The one plus about living in Jamaica, is access to fresh fruits and vegetables that doesn’t break the bank. But, getting to where the vendors are, well that’s not as easy. I have some friends here in Jamaica who, for whatever reason, doesn’t make it their business to be downtown Kingston. But I’ve been lucky enough to get one of them to take me there not once, not twice but three times. My first two trips were to source and purchase basic necessities to outfit my empty apartment. Man was that an experience that would need its own post.
Anyways, I made my third trip solely to purchase seasoning and fruits. I’ve wanted to do this type of shopping since moving to Jamaica because it is so much cheaper to buy these fresh fruits and veggies and seasonings from the downtown market, than it is in the supermarkets. But, for some reason I never got around to planning a day to go. Luckily, this was a spore of the moment decision made while grocery shopping.
Anywho, enough chit chat…here are some of the stuff that I purchased while downtown. The good thing about this is, I spent less than $1,500.00 ja dollars (est. $13.50 US): whereas in the store I might have ended up spending two to three times as much, if not more.
Ginger – I think this was $80 per lb…but I got half pound
Watermelon – don’t recall how much this was but it was equivalent to purchasing three serving slices from the store for around $300 – $400 JA…will get a pic to show when I go back to the store.
1 hand banana – I know they seem a little beat up…but they are perfect for my smoothies. I plan to dice them up and freeze for future smoothies.
4 Grafted mangoes – $50 each; 1 Avocado – $200 JA; 1 bag of lime —the papaya in the pic was purchased at the supermarket
1 bag Onion -pictured in first photo at the top
1 Cucumber – $80 — pictured in first photo at top
1 bag Plums – $50 : I miss these plums. When I lived in St. Vincent, I stalked the trees that were in my aunts yard, waiting for these juicy fruits to turn red or yellow or a nice deep purple.
1 bag sweet pepper (rather tiny) — as you can see these weren’t as good as I thought. I was really expecting some nice plump sweet peppers. But this was a bad purchase and it was only evident after I got home.
Well, that was an interesting first trip to downtown Kingston, market. I hope to get a picture of the market area with the vendors on my next trip and some better shopping for much cheaper…wish me luck!
the5ft1islandgirlwhocould 