Bulk buying of food is rare here in China, largely because, in general, people prefer shopping for fresh food on a daily basis. Canned and packaged foods are much less common than in the west. In fact canned foods are very rare. Supermarkets carry very little frozen foods - mostly dumplings.
Maybe this explains an odd phenomenon I’ve often encountered. Having successfully utilised some Belgian apple beer into moules marinières, I decided to get in a few bottles for future use – I like me some mussels.
The only store I’ve found stocking said beer is on the other side of the city so I order it for delivery. It turns up within the hour.
On the shopping app, the company’s ad lists:
1 bottle = ¥9.50
6 bottles = ¥73.50 (12.2 per bottle)
12 bottles = ¥139.50 (11.63 per bottle
24 bottles = ¥295.00 (12.30 per bottle)
The more you buy, the more expensive it gets! Not an uncommon feature of Chinese shopping. In one supermarket I used to frequent it was cheaper to take all the cans out of a six pack of beer and put them into your basket separately – one of the staff often came to help me! They were then scanned individually and saved me a fortune over the years. The staff member just shrugged when I questioned her. Not her job. I've seen the same with instant noodles and other goods.
I'm planning on buying one a day until I build up a collection!
Image from Meituan shopping app.
