Shopping for Food in Novi Sad

Last night we went to the grocery store. We go every 2 weeks after my love gets paid. We go to a store called "Alba Supermarket". It's very much like any medium sized grocery store in Louisiana, with a couple of exceptions:

In the produce section, you choose your fresh fruits and veggies, but you take them to a worker who weighs them and puts the info on the bag for you. These seem to be grown organically, or at least with minimum pesticides because they aren't the pictures of perfection that you get in US supermarkets. But they certainly look and taste fine. You can also by bulk dried beans, rice, nuts etc. in this area, but the worker has to bag and weigh it for you. Not a problem unless it is a busy Friday night, but that's the American in me, I guess. People I have seen just wait calmly.
Of course, you can also buy these things packaged in other areas of the store.

There is a section where you can buy fresh fish. By fresh fish I mean, the fish are swimming around in a big tank and you can pick the one you want and they fish it out for you with a small net. They also have packaged fresh fish and in the frozen food department you can buy frozen fish, octopus, squid, shrimp, etc...complete with heads, tails, etc. or breaded and ready to cook. See earlier rant about this here.

Anyway, the rest of the store is like in America. They have fresh meat-not a lot of beef in our Alba. I've only seen what we would call stew meat (used for goulash)ground beef but no steak (as if anyone could afford it). There is a lot of nice chicken and pork. A good selection of deli meats and cheeses, baked goods (but, I haven't seen fresh baked cookies-not that I need any of those) and prepared meats like rotisserie chicken fresh feta and similar cheeses, marinated olives, and lots of sausage (!). (Note to BettiM - they DO have cornflakes, several kinds in fact..and peanut butter.) The selection is plentiful, the store is clean, no funky smells... Just what you would expect in a nice store.

They are always restocking the shelves. We have been in there on probably every day of the week and workers always have flats and boxes of merchandise they are putting out.

Many times when we go on the weekend, in the juice, soda, pivo and wine area they just leave the packages of stock on the floor close to the shelf because people buy these so fast, it's the easiest way to keep up with demand.

I've met such nice people in the store, too. I always go with my fiancé, but when I am looking for something women need like something to wash my face with, or body lotion, etc. I've had to ask a stranger in the aisle, or a worker because he really has no clue...hahaha. As I have mentioned before, many of the young people speak english very well, so I just find a young woman and ask. They have always been very helpful and seem "tickled pink" (as we say in the South) to speak to me.

My love always buys chocolate bars and little yogurts with fruit for his little grandsons when we go to the store. Doesn't sound like much to an American like I used to be, but again, things here aren't easy for most people and this is a real treat for these little guys. He loves them very much and it pleases him to give them regularly what he rarely got as a child. Have I mentioned how wonderful he is lately?

There are some things that we prefer to buy in the fresh markets you can find all over town. There is one close to where my fiancé works and he goes to that one for fresh produce and "fish fingers" (fish sticks - only MUCH better because they are fresh and a little spicy - I LOVE spicy). He also buys some stuff for around the house there because it is cheaper (like cleaning cloths, batteries, etc.). Every dinar counts in this place.

We buy stuff like water,pivo, and juice at the little liquor store a couple of blocks down from us. We buy fresh brown eggs at the little store across the street, and bread from the bakery that is practically our neighbor.

As far as clothing, I haven't really needed to buy much here yet. I brought most of what I need with me. I have had to buy a couple of things and I bought them at one of the ubiquitous Chinese shops that are on every 10 blocks or so. Things there are cheap (price and quality) but for just a top to wear around, why not? There are tons of clothing and shoe stores all over town if you want to buy something and spend some real money, but that's not really an option or a need for me right now.

These little Chinese shops have clothing for men, women and kids. They have household things like dishes, towels, glasses. Some of the larger ones have some pretty neat Chinese trinkets. They are staffed and run by Chinese...some of them have a local working there to talk to customers, but really, the Chinese person just bags your purchase and takes your money, so a lot of conversation is not really necessary. When I go to the little one a few blocks from our home, I just look for what I need, or else by means of the universal language of hand signals and pointing, etc. she is able to understand what I want.

And of course, you can find EVERYTHING and ANYTHING at the flea market in Novi Sad.

Not quite as easy as just going to WalMart for everything, but a lot more interesting.