It Ain't Old

When it comes to grocery shopping, I have had a huge obsession with checking dates for a very long time. In Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Jewel, and even my expensive New York grocery stores- I was always, always "date checking." It's important for me to get the most recent date to be fully satisfied with my grocery store experience and my food experience.  When you spend double the time in a grocery store to date check, it can be a bit of a problem.  A problem that I fully recognize, but a habit that is not so bad in comparison to others. 


Now when you are a person traveling in a foreign country and want to buy a peanut butter or a cereal with a 1.5 year expiration gap- guess what? You will not be eating the peanut butter or cereal or you will spend a month searching for it. When you are shopping in a big city- you have a higher chance of getting a later date. When you are in Roatan Island, you are lucky if you get something not expired.   Stopping in a few local stores, I walked around picking up different items and searching for the date.

"Nature valley bars"-expired
"Peanut butter" -expired
"Cake mix."- expired

It was one of my saddest experiences not just for me, but for the people who spend their hard earned money on expired items. The truth is that people are used to food tasting like it's on the verge of being thrown out.  When you are paying $6 or $7 for a box of cereal and it is stale-that's sad. 

When I told my amazing friend at work, who loves to cook and shops all the time, she was appalled and said these places should be shut down. I definitely agreed with her and envisioned us on a strike down the main street with signs demanding non-expired food. Well, she probably didn't take it that far, but obsessed Priscilla definitely did. 
She told me that if I needed to buy something from the grocery store, I should go to Eldon's, which is directly next to the best fried chicken restaurant-yikes. 

So one day after work, I hopped on her scooter and she dropped me off at Eldon's.  I went in with high expectations and Boy was I disappointed. It appeared that Eldon's(better than the small convenience stores, but also had expired food! The meat looked suspicious and the bakery was giving out stale cookies.  This all just made me anxious so I searched for a good expiration on a Dove chocolate bar and I ate it.

Walking around the store were tourists purchasing what they had to or accustomed to this poor grocery shopping.  Everything was super expensive meaning like $6 for shampoo and overpriced bananas when you get them from trees.

 It was such a disappointment and I didn't have the heart to tell my friend so I told her, "It was great."
Sometimes it's better to be dishonest to make someone proud and happy about their island, which she is always bragging about the Coxenhole area.  Don't get me wrong they are Creole, like Belize, so they do deliver in the food department, but in the small restaurants or street vendors cooking homemade dishes.