Get More Bang For Your Quid!

I have not spent a lot of money here yet, and most of my pounds have gone towards essentials like mobile and SIM card, books, and food.  They say London is an expensive place to live, and it undoubtedly is because of the exchange rate and whatnot.  But, I've found some comparative deals and it makes me excited.  I can't wait to be able to splurge on yummy food and fun stuff.

The main grocery store around us is Tesco.  (Tesco : Waldbaums = Marks & Spencers : Whole Foods)  It is so close to Nido that we often bump into fellow classmates while shopping.  Today, since we've been around for a couple of weeks and been able to settle down, we were able to look at more splurge-y/yummy foods instead of the bare essentials, and here are my thoughts.

- One of the primary things you see when you enter Tesco is the frozen microwave meal selection.  They are £1 ($1.60) each for a quite-filling no-cook dinner!  There are: creamy mushroom pasta (yummy), cheese and broccoli pasta, spicy beef pasta (less than yummy), vegetable curry, chicken broccoli pie (really want to try but is actually £1.60 or something), etc. flavors.  Although these aren't good for every night, they are really helpful for nights when we come home from late events like walking tours or orientation events, or lunch in a snap.  In the area of frozen foods, we also bought a pizza today that was around £1.64 ($2.66). 

- There is a deal for 2 bars of Cadbury's for £3 ($4.88), but mind you, the bars are HUGE and dense, like 3 Hershey's bars glued together.  Speaking of candy...they have cheap Mars bars too (duh), and apparently Cadbury's makes things like hot chocolate mix.  I will be so excited to eat lots and lots of Cadbury's.

- Tesco also sells boxes of Twinings tea, I think 50 bags for £1-something.  Their Earl Grey smells and tastes delicious, and I might get a box of Lady Grey also.

- Tesco-brand white bread is 47p ($0.76).  Bread!  For like 15 slices or so!  Sure, it's just white bread, probably not all that healthy, but it lasts a while and is versatile for breakfast (Nutella!) and lunch (chicken and cheddar...mmm).

- Muller yoghurt is possibly the (second) best yoghurt I've ever had (first is obviously the one from Florence...).  The 195-mg containers of yoghurt are way larger than La Yogurt or Yoplait at home, and they are 5 for £1, and come in awesome flavors like toffee (my roommate doesn't like this one so much, but it's good) and vanilla with dark chocolate sprinkles.  They also have other varieties of yoghurt, including these tiny tiny pots that are designed for you to get the right amount of calcium and vitamins, and other pots with cool flavors like fig and rhubarb.  Can't wait to try those next week!

- Tesco sells 4 cartons of juice for £3 ($4.87).  They are kind of small, but taste good, and I haven't had yummy juice in a long time.  Also, they are good for mixed drinks....

Next subject: Boots!  Boots is the main pharmacy here, and their products are also reasonable.  I wouldn't have brought so much soap, shampoo, and toothpaste had I known Boots was so close.  Particularly, they sell those huge tubs of Nivea cream for like £3 ($4.88)!!!  The same size in the US would be like $11!!  I also bought some disposable cameras from Boots last weekend to make a photo collage for my architecture class, and although it costs money to develop the pictures, the cameras were £3 each, with 27 exposures on each.  Not bad at all.

Anyway.  I wholly expected to spend a lot of money here, but I'm glad I haven't yet.  This way, I can save money to enjoy myself during spring break.  After break...I will buy all the Twinings and Cadbury's my heart desires.

Good night!