Grocery Shopping

Buying food in Beijing can be a little tricky for those of used to more American/European fare.  I have been truly spoiled by Meijer, Kroger, and the independently owned shops in Downtown Cincinnati and Clifton... there is no way to buy everything I need in one stop here in Bei Yuan. Instead, I figure out what recipes call for what, make a list, and then plan out when I can visit my four favourite grocers.  Let me break it down:

Wu Mart:  Pronounced "Woo-Mah" by the locals, this is the Chinese equivalent of Wal-Mart. It is about an 8 minute walk from my apartment located in the same complex as a small shopping mall.  There are two levels; the first floor is devoted to clothes, toiletries, cooking utensils, stationary, bed linens, and electronics. The 2nd level (the basement) is the food center. I must mention that the escalator to get there is very cool. Perhaps those of you reading this have seen such a marvelous invention before in the States, but I have not. Thus, I am very excited to tell you that these escalators are simply long descending/ascending ramps with grooves for the wheels of the shopping basket. Ingenious I tell you!!!  Ok, so back to the shopping. There is a nice bakery that makes not only breads and some sweet goods, but also baked snacks such as Pringles, chex, gold fish, etc. There is a huge freezer/refrigerator section with more types of fresh meat than you could possibly imagine (literally, every type of meat: livers, heads, hearts, tongues, fish, beef, chicken, duck, and probably some other animals that US citizens might find "interesting").  I, obviously, do not utilize this section.  There is also a deli counter devoted to fresh vegetables and veggie mixes including a large amount of fresh seaweed, fungus, and cabbage.  There is row after row of frozen dumplings, and a large section also devoted to ice creams and frozen desserts.  Eggs are not refrigerated here, but there are always hundreds of boxes of them.  Wu Mart has only one kind of "real" cheese... it's called "Beijing cheese" which isn't bad, but has a light flavour, the texture being similar to mozzarella.  There is one kind of salted butter and one kind of unsalted. Milk is also largely unrefrigerated here, and yogurt is extremely popular (but watch out!  Some yogurt here is "breakfast yogurt," thinner and soupier than regular yogurt... oh, and it's spelled "yoghurt").  The vegetable selection is quite extensive with everything you could want. The drawback is that it may be days between shipments and there are times when what's left doesn't look very appetizing or even ok to eat. The non-perishable food items are separated by a large wall. There are more than 3 isles devoted to candies and dried fruit, and another 5 isles for potato chips, rice cakes, cookies, crackers, and flour cakes. And we thought the US was bad... diabetes is well on its way here in Beijing...   The other half of the non-perishables include an isle for Ramen Noodles, an isle for soy sauce, an isle for every kind of cooking oil imaginable (but no cooking spray), 3 and half isles for juice, water, and soda, and then a spice isle (chili paste, black bean paste, veggie, chicken, beef, and fish stock, dried vegetables, tons of crushed red pepper, oyster sauce, salt, pepper, and ginger).  There is, literally, a dark corner of imported food but this only includes olive oil, frosted flakes, Nescafe, baked beans, ketchup, miracle whip, and Hunt's Tomato sauce.  The best part about Wu Mart is the price of the food which is extremely cheap. 100 RMB is equal to about $15 USD and I can generally buy all my fruits, veggies, cereal, tofu, bread, butter, and soy milk for the week for under that price. 

Ito Yokado: Based out of Japan, this store is more like Meijer and is a 15 minute walk from my apartment.  It has 5 levels: the basement is for food, and the top 4 floors are for clothes, electronics, etc.  The food selection tends to be more extensive than Wu Mart's but at a slightly higher price.  The fish is fresher here--there are large fish tanks from which you may make you selection. Most of the beef and chicken is also carved as it is ordered. Half the eggs are refrigerated and the other half is not.  There are even more varieties of milk, yogurt, and soy milk here.  The international isle has Italian pasta, tomato sauces, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Brie (and a couple other soft cheeses), salted and unsalted butters, whipped cream, heavy cream, Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, Oreos, Sunmaid Raisins, Skippy Peanut Butter (crunchy and smooth!), an Italian herb mix (but not the individual herbs), Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Curry, American mustard, and regular Pringles. The veggie selection is not as extensive as Wu Mart's, but the quality is consistently very good. Also, you can buy Udon Noodles and fresh sushi/sashimi here. Ito Yokado is also the better place to go to buy toiletries and household products as there is a larger selection of familiar US brands (i.e. Venus razor blades, Crest toothpaste, Listerine mouthwash, Pledge surface spray, Windex, toilet bowl cleaner, detergent, etc).  It is not a good idea to buy Tupperware, eating utensils, sponges, raisins, tomatoes, or garlic here, however, as the price is double that of Wu Mart.  If someone is looking to buy some greenery for their dwelling Ito Yokado also has a small selection of potted plants and cut flowers.

BHG Market Place

: This series of stores is similar to Kroger, the letters of which stand for Beijing Hualian (pronounced "Hwah lee-on") Group.  The location I visited two weeks ago was in the Solana shopping mall, a large European/American style shopping center that hosts such brands as Guess, Mango, Motivi, Promod, Zara, Esprit, Massimo Dutti, Only, and several other international clothing stores (you know it's good because they play Britney Spears and Lady Gaga over the radio there!).  Anyway, if you're living in Beijing and looking for some good cheeses and wine BHG is a really great place to go (the wine selection here isn't super fantastic... there are some nice Italian, French, and even American wines here, but nothing that a connoisseur would appreciate. Luckily, I am NOT a connoisseur and so the selection is perfect for me!). There is every type of cheese you could need, and there is a huge choice of imported organic fruits and veggies.  Unlike Wu Mart and Ito Yokado, BHG sells taco shells, refried beans, more spices, garbanzo beans, frozen pizzas, seedless red grapes, cream of mushroom soup, baking powder, Indian spice mixes, real chicken stock (at Wu Mart the stock is dried granules that dissolve in water. BHG sells the actually liquid stock which makes Brittany very happy), apple sauce, American potato chips (think original Cheetos, Lays, etc minus the weird flavours of Wu Mart such as Cucumber, Spicy Hot Pot, Seaweed, and fish).

Jenny Lou's: This is the store I have visited more recently (yesterday, actually... for the first time,). Located near the Solana shopping district and a 35 minute drive from my apartment (10-15 minute walk from Solana mall), it is the best place for international food finds. Brittany and I had a little party as we excitedly ran around the store yelling at each other each time we found a brand or item of food we love, which was basically the entire time.  It's a relatively small shop compared to the stores listed above, but it has EVERYTHING!!!  Every spice you could need, every type of cheese, many brands of butter, cream cheese, whipped cream, heavy cream, Silk brand vanilla and original flavoured soy milk, bagels (a rare find indeed!), more frozen pizza, dumplings, frozen veggies, frozen Mexican burritos, salsa, several kinds of pesto, gnocchi, tortellini, tomato sauces, olive oils, Crisco Veggie shortening, at least 15 American cereals, Quaker Oats, Nature Valley granola bars, Pellegrino sparkling water (omg omg!!!), German and American beers, a large wine selection, a bakery, more American potato/corn chips than BHG, garbanzo beans, baked beans, red beans, peas, corn, white beans, yellow beans...more beans than your body has room for!, tuna, ketchup, mustard (American, Grey Pupon, Honey, spicy, mild, etc), Tabasco sauce, hundreds of soups (Campbell’s and others), olives, taco seasoning, taco shells, soft tortilla shells, avocados (this may be the only store to sell them...), nutella, maple syrup (real and fake), Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Vanilla extract (real and imitation), and so much more!!!  This may seem like no big deal, but when you've lived in China for two months without the things that you're used to it becomes such a treat!  The catch is that everything here is more expensive than the other stores, either equal to or greater than the price it would be in the states.  I spent 280 RMB ( about $45) on 4 cans of chick peas, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 2 bottles of Pellegrino, a jar of Nutella, 4 kinds of spices, a package of tortellini, 2 containers of Silk soy milk, 2 cans of evaporated milk, and a bag of TVP (textured vegetable protein... very good for we vegetarians!). So, nothing too outrageous.

Watson's: This is not a food store. It's more like a Walgreen's in that it sells toiletries such as make-up, hair care and nail products, deodorant, shampoo, etc. The closest store to me is in the mall that also houses the Wu Mart. 

*WARNING* if you are not a woman or have issues with the topic of contraception please skip this next paragraph*
I have to take a moment to talk about "Feminine Hygiene."  In the states, we have everything. Here, they have most things. What they do not have, unfortunately, are tampons with applicators. Except at Jenny Lou's.  So, if you end up Beijing like me and you're searching for more than just plain old OB brand products, go to J.Ls and you'll find Tampax (original and pearl), and other US brands.
Next, contraception. The interesting thing here is that all forms of birth control are sold over the counter for an extremely cheap price. This includes not only condoms but also b.c pills and "morning-after" emergency contraception. I can only guess that this is mainly because of the law which prevents parents from having more than one child here. In the US birth control can be such a sensitive topic. Here, no one seems to care. The price of the pill ranges from 15 to 25 RMB ($2.50-$4.00).

Well, that's it for now. I tried to upload some pictures but Blogger is a little slow today so tomorrow or tonight I'll probably just publish a post of all pictures. 

~Cecilia