In the previous blog, I wrote about the move from my home to university in America. Today’s topic is a food shopping, which is indispensable for the daily life.
Supermarket
Supermarkets in the U.S. is similar to those in Japan, but it sells not only food but also laundry goods, dishes and even letters because of its VERY LARGE SPACE.
And, almost all the customers except students who do not own their cars go shopping by car, thus the PARKING LOT is very big.
I lived with my family when I was in Japan, thus I almost had no opportunities to cook by myself, which means going shopping and buying foods based on shopping lists is something new for me.
Basically, I can buy ALMOST ALL THE FOODS that are necessary for cooking in a supermarket such as vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meats and seasoning.
There are three kinds of supermarket near the university; STOP&SHOP, WHOLE FOODS MARKET, and TRADER JOE’S, but I almost always use Stop&Shop.
I have two reasons for that, and the former reason is that it is CHEAP.
The original price of products sold in Stop&Shop tends to be less than that of other supermarkets, and you are able to get discount mainly for vegetables thanks to a FREE MEMBERSHIP CARD and use deals, too.
You can check the stock and the price of the products that you would like to buy before going shopping by using the app, and also know the location of them by that APP with a FREE WIFI inside Stop&Shop.
Even though Whole Foods are also very big in the shop, foods are more expensive than those in Stop&Shop because they are organic foods. I do not use Trade Joe’s because that is not very big, which means it has less foods than these two.
The latter is that it is THE NEAREST from the university.
Unfortunately, there is no supermarket that we can easily go on foot near the university, thus it is required to USE BUSES AND CARS.
Stop&Shop is located both in the north and south part of the university, and we can go to the south one every Sunday by the FREE SHUTTLE BUS from the university.
Also, it only takes about 10 MINUTES BY BUS to go to the north, thus I do not think it is very inconvenient.
On the other hand, we are required to take buses for 20 minutes in order to go to other two supermarkets, and also we need to walk from the bus stop, thus going there is more inconvenient than the Stop&Shop.
The useful supermarket in terms of its location is dependent on each university, but I can STRONGLY RECOMMEND STOP&SHOP from the perspective of the price, thus I suggest that students who will study in the U.S. use Stop&Shop.
↑ This is a Stop&Shop that I use the most. This is located in Setauket, which is ten minutes away from the university by bus.
Asian Market
I can buy most of the necessary foods in Stop&Shop as I mentioned above, but it is necessary to go to ASIAN MARKET for ASIAN FOODS because they are not sold in the supermarket.
Near the university, we have two Asian Markets. One is Stony Asian Mart, which is small but can be accessed on foot. The other is Oriental Grocery, which is big but buses or cars are necessary.
Recently, I have bought tofu, meat bun, curry, Hayashi-rice, Mapo tofu and Sapporo-Ichiban ramen.
They are cheap and delicious, thus I do not think Japanese students need to bring many Japanese food.
Curry and Hayashi-rice are the products of GOLDEN CURRY, thus you can enjoy the same taste as you eat in Japan.
Even though many sushi restaurants are existing in the U.S., many of them are expensive and not delicious, thus I prefer Asian foods in Asian Market.
Also, I bought SHAMPOO in Asian Market because I wanted to buy the one suitable for Japanese hair. It is helpful that there are some Asian Markets in a small town such as Stony Brook because a lot of Asians and Asian Americans are living in the U.S.
↑ I bought a shampoo in Stony Asian Mart, which is near the university.
↑ This is an interior of Oriental Grocery. Only the foods are sold in this shop, but they are abundant.
Convenience store
Waseda University, which is my home university in Japan, has a 7-Eleven and Family Mart in the campus and some convenience stores are located in front of the Waseda Station, which is the closest station.
However, in Stony Brook, only one 7-ELEVEN is located outside the university, which is about ten minutes walk from the center of the university, and there are two small marts in the campus.
It sells snacks, drinks, milk and light meal, but the price of them is OVERWHELMINGLY MORE EXPENSIVE than that of the supermarket.
Thus, I have never bought foods in this small mart since I came here.
In the U.S., each of the supermarket is very big, but the number of convenience store is MUCH SMALLER than that in Japan, and there is no vending machine, too.
Thus, it is sometimes difficult to buy water even in urban areas when feeling thirsty. I learned the ‘convenience’ of Japanese convenience store.
Since there are only small marts in the university and they are expensive, it is almost always necessary to use cars or buses to go shopping, which is only one big trouble of this university.
↑ This is the nearest 7-eleven. The appearance is similar to that of Japan, but the interior is very different.
This is the story of the shopping in Stony Brook. Thanks for reading.
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