Economy Shopping

As a college student on a budget, I was a little worried about the expense of buying groceries for the first time on my own. It was all the harder when I did not know the prices of food in Limerick. I needn't have worried.

Our first shopping trip took us to Dunnes, which is pretty much the Walmart of Ireland. Later, I made a trip to Aldi's, another store for the economy shopper.

Like America, every food product has the knockoff brand. At Ron's Castle Foods, the grocery store I work in, we have Our Family. Others of you might recognize Roundy's or Good Flavour. At Dunnes, the off brand is cleverly named Dunnes. These brands are college gold, as they allow you to save a few Euro every shopping trip.

I was pleasantly surprised to find some food is cheaper here than in the States. I can get a loaf of bread for 75 Euro cent here. This is advantageous because bread here molds really quickly. You need to consume an entire loaf within a week and a half, or lovely green spots start to appear.

Yogurt and milk are also fairly cheap. Apparently, the Irish love to consume tea and biscuits. Much to my delight, "biscuits" are actually cookies. Dirt cheap, delicious, chocolatey cookies. And I thought I would loose weight here. Oh well.

Meat, eggs, and cereal are all much more expensive here than at home. It costs about two euro for six eggs. I have reverted to yogurt and 15 euro cent bagels for breakfast. Still delicious.

Apparently, very few people bake their own cookies here. Cookie, cake, and muffin mix are all terribly expensive and are smaller in size. I have been unable to find relish or parmesan cheese.

I hope everyone in the States relishes their relish and savors their cookie dough. I will be eating
my bagels, yogurt, and "biscuits" and hoping the walk to class will get rid of most of those calories.