3 Years and Lessons Learned

As of October 1, we have been in Singapore 3 years! A lot has changed in the past three years. We have moved apartments, Elyse has started school, we have traveled to new countries, made new friends, said good bye to others and of course we added Anastasia to our family.

I remember coming here three years being pretty clueless and confused about basic stuff. In light of that I am going to try and compile some of the things I have learned since then. In doing so I hope to help newbies out and also preserve some of the things that I take for granted as daily life now a days.


Grocery Shopping (in a store-not a market):

• Go early in the morning. If you can't go early, go during the week. If you can't go during the week brace yourself for craziness on the weekend. (early in the morning on the weekend is probably ok)

• Bring a dollar coin to "rent" a cart

• Make sure you don't go into a line that is cash only, if you don't have cash (we did this). Most places take credit cards or NETS (like a debit card- we got ours at the bank).

• Local small grocery stores in HDBs (public housing in SG), tend to have tiny aisles, so either bring a skinny stroller or put your kid in a carrier and hold your breathe.

• Often times grocery stores are in malls and can be called hypermarts

• Speaking from an American stand point you can get most things you want to buy from the States if you go to the right store. Market Place in Tanglin Mall is one of the most "ex-patty" places that I am aware of and has a lot of things, but it is expensive. 

• If you don't want to go into the grocery store you can go online and order from Cold Storage. You can also call Kenny the Grocer who can find anything on the island. After 3 years I have started to call Kenny on a regular basis. 

Grocery Shopping (in a neighborhood market)

•  If you live by HDBs (as you will) you will have a local market that sells fruit, veggies, meat, fish, noodles, eggs, and some other fresh food.

• The markets (at least by my house) close around 3 pm and are not open on Mondays. Sometimes the fruit and veggie stalls sell longer in the day, but the wet market is usually closed.

• When you by veggies or fruit, bring it to the person in the middle of the produce and they will weigh it for you.

• When you pay they will get your change from a bucket- no cash register needed.

• You will need to pay in cash.

• Often times if there are fruit, etc in baskets, they are older and discounted.

• There are also large markets in places like Little India (Tekka Market) but I'm not very familiar with them. I guess I still have places to explore.

These are a few of the things I've learned about grocery shopping in Singapore.