Small food, big appetites

It may seem that I'm obsessed with grocery shopping, but since that is about 70% of my world right now I hope you'll excuse me. I want to say a few words about the size of the packages here. Of course I've already mentioned the small frig, oven and washing machine. While I was writing this blog earlier I drank about 6 sips of coffee from a tiny cappucino cup. But what I have to adjust to each time I go to the grocery store is the tiny portion size in the packaging. "Buying in bulk" could not be a more foreign concept here. Everything comes in such small amounts. The tortillas are in a package of 4. Deli meats are sold in 100g (3 1/2 oz) packages. Milk and juice come in 1 liter bottles (a little over a quart). Granola bars come 6 to a 120g package. They are literally light as a feather and of questionable value as a snack. Of course all this makes it easier to carry food home from the store and store food in your tiny frig and dearth of cabinet space. But it also means we are constantly using things up and having to add them back to the grocery list. It seems to be a never-ending cycle. It's also an awful lot of packaging to recycle (thank goodness we don't have to throw it out). Wouldn't there be less waste and less work for us shoppers if there was just a little more in each package??

The small package size also makes the food deceptively expensive. 1 euro 75 for a package of meat? Sounds cheap, but what if I bought 3/4 pound like I usually do at home in the US? That's almost 8 euros which is nearly $10. 1 euro 29 for a liter of milk is more than $6/gallon.

Incidentally, we are all ravenous all the time here. I walk miles each day and climb up and down from the fourth floor multiple times. We are all using our brains extra hard to learn and understand, which I'm positive must burn tons of calories. So I feel like the kids are constantly eating and I need at least one daily snack. Thank goodness lunch is provided for them at school, because between breakfast, a morning snack at school, a snack/mini meal when they get home from school, and dinner we are plowing through tons of food.

It's hard to know what to feed everyone in between meals. Sometimes I got weary with providing snacks even in the US, but I had a list of 10 or so snacks we could rotate between. Here the food is so different that snacks are a bit of an enigma. Plus, the kids' school is completely nut free, so that eliminates MANY possible snacks. If I send them with one of the tiny granola bars it doesn't even make a dent in their hunger. Fruit is a staple for us and the kids like it, but we shipped all our small tupperwares that are snack-sized so there's nothing to put cut fruit in. I need to break down and buy some small plastic bins but haven't gotten around to that yet. The kids love yogurt but I haven't yet found a brand here that they will eat. I have cheese and deli meat but also haven't found any crackers they will eat. Maybe I could make some homemade banana bread or muffins for snack? Nope, no baking supplies in our rental. I found a tiny bag of Goldfish in one store that is quite out of my way, so maybe I'll trek there tomorrow. Suggestions welcome for snack ideas! I asked Haley's teacher for ideas of what the other kids are bringing but she wasn't entirely helpful.

World's smallest and most worthless granola bar