You Never Know What You’re Gonna Get…

Posted by on January 20, 2012 in Blog, Uncategorized | 0 comments

When it comes to shopping, and I’m talking shopping for food, this statement is so true here in Madagascar…you never know what you’re gonna get.  When we lived here 9 years ago, the food items in terms of variety were limited, very, very limited.  When we returned a year ago, I was absolutely ecstatic how times, and items on the shelf, have changed.

 

Here’s a sneak peak list of items we CAN get here in Madagascar.

*Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard….even occasionally the equivalent to French’s yellow mustard– gone are the days of making our own… seriously!

*Quinoa!  though it costs an arm and leg, and even at times a small child, we can get quinoa!

*Balsalmic Vinegar

*Rice cakes… my kids love these with peanut butter and honey for an afternoon snack

*Almonds!  My mother-in-law used to bring pounds of raw almonds back with her from the States… now we can purchase them here

*Popcorn

*Natural Peanut Butter… certainly beats the 1/2 day event of roasting, shelling and then pureeing peanuts to make our own peanut butter like we used to 9 years ago

*Oatmeal

*Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

And some coveted items that we CAN’T get here in Madagascar but wish we could…

*brown sugar– the lovely dark brown sugar for baking

*molasses– for making your own lovely dark brown sugar for baking

*dried split peas for split pea soup

*healthy and easy snacks such as stone-ground whole wheat crackers

*“Look Pa, there’s no Flour” sprouted bread– is this really too much to ask for here in Madagascar 🙂

*Indulgences like chocolate-covered-peanut-butter filled pretzels from Trader Joes!

 

This past year I’ve learned to love the items we can get here and I’ve even forgotten about a lot of the items we can’t get…. God is good like that!  I’ve also learned that when these items are available, to stock up… because you never know if they’ll be on the shelf the next time around.

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