick n Pay never has it. Some times we could never find sour cream. Last week we went to five grocery stores before we found cinnamon. Luckily for us they were all located by Game City so we could walk between them but that is unusual. Some things like Swiss cheese, mint extract, almond extract, graham crackers, and many American-brand packaged foods (like Oreos) we have never found.
Chocolate chips are especially interesting. Many stores do not carry chocolate chips. Those that do carry them may be out of stock for months and then when they do get them, they disappear from the shelves within days. We would expect items that sell out that quickly to be re-stocked quickly but that is not the case.
One side of a produce isle
Sometimes even very common items are difficult to find. For awhile we could not find oranges. Bananas were out of two of the stores we were shopping at. A given store may be out of milk, cucumbers, broccoli, potatoes, or other very common items.
The other side of the produce isle
When stores are out of an item they just fill the shelves with something else to make the shelves look full. If you ask for an item and it is out of stock you are told it is "finished". If you asked when it might be available no one ever seems to know.
Many items that are sold in small volumes do not have prices marked on the shelves so you do not know what they cost until you check out. Sometimes even high volume items are not marked.
As in much of the world, eggs are not refrigerated. They also come complete with poop and feathers. The shelf life of fresh milk is very short and usually needs to be used before its use-by date or it is sour. The only fresh milk available is full cream. If you want skim or 2% milk you must buy shelf milk (non-refrigerated, long-life) which costs about 80% more than full-cream milk.
Bread is subsidized and inexpensive. It is baked fresh in most stores. It comes unsliced and there are bread-slicing machines for customers to slice their own bread. It is a delight to buy warm bread and take it home for a fresh slice. If we want fresh rolls we usually shop at Pick n Pay because they have a nice selection of fresh rolls and specialty breads. We often order large quantities of rolls for zone conference lunches, seminary/institute graduation, etc.
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