Groceries in Estonia

Ok, I've not lived in the states now since August of 2009, so I'm a bit out of touch with what is normal in terms of grocery purchases.  I thought I would take a minute to do a little comparison shopping with anyone that wishes to weigh in on any differences.

I made a quick run to the grocery store for some basic items.  I bought:

• four golden delicious apples that were rather small for a total of 1,03 Euros ($1.38)
• four bananas for 1,22 Euros ($1.63)
• 1 liter of milk for 0,82 Euros ($1.10 or $4.16 a gallon)
• a loaf of bread for 0.74 Euros ($0.99)
• chicken breasts for 2.73 Euros ($3.65)
• Demerara sugar for 1,99 Euros ($2.66)
• cheese for 1,45 Euros for 150 grams which is 1/3 pound ($1.94)
• half a dozen eggs for 0.98 Euros ($1.31)

Including VAT (value added tax), that total was 10.96 which converts to $14.65 USD.

I find it difficult to purchase too much at once because often the produce is not the greatest quality.  As a result, I go to the store quite frequently.  Speaking of purchasing produce, they do something I like here that they might be doing in the states as well.  I frequent three different grocery store chains on a regular basis.  Two of those chains require you to weigh your produce and select the number to print a price sticker to attach to the bag (or bananas) before you go to the checkout.  One day I actually helped someone do this, even though we couldn't communicate other than pointing, etc.  Thankfully my sponsor taught me to do this early on.

I'm assuming we are getting good rates.  I normally buy a cheddar from the deli and shred as needed, but they were out.  That is why I bought the prepackaged cheese.  The milk has a short shelf life so I do not purchase more than 2 liters at a time, but they only had the 1 liter available that night.  With such as short shelf life I chose to purchase only one.  I think the sugar was pricey, but it is healthier than white sugar so I went with it.

Oh, they do not bag your groceries for you, which is fine by me.  They didn't do it in Japan either.  Also, you either bring your own bags, or you buy them there.  You could also just wheel the cart to your car and unload them if you wished.  You can spend around a Euro for a cloth bag or a variety of "cents" for a plastic bag.   I always take my bags with me.

Other observations are that rarely do you see Estonians purchase a cart full of groceries.  Usually they might have a basket full or just a few items.  They do have typical carts available to use but I rarely see them get full.  Sometimes I do pack a full cart though.  This is different from our time in Japan because in their local grocery stores they did not have full sized carts.  They did have cute little metal frames you could put your basket in to push around.  Click here to see one.