Western grocery chains in Japan

[_john]

Yes I think it is that type. you pour boiling water on it and wait 4 minutes. Is that called instant couscous? I don't know any other type. I think is was 1kg for ~250¥? I already stocked up at a much higher price so I didn't buy any.

[torakris]

Did you happen to notice if they have the really easy-to-cook couscous that comes in a thin plastic bag that you drop directly into boiling water?  That was my favorite kind, but the other supermarkets in town stopped carrying it.

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I haven't been to Carrefour in close to a year but I have always seen that couscous for sale at Yamaya.

[thelobster]

I haven't been to Carrefour in close to a year but I have always seen that couscous for sale at Yamaya.

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Ah, thanks! I haven't been to Yamaya in awhile but I'll check.

Did you happen to notice if they have the really easy-to-cook couscous that comes in a thin plastic bag that you drop directly into boiling water?  That was my favorite kind, but the other supermarkets in town stopped carrying it.

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Actually it's even instant-er than that - you drop the perforated plastic bag in a pot of boiling water, then you pull it out a few minutes later and open it. No need to measure the water!

Edited December 23, 2007 by thelobster (log)

[prasantrin]

Costco--what the heck happened to butter? I went the other day and they had a million different kinds of margarine, but the only "butter" they had was the 1/3-cut stuff in a tube! It was a very sad day for me, indeed. I guess I won't be baking as much as usual!

[helenjp]

There's a general shortage of dairy products, and most particularly of butter. You don't notice it so much with the cheese, because so much is directly imported in a processed state, but for some reason butter is almost never imported directly - even the supermarket brands that used to use imported butter switched to domestic product a few years back.

[prasantrin]

There's a general shortage of dairy products, and most particularly of butter. You don't notice it so much with the cheese, because so much is directly imported in a processed state, but for some reason butter is almost never imported directly - even the supermarket brands that used to use imported butter switched to domestic product a few years back.

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Ah, so that also explains why a couple of weeks ago I had such a hard time finding butter. Even Daiei was completely sold out, and the other grocery stores only had the Y400/200g blocks (and up).

I'll stock up next time I find some.

[torakris]

There's a general shortage of dairy products, and most particularly of butter. You don't notice it so much with the cheese, because so much is directly imported in a processed state, but for some reason butter is almost never imported directly - even the supermarket brands that used to use imported butter switched to domestic product a few years back.

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Ah, so that also explains why a couple of weeks ago I had such a hard time finding butter. Even Daiei was completely sold out, and the other grocery stores only had the Y400/200g blocks (and up).

I'll stock up next time I find some.

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This also explains why I haven't been able to find it on sale recently. At least once a month one of the supermarkets in my area would have it on sale for 198 yen ($2 for the 200g block), now I can rarely find it under 350 yen a block!

Has anyone else noticed the price of bread has jumped up too?

Back to Costco though, my new favorite product is their cornbread mix. It is a large box of 5 packs of mix and the brand is Penguin. I have been making it almost once a week it is so good.

Rona, did you notice any lower prices now that the dollar has dropped so low? I won't be able to make it out there until the 2nd or 3rd week of April and I really hope the prices have come down some.

[prasantrin]

Back to Costco though, my new favorite product is their cornbread mix. It is a large box of 5 packs of mix and the brand is Penguin. I have been making it almost once a week it is so good.

Rona, did you notice any lower prices now that the dollar has dropped so low? I won't be able to make it out there until the 2nd or 3rd week of April and I really hope the prices have come down some.

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Cornbread mix??? I didn't see any cornbread mix! Was it around the brownie-mix and flour area? We went during peak shopping hours and I was trying to get out of there as soon as I could, so we didn't browse very much.

I didn't notice that the prices were any lower than usual, but a lot of the stuff we bought was stuff I don't usually buy (i.e. they weren't things I normally know the prices of).

Here are some examples of the prices for the imported goods we bought:

Best Foods Mayonnaise Y588

Kirkland Toilet paper Y2438

Kettle chips Y668

Kirkland Albacore Tuna Y1398

They're about the same as before, aren't they?

[torakris]

Back to Costco though, my new favorite product is their cornbread mix. It is a large box of 5 packs of mix and the brand is Penguin. I have been making it almost once a week it is so good.

Rona, did you notice any lower prices now that the dollar has dropped so low? I won't be able to make it out there until the 2nd or 3rd week of April and I really hope the prices have come down some.

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Cornbread mix??? I didn't see any cornbread mix! Was it around the brownie-mix and flour area? We went during peak shopping hours and I was trying to get out of there as soon as I could, so we didn't browse very much.

I didn't notice that the prices were any lower than usual, but a lot of the stuff we bought was stuff I don't usually buy (i.e. they weren't things I normally know the prices of).

Here are some examples of the prices for the imported goods we bought:

Best Foods Mayonnaise Y588

Kirkland Toilet paper Y2438

Kettle chips Y668

Kirkland Albacore Tuna Y1398

They're about the same as before, aren't they?

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The cornbread mix at my store has been on the corner of the aisle with the flours other mixes, etc for a couple months now. It really is good and I never buy mixes, give me a bottle of honey and I can devour the pan in one sitting.

I don't ever recall the mayonnaise being over 500 yen and though I never buy it I thought the tuna was a little cheaper as well. The chips sound about right.

[prasantrin]

I bought some of the Penguin Cornbread mix (I've got 6 pouches in mine) during my last trip to Costco, and finally got around to making some today. It's somewhat addictive (I ate about 1/6th of the pan just out of the oven), but I don't think I'll be buying it again. It's very sweet (according to the ingredient list, there's more sugar in there by weight than cornmeal), and it leaves an aftertaste right at the back of your mouth that's similar to the aftertaste from boxed cake mixes.

I think I'll have to stick to making my own. But now what to do with the remaining 5 bags? Hopefully the people at work will like it more than I did, because they'll be eating a lot of corn bread in the months to come!

[helenjp]

Ikea opening up fall 2008 and Costco in spring 2009 in front of the station at Shin-Misato (Musashino Line, one or two stations away from changeovers from Tobu Isezaki or Tsukuba Express Lines).

This is part of the Lala-City development.

As it's practically on my back doorstep, my Filipina neighbor and I have been watching progress with interest. Even though local discount supermarkets are cheaper for some things, even Japanese kitchen staples are surprisingly hard to find in bulk packages or multi-packs.

[torakris]

I bought some of the Penguin Cornbread mix (I've got 6 pouches in mine) during my last trip to Costco, and finally got around to making some today.  It's somewhat addictive (I ate about 1/6th of the pan just out of the oven), but I don't think I'll be buying it again.  It's very sweet (according to the ingredient list, there's more sugar in there by weight than cornmeal), and it leaves an aftertaste right at the back of your mouth that's similar to the aftertaste from boxed cake mixes. 

I think I'll have to stick to making my own.  But now what to do with the remaining 5 bags?  Hopefully the people at work will like it more than I did, because they'll be eating a lot of corn bread in the months to come!

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I guess I like my cornbread really sweet. I am a fan of the sweet cakey (almost dessert like) cornbreads. If you are really at a lost for what to do with those bags you can always save them until your next trip up to Tokyo.

[prasantrin]

I guess I like my cornbread really sweet. I am a fan of the sweet cakey (almost dessert like) cornbreads. If you are really at a lost for what to do with those bags you can always save them until your next trip up to Tokyo.

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If I can't pawn them off on anyone else, they're all yours!

Maybe I could bring them to chicago for you?

Another disappointment--the Kirkland brand Marcona Almonds. I've read so many positive things about them in the general Costco topic, so I had to pick some up when I saw them. I don't know what they usually taste like, but the ones I have taste kind of stale. Maybe not stale, but soft, and I've had at least one very bitter one (there may be more bitter ones, but I just opened the can, so i haven't found them yet). I checked the expiration date, and it's supposed to be good until January 2009.

Bummer. But I'm sure I can manage to finish them. Perhaps I'll just freshen them up in the oven or something.

edited to add--definitely more than one very bitter almond in the can, but they're kind of addictive in a weird way.

Edited June 14, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

I went to Costco today to try to get some frozen cranberries. They didn't have any!! But they do have bags of frozen strawberries again, so I suppose that's a good thing. I asked at the front desk, and they won't be getting any frozen cranberries in ever again! How am I supposed to make cranberry sauce now? Other than buy the frozen cranberries at Kobe Grocers and pay Y700 for 2 cups of the stuff (or is that 4?).

I also picked up a 20cm round Paul Bocuse enameled cast iron pot at Carrefour. It was Y7800, and I got the last one. They didn't have a box for it, and without my even asking, the woman I talked to discounted it to Y5000!! Yay me! It's the perfect size for half a recipe of no-knead bread!

They have more copper pots and pans, too. They're much lighter than the one I bought several years ago, though.

[prasantrin]

Carrefour--the only thing I ever buy there (that I really need) is Thai rice, and it's now a whopping Y4000 for 5kg!! I just paid Y2400 in September. What the heck happened?

Costco has some nice Cuisinart enameled cast iron pots (3L size) for only about Y7000. Much cheaper than le Creuset, and I really liked the colours!

[torakris]

Carrefour--the only thing I ever buy there (that I really need) is Thai rice, and it's now a whopping Y4000 for 5kg!!  I just paid Y2400 in September.  What the heck happened?

Costco has some nice Cuisinart enameled cast iron pots (3L size) for only about Y7000.  Much cheaper than le Creuset, and I really liked the colours!

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I didn't notice the pans are Costco when I was there 2 weeks ago, did they have anything bigger?

4000yen for the Thai rice!? I am almost out and was thinking of making a Carrefour run to get some more, ouch!

[prasantrin]

I didn't notice the pans are Costco when I was there 2 weeks ago, did they have anything bigger?

4000yen for the Thai rice!? I am almost out and was thinking of making a Carrefour run to get some more, ouch!

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They only have the 3L size of pots. They may get more sizes in, but I've noticed Costco usually only carries small sizes of enameled cast iron.

I went through the online shopping links for Thai food that you posted eons ago, and there was still one website (the first one, I think) that had 5kg of Thai rice for Y2700 (or something like that--maybe Y2400). But I'm leaving in two days, so there's no way I'd be able to order and receive it before then (plus shipping is Y1000 to Kansai, so it's almost the same as paying Y4000 for a bag). It was the first link, I think, if you want to try to get some. I went through all of them (some are broken), and the only other place that had rice online was also Y4000 (Y3900).