grocery stores, home shopping, grocery shopping, grocery
stores, home shopping, grocery shopping, grocery stores, home shopping, grocery
shopping, grocery stores, home shopping, grocery shopping
Grocery Shopping in Mexico You will be amazed at the quality produce you can buy here in Mexico - all the fruits and vegetables are fresh, meat is butchered daily and is very, very tasty. You can usually find an "Abarrotes" on every block. This is a small convenience store where you can find dry goods, bread, and fresh produce. There are also "Lecherias," which are like "Abarrotes" but have milk and refrigerated goods. The next step up is a "Super" which are like "Lecherias" but also have liquor. There are also several "Fred Meyer" style shopping centers here in Mexico: Comercial Mexicana and Gigante. Here you can find anything imaginable, furniture, appliances, pharmaceuticals, produce, dry goods, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, you name it. Prices vary - goods imported from the States are generally a little more expensive here than they are there. Local Mexican-made products are usually priced very reasonably. Here is some vocabulary you might find useful:
Fresh Meat Most meat in the
US and Canada has color added to give that nice red look. In Mexico
this is not a common practice. Dead flesh turns grayish, so don't
be put off it unless that gray has a greenish or bluish tinge,
or smells "off". Vegetables and Fruits Mexico has a wonderful array of fresh fruits and vegetables, and if you are going to be in the country for any length of time, you will want to shop at the "mercados" (market) and peel the fruits or boil vegetables. Fruits and vegetables should be washed in sterilized water so that a weak chlorine bleach solution kills offensive bacteria.
Always
wash, then soak in water containing 8 drops of iodine solution
or 1 capful of bleach, for 30 minutes. Shellfish and Hot Weather Shellfish tend to spoil quickly. This is especially true when the weather is hot. Even though you love your oysters, the possible results are not worth it. Fish
Stores sell fillets of fish rather than the whole fish.
Even
if all of your careful precautions should fail, and you get sick
anyway, you know that you are not helpless. Many well-meaning
articles have suggested "toughing-it-out" with intestinal
ailments, and "letting nature take her course". Checked
with your doctor before you leave home, and obtaine a prescription
for "Bacrtrim F" tablets (also available in Mexico without
a prescription). Bactrim effectively annihilates offensive bacteria
within twelve hours after dosing. To control watery stool, you
can also take Lomotil. Occasionally an unfortunate forager will
come into contact with food poisoning. The symptoms are usually
quite pronounced and "miserable". Happily, the most
common variety of food poisoning in Mexico (infrequently encountered
however) lasts only 12 hours. The only cure for food poisoning
is time. Sipping sugary soft drinks is a good way to maintain
energy. Make sure that you drink enough while sick so you avoid
dehydration. Drinking Gastrolite (a powder you add to water) or
even Gatorade will you stay hydrated.
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