Update: Monday 11 Mar

 I went to the market today. Do you want to see what I bought? It doesn't really matter if you want to, I want to show you.

I haven't done all of the research from Albert Heijn (the grocery store I shop at) that I need to do but these are the preliminary findings.

Also, I'm going to try to stretch the descriptions and explanations of all of these so that they are long enough that my blog formatting doesn't get really weird, because at first posting this looks pretty weird.

The bowl is for size comparison.

In descending order by price:

Cashews, half kilo for €4.75.
For comparison: 375g for over €6.50 at Albert Heijn. Last time I bought cashews at the market, it was a half kilo for €5. I eat cashews as a snack and to add protein to my diet because I don't want to fall into a protein deficiency. Oh, also because I love them. Almost as much as I love pistachios. The ones purchased from the market are bigger, come in larger quantities, and also taste much more delicious. Last time I bought cashews was when I went to the market with Jenn, and I only just ran out of those last Friday. I believe they lasted me about two weeks. Luckily, they keep for quite a long time in the cupboard.
Result: Cheaper at the market by a landslide.


I-don't-know-how-much bananas at €0.85 a kilo for a total of €2.20.
I don't know how much these are at Albert Heijn but I don't think bananas are a cheap anyway. These were not the cheapest at the market but they were the first I saw, and I have been craving bananas for weeks. I had a major weakness at that moment. Also, the guy selling them was cute. And he had so many bananas. And they are Chiquita bananas, which has no relevance whatsoever. The one I ate for lunch was pretty good.
Result: More research needed.

Black beans, 900g for €1.70.
Ekoplaza: 500g for €1.39
Chinese supermarket: 500g for €1.29
Albert Heijn does not have dry black beans.
The second Chinese supermarket only has black beans imported from the US (they are Goya brand, which I've only seen a million times back home) so they are actually pretty expensive. A little off-topic—that supermarket also had the same cans of baby corn, sweet corn and creamed corn that I've seen in my cupboards for most of my life living with my parents. Understandably also very expensive.
Result: Market is cheapest.


Mushrooms, 1lb for €1.50.
I don't know why every single stand that has mushrooms at the market sells them by the pound rather than by kilo/half-kilo. A pound is a little over half a kilo. I do not remember how much they are at Albert Heijn, but these are huge and it seems like there are so many of them so I think it was a good deal.
I'm interested in knowing if the mushrooms from the market last as long as the mushrooms from the supermarket, and if they do the same thing when they are past "expiration." The mushrooms from the supermarket don't even last a week, and once it reaches the expiration date listed on the packaging they almost automatically adopt this awful taste that I can't stand. I don't know how to test that. I usually eat mushrooms pretty quickly...
Result: More research needed.


Red bell peppers, half kilo for €1.15.
Yes, I could get these cheaper at the market. I could get a bin of 4-5 orange and red peppers for €1. I know for a fact that I cannot use four peppers before they go bad, and those bins always contained either fairly small bell peppers, or mostly orange with a single red. I know red and orange are supposed to taste the same but I really like red, okay? I could get a half kilo for €0.98 at another stand. They were wrinkly and old-looking. Not anything I want to eat. At Albert Heijn, I can get one red pepper for €0.59. Also, I admit that when I got home with these I found a bad spot on the top of one that I had to cut off, but was happy to discover it was a very small spot and didn't affect the whole pepper.
Result: This was a better deal but only barely. Next time I will try to be less picky at the market.

Cucumbers, two for €1.
I will have a hard time with these ones. I don't really like cucumbers, but I do like them. But I don't. It's complicated. I love how they smell, and sometimes I crave them, but I don't really like how they taste. I wanted some anyway, the hard part will be eating them before they go bad. I do not know how much these cost at Albert Heijn. Negative: The ones at Albert Heijn are larger, but probably about the same in cost as two of these together (again, I don't know for sure). Positive: I can cut into one, and the cut part might go bad in the fridge before I can eat it but the other one will still be whole and thus last a little bit longer. That made no sense the way I said it, but hopefully you understand.
Result: More research needed.

Carrots, 1 bin of unknown weight for €1.
Again, smaller than the ones I can get at Albert Heijn, and I don't remember how much those cost, but I think these are about equivalent to how much carrot I would get out of a bag of carrots from Albert Heijn, and I'm pretty sure the ones from AH are not under a euro. I eat a lot of carrots because they are one of my favorite vegetables when cooked, nonetheless they last quite a long time in the fridge even with me always eating them, so I think it is worth figuring out which of these is a cheaper option.
Result: More research needed. I might keep buying them from the market regardless of results though, because these are so pretty and clean that it might be worth the minute extra cost.


Zucchini, two for €1.
I originally forgot to add these to this post and I couldn't figure out why I went to the market with €23-some and came back with €7.50 only having spent what I spent. I'm glad I figured it out because losing even a euro is a sad thing.
I don't know how much zucchini costs at AH, but these are pretty good sized (still small than AH but that's probably good for the same reason as the cucumbers) and I buy zucchini rather frequently. If you'll remember, the last time I bought a zucchini I wasn't sure I could finish it all before it decided to go bad, and I ended up making very yummy zucchini bread. (I won't be doing that again, too much other-ingredient cost.)
Result: More research needed.


Broccoli, half kilo for €1.
This one is debatable. Bag of 500g cut and cleaned broccoli from AH: €2. 500g stalk comparable to the one I got from the market: €1.99, but with a lot more stalk than this has and I dislike eating that part (also when I weighed one it was closer to 450g).
Result: Cheaper at the market, but I might still prefer the bag of cut and cleaned stuff when I have a euro to spare.

Best acquisition of the day, right here.
Red jalapeños. I don't know the price per kilo, but I got these 4 for €0.30.
I don't know what to do with them. I have nothing in mind to make with jalapeños. I passed and avoided them several times as I was looping around the market looking at prices. I should have kept avoiding them, the minute I went to play with them and the guy asked if he could help me, I had to buy some. That is, after I said "jalapeños?" and he said yes. He was a nice guy to chat with too, he asked me where I am from and for how long I am here. He said he hoped to see me again some time. Most of the other market sellers just sell you their produce and then they want to be done with you. I feel like it's a little sad for me to say this, but buying jalapeños is a very sentimental thing when they are so hard to find around here. I will figure out something for them, I'm sure…

Okay. Total spent at the market: €14.60.

Taking into account that I will still need to visit AH to buy some sugar, because I am almost out; rice, because I am out; tortillas, because they don't sell that at the market but maybe I will learn to make my own for cheaper; milk, I don't think they sell that at the market; eggs, they sell them at the market but they'd probably break on the walk home and I'm not taking a tram; apple juice, I like apple juice so you're not going to talk me out of buying it, and usually I buy a liter for a euro and then when I pour it I add tap water because it's strong, so it stretches a little more. Other than those things, I would count market-shopping as a success. I think tonight I will go make note of produce prices at Albert Heijn for better comparison, and I will update this post so if you're really dying to know, check this post. I'm not making a new one for that.

A few things that I will not be buying at the market:

• Avocados. I want one ripe, one not-yet-ripe. So that I can cut one open and stick the other in the cupboard to ripen for another day. Any avocados I found at the market were mushy, and I wouldn't want to buy them even if I was going to use all of them immediately.
• Potatoes and onions. They have them, they look nice, they were probably cheap. The problem is that I don't know how much I would want (a kilo? half a kilo? aren't those things heavy?) and I don't know what kind of potato I would want. The stand I was looking at had 4 or 5 different kinds? Okay, I'd like a starchy potato that is similar to Idaho potatoes or Russet potatoes. Grocery stores in the Netherlands only carry small, waxy potatoes. Probably because that's what grows best here, but I don't want those. I want good baking potatoes.

 Last but not least, I went home and had lunch. So, here's a bonus picture of my lunch. Best lunch I've had all week, mainly because I've been skipping lunch. I didn't want to eat a bunch of carbs for lunch, and I was all out of veggies. Yay for having a lunch! Not pictured: my bottle of water. ;) Have a nice day!