Okay, something that really shocked me when I arrived to Scotland was the grocery store experience. The first couple of weeks were extremely tough because I didn’t know where any stores were or how to work the buses here. But now at the end of my semester, I feel confident enough to say that I know how to grocery shop here. 

I’m currently in Aberdeen, Scotland and my semester is almost at a close. This post is officially dedicated to the grocery store chaos that I’ve experienced while being a student here. I’ll talk about the stores that I visited as well as anything else interesting I noticed while shopping here. 

One of the first things that I noticed when shopping for groceries here is that it’s not called “grocery shopping”. It’s called “food shopping”. Before I met anyone from the UK I would overhear conversations between friends on the bus and they’d always say they needed to “food shop this weekend”. I still call it grocery shopping, but “food shop” really accentuates the idea that almost everything that’s called something different here in the UK is just a more literal version of what we call it in the US. (Elevator = lift, parking lot = car park, etc.) 

But besides that, the stores actually look and run very similarly to those in the US.  A couple of the different things I can think of are:

• Paying for shopping bags (most people bring their own)
• The shopping carts are small and you pull them (only once did I see a real shopping cart)
• The eggs aren’t refrigerated and they’re in the baking isles most of the time
• There are security guards at a lot of stores (I’ve seen some in the US before but not nearly as many)
• Cash register = till
• Scan and go is popular
• The food goes bad quickly, so people have to shop every week or more than once a week (busy stores) 

Those are the top things I can think of that would differ from stores in the US. I knew some of these before getting here, but some like the shopping carts shocked me a little bit. Additionally, having to go grocery shopping multiple times a week was a change I had to get used to. 

My all time favorite grocery store that I visited here was Tesco. Tesco has stores that are big and small (convenience stores) and they’re everywhere across the UK. Where I live, there’s not a big Tesco nearby, so I get really excited when we’re visiting a new city and they have a one we can visit. Tesco can be equated to a Walmart in the US. Big Tescos have spots for a pharmacy, a cafe, clothing sections, and food at a really good price. My only critique for Tesco is that you will feel very left out if you don’t have a club card since that’s how you get things discounted. 

My second favorite store is Lidl. There are some Lidls across the US east coast, but I had never seen one until I got here. Lidl is smaller than Tesco, but operates all across Europe and is lots of people’s go-to for cheap, quality groceries. Lidl holds a lot of their own branded items, so sometimes it can be hard to find exact things that you’re looking for, but overall it’s great. We have one nearby the student residence at the University, and it’s convenient for shopping each week. The bakery is the best part and the cinnamon bun is my all time favorite grocery store bakery item. 

I’ve also visited ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys, M&S Food, and Co-op. Morrisons and ASDA are also similar to Walmart, but they don’t always come with cafes and pharmacies. Sainsburys is convenient if you’re in the city centre, but it’s not as cheap as Lidl or Tesco. M&S Food and Co-op are by far the most expensive, but the Co-op is good for a quick snack. 

Visiting grocery stores in a new country (in my opinion), is one of the best ways to get a glimpse into the culture. In the UK, I’ve been able to travel to so many stores we don’t have in the US and it’s really been fun to look at the cultural differences through food. If you’re ever out of the country I would definitely recommend taking a quick trip to the nearest supermarket to see what they have! 

Much love, 

Olivia Bird