Shopping...

Among many other jobs yesterday I managed to fit in my first trip into a Tesco's Superstore (think Walmart...). I had actually been looking forward to Tesco's... but, in the event, I HATED it!

Armed with a capacious, shiny trolley that rolled along in a straight line (wow), and an expectant happy face, in I went, and was immediately overwhelmed by aisles stretching off in every direction. So, I thought I would start in one corner, and work my way around. I immediately got stuck in picnic stuff, then clothes, then flowers - hadn't even found the food yet. All of a sudden I came to the meat section, and it was so cold! I truly could not stand it. I decided not to buy meat that day, but would come back another day with a jumper on... The cold extended into the vegetable section as well, so I skipped that too. I spent a few happy minutes in the crisps and snacks section, and found some Tesco's brand tortillas - yay! - so stocked up on them (my trolley still being horribly empty).  I then spent at least ten minutes if not more comparing sizes of ketchup bottles - the bigger ones were better value per 100 gram, but then should I buy glass or plastic bottles - which is better environmentally? Then again, the plastic ones which stand upside down are a good medium size, but, the lids do get so messy. I ended up buying a HUGE, plastic, normal-way-up bottle which will probably last us a year... The bread section also got me stumped - every type of bread, from white to wheatmeal to wholemeal to granary to seedy ... AND in thin, medium, or thick slices - goodness. How to choose? Milk came next, and then ice cream, but I never made it to yoghurts or cheese... The frozen vegetables were easy as I only wanted frozen peas - incredibly expensive in Uganda, so I was happy to find them here at an eighth of the price.

Moving on, feeling a bit more successful, I found myself in the land of pre-prepared food - aisles and aisles of it. You could live off these aisles without needing the rest of the shop, if you didn't want to actually cook. I skipped all of them.

Cereal was another whole mine-field, but I was surprised at how expensive it was here - I had thought paying 5 pounds for a box in Uganda was an extravagance, but it isn't much less than that here. I bought two boxes on special offer... I still had to get through butter, spreads, biscuits, juice - but I had already run out of steam so I skipped most of that too. Then I realised, I ought to buy ingredients for one real meal, as the family can't really live on ice cream and tortilla chips, so, I dragged myself back to the arctic meat section and bought a packet of sausages and some bacon (the "cooking bacon," which is a third of the price of the rest just because it isn't sliced into perfectly shaped rashers - who cares?!)

My hour in Tesco's was exhausting, confusing, and very cold, and I had only managed to get around about a half of the shop... I may have try Sainsburys next time...