A Plea for Packages for My Parents

We spent a lot of time in the grocery store when I was visiting my parents in Brazil a few weeks ago. This is probably because: A. Obviously my family likes food (a lot) B. My parents feed missionaries...all of the time. I have come to see that a lot of what they are there to do is just to feed missionaries...and missionaries eat ton! My dad likes to compare them to the seagulls eating the crickets for the pioneers...he says it is amazing (almost miraculous) how much (an how fast) those kids can eat. C. My parents are still trying to figure out which stores have the products they like and also where they can get the best deals. We probably went to 7 or 8 different grocery store chains while I was visiting. And we're always in search of things like: dill pickles, tortillas, peanut butter, taco seasoning, Ranch Dressing, American candy, normal sugar, normal powered sugar, normal brown sugar, normal cocoa, cottage cheese (found some but it was expensive and weird), buttermilk (not to be found), sour cream (not to be found), etc. And most of the things they are searching for either turn out to be weird, super expensive, or you just can't find them. As a side note here, due to Brazil not having American food in abundance(surprise, surprise) my dad has us all bringing him an extra suitcase full of food when we go at Christmas. So if any of you have old suitcases you'd be willing to loan us, please let me know. Thanks. Here's my dad looking at the ingredients on some pickles he found...somehow wishing that they'd be Dill. But of course they weren't...they only seem to have sweet pickles in Brazil. What is wrong with those people? Dill are the best! When my parents got to Brazil they told me how expensive everything is. And I was like, "yeah right mom and dad...it's South America." I just thought they hadn't figured out the exchange rate yet or something. But, I found out for myself that they were right. Stuff is expensive there. The only things that are cheap are pretty much fruit, bread, beans, rice and unskilled labor. Like you can hire a maid for a couple thousand bucks a year but Taco Seasoning costs you $3.20...what's up with that? So here are a few pictures as proof of the high prices. Now I know that these are mostly pictures of fancy American foods and products, but even the normal Brazilian people food is expensive. How about $6.39 for some little cotton face wipe thingys? I'm so sure. They're like a buck or two in America.

Yeah, don't even think of having a breakout in Brazil. Crappy Clean and Clear Astringent will cost you $8.14! And this was at a cheap place. I saw it for like 9 something somewhere else.

Mexican night anyone? Yeah, keep dreaming. Tortillas are $11.02 for EIGHT tortillas! A quesadilla would be a luxury food here, not a poor lazy college kid food.

Or how about 8 Ziploc bags for $3.06? And there aren't any knock off brands so that is as cheap as it gets. Now I guess it is a good thing that my mom has been washing Ziploc bags and re-using them her whole life. I guess I shouldn't have made fun...that was great mission prep for her.

And here's that $3.20 taco seasoning packet I mentioned. I just had to show proof. I bought some the other day here for 50 cents and it wasn't even on sale!

The largest bag of M&M's they make in South America (including at Macro, which is like Costco). You get 200 grams for $4.15. I don't know for sure how many grams are in our M&M's here in the USA but I would guess that 200 grams is a little bit bigger than our King Size Bags...and remember, this is the biggest it gets for them. I saw a bag that was over 1200 grams at Target the other day! No wonder we Americans are all fat.

Campbell's Soup at $5.04 a pop. And this isn't even the low fat or reduced salt or anything. Just normal. I bought a can here the other day for 50 cents (not on sale). Too bad like 90% of American Mormon recipes call for cream of chicken or cream of mushroom. I guess my mom will be learning to cook some new things.

Well, that's it for this addition of "Things that are a rip-off in Brazil." Maybe when I'm there for Christmas I'll find some more great deals for you all. I'm thinking of doing a section on electronics as those are pretty dang pricey there. Until next time...