Ordering groceries online in Ukraine and going in person to grocery stores in Ukraine

Convenience is great, but the changed products or lack of specific items you want puts a damper on the convenience as if you want these specific items you need to call another store. We go shopping in-person to a couple of stores; first, there are three regular large stores, one does not have yogurt, the other does not have the brand of milk we want. So we hit these stores every week. I have the floor plans laid out in my mind, so I do not miss anything. The produce is the first area, and it is fresh and ready. Strange, just outside the store often in the same parking lot, you will have a small independent selling fruit and vegetables for cash. These small booths are often selling at less cost than the large store. I will use them if they post the price, as I would not want them to take advantage as my language skills are near zero.

Inside the large store are all is organized and ready. Eggs are sold on a flat of thirty eggs or in the carton of ten eggs. Yes, ten, in Canada, they are sold as twelve in a carton. Milk is offered in mostly plastic bottles one-liter (890ml) size. Some milk is offered in bags and a few in a tetra pack. Also, butter is available in the freezer, and the blocks are 200gr each.

We are very stuck to specific brands as in Ukraine, there are a number of very smart people, and you can buy fake butter, fake milk, and the list goes on and on. We have done our research on what brands have been tested in certified laboratories and follow those guidelines. You can also buy certified organic. In Canada, this is also available, and the price can almost double for the organic certification in Canada, but here in Ukraine, it can increase by 300% if not more.

We have discussed the need to ship "made in Canadian" (or American) products such as creams, vitamins, and other health supplements. We met a few people who have asked if we could bring back items such as just listed as they have fear the product in Ukraine may be a fake.

The larger grocery stores in Ukraine also offer cooked food. Chicken roasted, pizza, and a number of very Ukraine items that all look great. But you could be sure a number of ingredients would be the fewer cost items to lower the cost and make more profit. So, in the end, you may be consuming fake food.

We have found a couple of good bakeries with what we see as good products. In the large grocery store in Ukraine, you will find the bread area with pre-packaged bread from large bread makers and well as in house bread with the stores' label on them. And you guessed it, and they are less costly than the pre-made bread from places that provide those products as a business.

Paper products are plentiful, again Canada has this business locked down well with some of the best paper towels and napkins you could want, of course, at a hefty price. But the products we have found are good quality and are suitable. That said, here in Ukraine, they do offer the very inexpensive paper products, and it is like the simplest smooth paper they could make, with almost no absorption of liquid.

The funny thing here in Ukraine in the grocery store, the plastic food wrap is incredibly thin. So thin, it is tough to unroll and tear to cover the food. This gave me some headache, and every trip to Canada, I purchase this food wrap in Canada. So funny, I know, but I just cannot seem to understand the logic in super double thin food wrap.

Coffee, one of my favorite items, it is great that in specialty shops you can purchase whole beans from places like Italy and other nearby locations with top quality. But in the large grocery stores in Ukraine, they carry a good brand of whole coffee beans. I have a grinder at home and pre-pair it in a French press.

Booze alcohol is a big seller here; in fact, I would think it takes up the most shelf space in all the stores in any other category. With a lot of options available and what looks like very low restrictions, this is available from the time the store opens at 8 or 9 am to 11 pm. The prices of this stuff are crazy inexpensive.

Cheese! Don't forget the cheese. Again, some stores have ok cheese from other old countries with real ingredients. But best to go to the small shops for this where importing special cheese is the business they know. In the large grocery stores in Ukraine, cheese is a big fake item that lots of tricksters put their hands onto. The price reflects what is very fake.

Fish, again, fish is bought and sold in the stores, frozen and salted. Being on the north coast of the Back Sea, one would think we are able to have all the fresh fish a port town needs, but I understand the Black Sea is fished out. So, the Mediterranean is next and not so far away but has the same problem; it is depleted. Then Norwegian has lots of fish and mostly fish farms with little to no rules, so really do you know what you are getting. In Canada, as we lived in the West, Halibut and Pacific Salmon, as well as Cod, were the best "real" fish left. It would be good to hook up with the real fish buyers in Ukraine and get a container of this fish shipped every month.

If you are enjoying this information, simply let me know what topics you would like deeper information on, and we can make that available. We appreciate our readers, and thank you for your input. Keep in mind I am not an expert in any of these topics but have briefly listed the things I have seen here in Ukraine from my point of view.