- Market Shopping for Fruits and Vegetables
Food Shopping
Grocery stores in
Dumaguete in some ways are quite similar to stores in America. Of
course the ones here cater to Pinoy tastes so you won’t find
everything that you would find in the States. And no grocery stores
that I have seen stay open 24 hours. The shopping carts here roll any
direction, not just forwards and backwards. Some things in the
grocery are more expensive here, and some things are cheaper than in
the States. But since our grocery budget is much lower now that I am
retired, we try to find cheaper alternatives.
There are other
options. One is the Dumaguete Public Market. In some ways the Mercado
is like a flea market in America, vendors selling their wares inside
a huge warehouse, whether they be eatable or non-eatable. The food
vendors sell fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat, and fish. The prices
often are significantly lower than in the supermarket.
Dumaguete Public Market |
Another option is
roadside vendors. These vendors might be downtown or on the side of
the highway. And they might sell the same thing as in the market,
sometimes higher price than the market and sometimes lower.
Then we found
another option. Near the market on one street, there is like a
wholesale market where many of the vendors buy their fruits and
vegetables. These vendors just spread their wares on mats on the
ground and sell them from there. They are only open in the early
morning like from 3am to 6am.
Let me give some
examples of the differences in prices. Keep in mind that they are
usually sold by kilograms and in Philippine pesos (php -- the current exchange rate is approximately 51 php to 1 American dollar).
Mangoes
in the supermarket
-- 170 – 220 php
market and roadside
vendors -- 40 – 130 php
morning market -- 15
– 50 php
Pineapples (sold as
whole pineapples)
supermarket -- 150 –
200 php
market or vendors --
50 – 150 php
morning market -- 10
– 50 php
One of the things I
thoroughly enjoy about the Philippines is being able to have fresh
fruit at every meal, usually bananas, pineapples, and/or mangoes.
Sometimes we get calamansi (small Filipino limes) or jackfruit.
We also enjoy fresh
vegetables that we find there like potatoes, tomatoes, carrots,
cabbage, green beans, onions, garlic, ginger, greens, egg plant, and
sometimes ampalaya (bitter melon) or squash.
That is awesome. love hearing about you new life.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherry. We have enjoyed living here.
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