Grocery shopping, by Nitya Mulani

Something that I found very interesting is the difference in frequency of grocery shopping between Spaniards and Americans. From my experience most Americans do grocery shopping once a week. They usually do it on weekends since they have long work days during the week. Some people even try to plan out their grocery store visits so they only have to go once every two weeks. Additionally Americans buy groceries in bulk, or large quantities. For example, when my family goes out to get milk, we buy two gallons of milk. A Spaniard would find such a large quantity of milk absurd to purchase at once. However, Americans often buy gallons of milk on a regular basis. Spaniards do groceries every two or three days. I think this is because they like fresh bread and fresh fruits and also because it is easy to get fresh food. Whereas in the United States, a lot of our diet comes from processed food. I asked my host mom how often she goes to the grocery store. She told me two or three times a week to pick up fresh fruits and bread. She takes her little shopping cart and walks down the street, picks up groceries and brings it back. For people in suburban America, they have to drive to the grocery store as it not very close. The convenience, availability of fresh food, and relaxed schedules motivate Spaniards to go to the grocery store more frequently. Busy schedules, and availability of preserved foods in large quantities allow Americans to go grocery shopping less often.