Ploofle

From this article from the NYTimes of cost-saving items…let’s see how it fares here:

1. Oats: Expensive where I’m at, though not necessarily in UB.  That typical cylinder-type thing here? About $3.
2. Eggs: Cost about twice as much here as what’s cited in the article – around 30 cents apiece.

3. Kale: Hahaha…I wish.

4. Potatoes: Cheap for sure, at about 30 cents a kg

5. Apples: Kind of expensive (about $1.75 a kg here) but worth it.

6. Nuts: Um, nope.  A can of peanuts here is about $2, and other nuts go up in price astronomically – there’s a 1-lb bag of pecans randomly here, and it’s like $20.

7. Bananas: Nope.  Rarely here and expensive – I don’t even know how much they cost.

8. Garbanzo Beans: Not here.  You can get some dried pintos in UB of dubious quality, and recently I’ve seen cans of kidney beans here for about $1.25.  Mysteriously, the newly-arrived cans of white beans are about double that price for the same amount.

9. Broccoli: Nope.  Never even seen it here.

10. Watermelon: Uh, this is seasonal unless you live in America…

11. Wild Rice: I wish we had this.  We do have millet and barley, though. And (yuck) buckwheat.

12. Beets: Yuck!

13. Butternut Squash: I think not – though maybe I’ve seen one once in the past year and a half – an accident, I’m sure.

14. Whole Grain Pasta: I don’t think so, but it’s all in Russian.  Haven’t seen anything that would match color-wise though.
15. Sardines: Now sardines we have – albeit generally in tomato sauce.  Maybe I’ll experiment with these they’re less than a dollar a can.

16. Spinach: Ha!

17. Tofu: Dried tofu, along with the Supreme Master(tm), has come to Khovd.  I don’t know why, but I’ll not complain…

18. Milk: Local milk is a bit farm-y, and you have to pasteurize/boil it yourself before using, but it’s good.  Box UHT milk, while less tasty, is more convenient and what I tend to use.

19. Pumpkin Seeds: Both yuck and ha!

20. Coffee: Well, this is just generally too effort-ful.  So I’m good.

So, reasonably, the only really easy item on this list for me are…potatoes.

Tags: food