Sarah Vs. The Grocery Store

I feel like the grocery store is my home away from home. I’ve become much more interested in cooking since I arrived here and have pleasantly discovered that I’m actually a pretty decent cook. The only problem is that when I go to make a recipe not only do I not have the ingredients, I won’t have the utensils or dishes to make the recipe! After two months my kitchen is starting to be fully stocked with pots, pans, sauces and spices.

I have a love-hate relationship with grocery shopping. Before I moved to England, grocery shopping had never reduced me to tears. Since I have moved, crying while shopping has become an all too frequent occurrence.

The first grocery meltdown happened over molasses; a seemingly innocuous item. I wanted to make gingerbread cookies to take over to Matt’s parents house since they were having us over for dinner. I made us drive to the bigger grocery store that is ten minutes away rather than walk across the street to the grocery store that is closer. Matt failed to see the logic in my plan. I was also not aware that on Sundays all the stores close at 4:00 p.m.!!! I can’t shop under pressure. I quickly learned that molasses in a liquid form does not exist here. I asked numerous people who worked at the store and was met with the same blank stare each time that could only partially be attributed to my accent. The best that they could offer was molasses sugar. I bought it not knowing if it would work. We made it to the car and I realized that in the molasses hunt, I had completely forgotten about butter and the whole cookie-making project was aborted.

I miserably stared out the window for the car ride home chiding myself for being so ridiculous and being on the verge of tears over molasses! I soon realized that my being upset wasn’t entirely about the molasses. It was part of a bigger issue of not being able to find things that I needed when I needed them. It was the fact that everything was different here. It made me suddenly and acutely aware that I wasn’t at home. My first major pang of homesickness occurred over molasses.

The next grocery obstacle: egg whites. Egg whites are a staple in my fridge and have been for the past 5 years. I like them for breakfast, for baking and purely for convenience. These, like many other items, are not popular in England. They only sell them at one store that is a 15-minute drive from here. They don’t have a very large supply so I can’t stock up on the few occasions I can convince Matt to drive me there. I’ve never ordered egg whites off the Internet before but stay tuned to see how that pans out.

Then there was the Whole Foods incident. I am a health food lover. I love going to organic stores and markets. I could spend an afternoon quite happily in a health food store. I was very spoiled living in Vancouver with its high population of vegetarians, vegans and organic food lovers. Whole Foods in Vancouver on Cambie street is practically heaven. I found out that London does have Whole Foods that are accessible by train. I convinced Matt that we needed to drive there because I would probably be buying so much stuff that I wouldn’t be able to carry it home on the train. So we set off on another grocery adventure to the tiny, unremarkable whole foods. Disappointment is an understatement. I only bought some cereal because I felt that we had come all this way so I had to buy something.

While Matt already questions my sanity, my repeated meltdowns while food shopping are not helping my cause. It’s difficult to explain why I find it so upsetting when I want to buy things or make recipes and I can’t find the ingredients. Or I want to eat healthily and I can’t find what I need. It’s improving because of the sheer amount of time that I spend in the store across the road. I’m finally starting to learn the layout of the store and the different names that are used for food items.

Hopefully I’ll find work soon and grocery shopping will no longer be the high and low point of my day.