The One Where We Go Grocery Shopping

Whenever Lorne and I travel, we always make it a point to try to visit a local grocery store at least once, as we found it to be one of the best ways to learn about people and how they live.  And when we previously vacationed here in Los Cabos we did exactly that. We wandered the local grocery stores to see what was available, what was different and if we could find some of the more specific items we liked.  I guess in retrospect, playing “supermarket tourist” during those visits helped us prepare so that grocery shopping here would not seem so “foreign” to us when we finally made the move.

However, once we were here, weekly shopping became this huge adventure for us, trying to find where things were located as many items were not where we expected them to be compared to back home.  We could see the items we were looking for in other people’s carts so we knew the store carried them, but it was a total scavenger hunt trying to find them.  For example, we spent a great deal of time in the beginning trying to find sugar.  In the baking aisle near the flour they have brown sugar and icing sugar, but nowhere could we find regular granulated sugar.  Turns out the sugar is in the produce area, next to the eggs (another thing we would have had to find, if we hadn’t have just found the sugar).  And as an FYI, granulated sugar apparently only comes in 2kg bags, nothing smaller – which is funny because all-purpose flour only comes in 1kg bags, nothing larger!  The dry yeast is also not located in the baking aisle. Instead you can find it in the bakery section, near the counter where you get the yummy bake goods packed up.  Baking soda is with the laundry detergents, and popcorn for popping is not in the snack aisle but rather with all the dried beans.

When I stop and think about it now, besides finally figuring out where everything is located, at some point during the past nine months we finally evolved from shopping like a tourist to shopping more like a local.  And there is actually a difference.  The difference is we stopped looking for things we used to have back home and started enjoying the new and exciting things that were available to us here.  It was exciting to see things like fire-roasted peppers made in-store daily, fresh homemade tortillas hot off the comal, and nopales (cactus paddles) that have been de-thorned and trimmed, ready to use.  Some new items we were familiar with, and others we had to learn how to cook with them. But to be totally honest, it has been the most delicious learning experience.

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It’s funny really, how people can become so loyal to certain brands or types of foods.  Back home it was so easy to do as there were so many choices that everyone could have their own personal preference, something exact for their own tastes or needs.  I always laughed when we would go shopping at Fred Meyer in Washington State and would see this gigantic wall of single serve yogurt.  Not only were there so many different brands, there were so many choices for almost everything – type of yogurt (plain or Greek or soy or coconut or… ), flavour (including “dessert” yogurts), fruit on the bottom, fruit on top, or fruit mixed in, additional mix-ins in a little attached section of the single serve cup, low carb yogurt, low fat yogurt, full fat yogurt, 2% yogurt, low sugar yogurt, yogurt that makes you active, yogurt drinks and the list goes on and on and on.  Seriously, do we really need that many choices of yogurt?? 

At first, I wondered if we could even manage not having all our favourite brands (or specific yogurt), and as it turned out, it didn’t matter at all.  For all the things we used to buy but cannot get here, we have either found an alternative for or just simply do without it.  It’s really not an issue as there are so many other new and wonderful foods here to easily replace them with, and we certainly have not gone hungry!

Most of the larger supermarkets here are of the one-stop shopping variety which not only carry groceries, but also dry goods, appliances, mattresses, furniture – even ATV’s and motorbikes right next to the pharmacy.  Alcohol is also readily available in these stores with decent selections of vodka, rum, bourbon etc, and of course, a huge selection of tequila and mezcal.  As well, they carry some nice wines produced in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and few from California. 

We have definitely found that most alcohol is indeed cheaper here.  Below is a comparison chart for some of the alcohol we have bought here in Cabo, compared to the prices found online at BC Liquor Stores.  All prices shown are in Canadian dollars and include applicable taxes.

Packaged foods, including condiments are mostly imported from the USA so have import fees added to them, and tend to be near the same prices we paid for them back home.  However, the prices for fresh foods (beef, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, fruit, veggies, and some dairy) we have found to be cheaper here. 

Below are comparison charts for some of the items we have bought here in Cabo, compared to the prices where we used to shop at Save On Foods in Richmond BC.  All prices shown are in Canadian dollars.

While shopping, we have found certain things to be rather pricey here. For example: a 100g Toblerone Bar.  In Cabo they are $7.20 each compared to $3.19 back home.  Another is La Croix flavoured sparkling water – $12.34 for the 12 pack here, compared to $7.19 back home.  Needless to say, these items are no longer included on our weekly shopping list!  Deli items are a bit limited here and a little pricey, and the cost of cheese totally depends on whether it’s imported (pricey) or produced in Mexico (very affordable). 

On the flip side, one of the things that we found to be very inexpensive here are corn tortillas.  They are made fresh every day, right in store and you can buy a kg package of approximately 80 warm tortillas for about $0.75 CAD – less than a penny each!

Los Cabos also has many outdoor farm markets where people like to go buy fresh fruits and vegetables for even less than what the stores sells them at.  However due to COVID-19, these farm markets are currently closed. We are looking forward to when they are allowed to reopen so we can shop there for some amazing fresh, locally grown, usually organic items.

While we normally pay for our groceries with our credit card (need to keep collecting those loyalty points for when we can eventually travel again) we also make sure that we carry some cash (pesos) with us when we go shopping as well.  Groceries are packed for you by either a young kid wanting to make a little money, or an older couple trying to make ends meet, and one should always remember to tip the baggers (usually $20 pesos / $1.25 CAD). 

Pesos also come in handy for getting your car washed while you are shopping.  After parking your vehicle in the lot, someone will usually come over to ask if you want your vehicle washed.  If you prefer not to, they will just move on and ask the next person.  But if you do want it washed, they will wash it while you shop and when you return, your vehicle is nice and clean, and you simply pay them $60 pesos ($3.50 CAD) for a job well done.

Now that we have most of it figured out, grocery shopping here has become both enjoyable and affordable.  We love the big variety of fresh fruits and veggies available to us, as well as the local fish and chicken which we enjoy most weeknights. 

We have also enjoyed trying some of the “new to us” ingredients and have learned to make some really delicious traditional Mexican dishes with them.   We have used the nopales (cactus paddles) to make Nopalitos, roasted poblano peppers to make Chilaquiles, and Mexican chorizo and cheeses to make Queso Fundido.  We have learned to make fresh salsas and sauces, tacos and tostadas, ceviche and carnitas, and the freshest (most potent) Jalapeno Margarita ever.   

Hmmm…..  maybe we need to do a blog post about some of the delicious foods we have been making here.  Stay tuned!