Going to the market for food shopping in Moscow stresses me out. It's very hard to tell exactly what you're getting (prices / descriptions are in Russian, weight is in grams, and not everything has an appropriately "descriptive" picture on its label). Given that everyone lives in apartments here, everything is in tiny packages but they cost at least twice as much as in the US. Add to that, the stores don't always have the same things they had the week prior because of supply chain issues and what seems to happen to me: when I go with a specific item in mind (like the day I wanted a jar of honey), many times you can't find it and there's no one to ask or they just don't have it that day. Just all around frustrating.
Today I went to the store to get a few things for dinner and some other random items we needed, among them Saran Wrap. We actually have a tube of Reynold's wrap that was mistakenly shipped over here with our kitchen stuff which I've been using; this actually turned out to be a wonderful mistake because it's worked just fine for wrapping up leftovers and perhaps more importantly it's what we use to keep Siena off the leather couches! -- but I digress. In most instances for food, Saran Wrap is what I would prefer and tin foil is overkill. So off I went.
When I got to the little section with all the various wrappings and baggies, I must have spent a good solid 5-6 minutes staring at those shelves, studying the all-Russian packaging and the only thing I could correctly identify was that this was where they sold aluminum foil. Yay me for figuring that out! So I was in the right place! I saw a few boxes with plastic bags - possibly ziploc type but probably not since those are not common here - but the rest of those long rectangular boxes were a mystery. I think they had some large bags for steam-cooking stuff in the oven because the boxes indicated a temperature (as in, "can be heated up to 320 degrees").
So here's what I chose to buy after as I said, much deliberation:
Looks like it might be the right thing, huh? Kind of hard to tell, but really I studied this box quite a bit and I honestly thought it might be their version of Saran Wrap.
Alas, when I got home and opened the box, it was not. Bummer. It was a roll of cellophane. Why would anyone need this much cellophane and why was it near the tin foil? If it were me, I would have put it with the gift wrap...
Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, try try again. I'll ask around and see if one of the wives knows what it's called in Russian and if she can recommend a brand to look for. Or, maybe she can take a photo of hers so I can show a store clerk.
I was able to get the rest of my list though so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip.
Today I went to the store to get a few things for dinner and some other random items we needed, among them Saran Wrap. We actually have a tube of Reynold's wrap that was mistakenly shipped over here with our kitchen stuff which I've been using; this actually turned out to be a wonderful mistake because it's worked just fine for wrapping up leftovers and perhaps more importantly it's what we use to keep Siena off the leather couches! -- but I digress. In most instances for food, Saran Wrap is what I would prefer and tin foil is overkill. So off I went.
When I got to the little section with all the various wrappings and baggies, I must have spent a good solid 5-6 minutes staring at those shelves, studying the all-Russian packaging and the only thing I could correctly identify was that this was where they sold aluminum foil. Yay me for figuring that out! So I was in the right place! I saw a few boxes with plastic bags - possibly ziploc type but probably not since those are not common here - but the rest of those long rectangular boxes were a mystery. I think they had some large bags for steam-cooking stuff in the oven because the boxes indicated a temperature (as in, "can be heated up to 320 degrees").
So here's what I chose to buy after as I said, much deliberation:
Looks like it might be the right thing, huh? Kind of hard to tell, but really I studied this box quite a bit and I honestly thought it might be their version of Saran Wrap.
Alas, when I got home and opened the box, it was not. Bummer. It was a roll of cellophane. Why would anyone need this much cellophane and why was it near the tin foil? If it were me, I would have put it with the gift wrap...
Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, try try again. I'll ask around and see if one of the wives knows what it's called in Russian and if she can recommend a brand to look for. Or, maybe she can take a photo of hers so I can show a store clerk.
I was able to get the rest of my list though so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip.
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