Food Shopping at International Stores

October 28th, 2006 at 12:52 pm

Here's one trick I use for saving money when grocery shopping--I do a lot of shopping at international (mostly Asian) grocery stores.
The fruit and vegetables are usually locally grown and cheaper than regular stores. Spices are a fraction of what they cost at the local chain store (ie: a tiny pack of Bay leaves at the chain store is $1.99, at the Asian market a giant pack of Bay leaves is $1.99). Depending on the store, meat, fish and dry goods (if you like the Asisan variety such as noodles, rice, etc) are much cheaper as well. Both Asian and Middle Eastern stores usually import directly so you may not be able to read what is on the label but start out with the basics and see how much you save!

Posted in Earning and Saving Tips | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Food Shopping at International Stores”

pjmama Says:
October 28th, 2006 at 01:03 pm

haha. It's good to see someone other than myself utilizing this strategy... I buy all rice and in general all my spices in the asian grocery stores here... oh, and edamame! Yum!
Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
October 28th, 2006 at 01:37 pm

Absolutely! Many relatives to whom I mail holiday gifts will be getting a treat that one of these stores sells annually--Chocolates filled with vaious liquors and liquers. A box from this import store is high quality and costs about $3.50, compared to a similar box costing about $30 elsewhere! But we buy legumes of all kinds, noodles, rice, dates, nuts, teas, olive oil (huge savings even compared to the Italian markets in my nieghborhood), soy sauce (the best!), specialty flours (like flax, and almond) and spices there. A staple in our household is a Hungarian sort of "salsa" that is an ingredient in my husband's cabbage soup. There's no where else in town to get it. Next year I think I'm going to see if I can sell them some of my garden produce, as I grow some things that other shoppers there would be interested in. Great bargains there.
baselle Says:
October 28th, 2006 at 02:54 pm

I love doing this, especially if you have a sense of adventure and if you are not too frightened to pick through the produce. Its also a great place if you need to get specialty utensils, wok, steamers, bowls, colanders, etc.

Again, you want to know your prices...not the place to get everything especially the American type staples (of course).

MsSuperSaver's Personal Finance Blog

My daily adventure in saving money, doing more for less, and building my financial future.

Food Shopping at International Stores

3 Responses to “Food Shopping at International Stores”

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