Lulu's Hypermarket

We are attempting to start some sort of routine/normal for our family. One of the biggest things for us to figure out is our shopping schedule. Many people on camp just do all their shopping at the commissary and although they have a good selection of products I don't feel like they have that much variety and the prices are double what you can find outside of camp. I will for sure shop there for milk, eggs and little things that I realized I didn't pick up but I just can't bring myself to shop there regularly and spend that much and I want to get off camp and shop out in the city and experience Saudi. We also have a small Panda store (the larger one Hyper Panda is in Khobar) in the town next to us and that will also be a good weekly place to pick up some stuff . But I would like to go and make a major shopping run in Khobar at one of the larger stores twice a month. Because I don't want to be constantly driving the hour eachway into Khobar we have talked about doing groceries twice a month and then on the other weeks we can go shopping if we want but we don't have to.

Anyways, last night we went to Lulu's Hypermarket and it was AMAZING! I am in love with that store! I found one of their commercials online that kind of shows what it looks inside so you can get an idea of how big it is, click here.

We had a very successful shopping trip and they have everything I was looking for (minus Goldfish, Cheerios and Saltine crackers). They have a great selection of imported goods from the USA and UK and a good meat selection although I wasn't impressed with the fish selection but the produce and bakery made up for it. I was even able to find Starbucks coffee and although we paid $13.50....it was so worth it this morning when I had a delicious cup of coffee! I also picked up these fresh chocolate croissants from the bakery and we had those this morning and they were delicious. We shopped for around 2.5 hours and came out with all of the ingredients I need for two weeks worth of meals and then a bunch of items for stockpiling and also essentials for baking/cooking that I haven't been able to find and also a large cooler to take shopping with us so we can transport meat and cold goods home.

A very successful trip and it is amazing how grocery stores can bring so much joy to me...oh how times have changed!