Confessions of a grocery store addict
Hello, my name is Troy, and I am a grocery store addict. After a full-on day at the office, I often find myself ambling through the supermarket aisles in search of an indistinct something. Not milk, not eggs. Not even chocolate or a sugary drink. Nope, I’m seeking that special ingredient that I still don’t have on the heaving pantry shelves. There’s always another discovery awaiting my hunting eye, lurking there on the spice shelf, or hiding in the displays of the international section, or the cheese case, or the condiments stack. I can think of nothing more cathartic than locating, and dreaming up uses for, a newfound component of a yet-to-be-cooked culinary adventure.
Quality me-time on the weekend can be as simple as a coffee in a café, paired with an hour or two spent wandering a local farmers market, or specialty food store. And when travelling abroad, Nirvana can be found exploring markets, groceries and even supermarkets. The possibilities of hitherto unknown products and ingredients seem almost transcendent.
Costco is my once-a-month guilty pleasure (king-sized bulk packs, anyone?), and Aldi is my weekly dose of pragmatic staple shopping, saving money better spent on esoteric gastronomical delicacies from places less “German Utilitarian” and more “Epicure Bohemian”. Amazon’s non-perishable groceries range was discovered years ago during a stint living in the Northern Hemisphere. Amazon’s magic is that allows me to browse seemingly endless aisles of exotic foreign grocery stores, from anywhere I have an internet connection; some dollars and days later, the items I have virtually lusted after arrive on my doorstep. It really is a game-changer.
The problem with Amazon is that it only partially supports shipping to Australia, and for some items I need to retain a US package forwarding service, which adds to the cost and timeframes involved. Recently, I discovered iHerb, the Epicurian's wet dream. It is to herbs and pantry staples, what Amazon is to books and gadgets: a massive emporium of wonderfulness to delight and tempt the gastronomically inclined. Even better, for orders over US $40/AUD $50, shipping to Australia and many other parts of the world is free. Yes, free! That means, for a price equivalent to (and often better than) shopping the limited range available in my local Coles, Woolworths or IGA, I can have all manner of exotic spices, condiments and other high quality, natural/organic-leaning grocery staples delivered to my door. I’m in heaven!
My first delivery arrived yesterday. I ordered a selection including 3 of the Organic Better than Bouillon stock jars that so many US-based youtube cooks rave about, some lovely organic Saffron at a price and in a quantity I’ve never seen in supermarkets here, some organic ginger powder, as well as 2 packets of Bob’s Red Mill bean and bean/grain soup mixes, which I’ve heard great things about. I can’t wait to get cracking and try some of these out! When I do, I’ll report back here and let you know what I think about them.
I’m off on a Tassie adventure today to visit my Mum, so posts may be a little patchy over the next week. Until then:
Guten Appetit!
* I participate in the iHerb rewards and Amazon associates affiliates programmes. This means that I receive a small reward every time you buy something via a link I provide to these sites. You don’t pay a cent more (in the case of iHerb you receive a 5% discount!), however I get a few beans thrown my way, which will help support Ursula and Troy to allow us to keep exploring new products to review, and developing recipes to share with you. Please consider making a purchase via one of the links I provide. I am not paid for the commentary or endorsement in this article - the love is all genuinely mine! Read my disclosure statement here.