Shopping in the Village

We had groceries delivered today - woo hoo!!  Grocery shopping in the village is a bit different than other locations.  On Wednesday we fax our orders to the grocery store in Homer, but always call to make sure they receive them.  They don't always make it through the fax and I'm relatively certain they occasionally get misplaced at the store.  On Thursday they will fill our order for a fee of $8 and send it to the airport by taxi for a fee of $10.  The airport then sends it over as they have availability on their hourly flights for a fee based on weight - usually around $30.  There isn't a secure holding place, however, for items they drop off so the pilots simply set the items in a small shed on the landing strip.  Sometimes the groceries get here as early as 12:30 and Mike and I will have to rearrange our classes so that one of us can run down to get them or James, the school janitor, will run down and bring them to the school for us if we need him to.  If the weather is bad or the airport doesn't have available flights, they'll hold our groceries - and refrigerate items if we call and request it - and deliver them whenever they get a chance.

We do have a grocery store in the village, but product availability varies day to day.  Immediately after an order they have pretty decent selection which includes fresh fruits and vegetables.  The fresh stuff goes quickly but you can usually get some basic canned and dry goods and a few items quite difficult to find in Doniphan.  Prices, however, are not always easy to find and usually quite high.  1/2 gallon of milk usually goes for $5.50, a 12 pack of soda usually costs $13.00, and a bag of Lay's potato chips fetches $8.00 - it's enough to make you really evaluate how bad your munchies really are.  The prices out of the village are similar to prices in Missouri.  Milk is about the same, eggs cost about double, but most prices are pretty reasonable.  They're a bit higher, but not enough to make you cringe at your grocery bill.  Seafood prices are pretty good.  We bought 2 pounds of already shelled crab legs today for $14.00 - not too shabby.  Prices at Wal-mart have an unusual twist, though.  Most prices are identical to prices in Missouri except for the Great Value brand, which is often more expensive than the name brands.