Grocery Shopping in Cape Town

Now let me tell you, this is not an easy task for someone who very seldom cooks!  Back home, I go in and get the basic survival items such as bread, water, occasionally milk, fruit punch, cheese puffs and easy bake chocolate chip cookies.  I was floored when I made my first visit to a nearby food mart!  I actually have to buy food.....Fruit, vegetables and meat all in brands in which I had no clue if they were generic or branded.  So Let's start with the basics.....Today's rate:  Per every 1 USD I spend it is equivalent to $8.34 ZAR/ South African Rand.  This thoroughly upsets me because this number fluctuates quite often and very seldom will you get anywhere near the going rate!!!!!  I only received $7.63 Rand per USD I converted.


Not able to escape my past life of competitive shopping on the housewares front, I did a little comp shop of my own and rated each store on the following:  Selection, Cleanliness, Price, Hours of Operation and Type of shopper.  Each store is within 5 Kilometers of my current location which makes these stores perfect for a quick R20 or R30 cab ride!  

SHOPRITE

Selection-(7)

Cleanliness-(6)

Price-(9)

Hours of Operation- (6)

Type of Shopper-RUDE (5)

Typically when I visit the Shop Rite it's a trip that leaves me in a really bad mood!  Kinda like going to the DMV!  The lines are long like you would not believe, people constantly bump into you and then talk about you in their native language.  ShopRite is considered to be just the right price for the budgeting family.  I rated a 7 on selection because you cannot buy regular orange juice in ShopRite.  Like most food marts here in SA all the juices are WACK!  Mango, Nectar, 40% orange and other juices!  WTH!!!!!  And just what other juices make up the 60% of orange juice I have been robbed of!!!!  Now there is one thing that I just love here and can only get at ShopRite... A 250g bag of Snowflake Flapjack easy-mix!  Only R10.99!!!  I love it! Add a little of the ILLovo Maple Syrup and I am set for breakfast.  Just keep in mind the hours of operation can be a bit difficult for those working business people who work long hours!  The store closes at 7pm Monday-Thursday, 6pm on Friday and 5pm on Saturday.  Not to mention in just about every store you pay for bags!!!!  R0.39

Pick N Pay

Selection-(9)

Cleanliness-(8)

Price-(7)

Hours of Operation- (7)

Type of Shopper-RUDE (7)

My first visit to Pick N Pay came as a result of running to a near by ShopRite to pick up some missing ingredients for dinner one night.  ShopRite was closed, but Pick and Pay awaits!  What a selection!!!!  They had everything! heck I even brought tweezers for my eyebrows.  I got a bag of snickers too!  Trust me the only candy I've been able to find that I remotely crave in the states was a kit kat so I was quite pleased!  I got a onion for R0.99 which is awesome, but honestly I don't remember if the selections were priced right or not.  I was rushed and told that the store closed at 7pm and I need to get to the front asap.  Well as far as the Type of shopper It's only 1 step up from ShopRite because  I had the worst cashier ever....She was rude and had her lips turned up the whole time!  About that onion that was only R0.99, well I get to the counter and had forgotten to weigh the onion.  The cashier looks at me and said you can't buy this onion because you didn't weigh it!  Well can you just charge me something because I really need my onion.  She rolled her eyes and yelled for her manager who was so kind to go and weigh the onion for me.  Oh it was far from over!  The register tape got hung and she cursed everyone out around her because apparently it was their fault not hers!  Ugh a little customer service would have made my experience a lot better.

Woolworths

Selection-(8)

Cleanliness-(9)

Price-(6)

Hours of Operation- (7)

Type of Shopper- (8)

100% orange juice!!!!  I can buy this at Woolworth's no problem.  So you are wondering why this looks like a dept store.  Well it is, but they also have a food mart.  Not quite uppity, but it's a pretty decent atmosphere with some pretty good selections.  The other thing I love about Woolworth's is the fact that I can re up my pre-paid cell phone while purchasing groceries and they have really good NesCafe White Chocolate Coffee for R49.95.  Very expensive!!!!!  My orange juice was the size of a jungle juice and it was R11.95!  I had to buy 6 of them!!!!  I paid R44.95 for a bag of scones, or what we refer to as biscuits!  R37.49 for 500g of lean beef mince, R34.95 for a pack of 8 tortilla!  Yes that's right, around $4.60 USD!!!!  Too expensive and yet I continue to go back!!!!!  My total bill for the evening was R776.67 which included a 14% Vat tax.

Fruit  & Veg City

Selection-(9)

Cleanliness-(9)

Price-(8)

Hours of Operation- (7)

Type of Shopper- (9)

I call Fruit & Veg City the Whole Foods of Cape Town!  It gives me the same feel and the shoppers are very pleasant and depending upon the day I shop they can be rather snobbish!  Being snobby is not bad as long as you stay in your lane.....Store hours are pretty much in line with the other stores.  Closing around 6pm....Now here are the perks to shopping at Fruit and Veg City:  They have a candy station, nut & berry station, bakery, hot bar, smoothie bar, fruit bar and sandwich bar.  The selection is not that great because it focuses on fruits and Veggies, but the added stations certainly puts Fruit and Veg city in the top running position for shopping.  Their are certain things that I typically buy here and they consist of my favorite Kettle Fried Salt N Vinegar Flavored chips for R14.99, 18ct Golden Yolk Extra Large Eggs for R19.99, Sasko white bread for R9.99, Joostenberg Bacon R21.53 and all types of fruits and veggies such as baby carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, bananas, kiwi, oranges pineapple all under R12.99!!!!!!  I certainly love the fresh muffins at R7.99 a piece as well as the banana loaf bread for only R12.99.

All of that shopping and I was ready for dinner!!!!!  Look at what this no cooking sister can do!  It was excellent....  Chicken Mushroom Breast and Italian Pasta salad with a light Chardonnay :)