Dietary info (probably more than you wanted to know)

No school till Thursday, so I thought I would fill in some details:
There are some dietary essentials–or at least things that I consider essentials–that I thought I would have to give up or greatly modify when I cam over here, but I have been pretty fortunate in what I have been able to find
1. Number one on my list is Grape Nuts. And I pretty much thought that would be a lost cause. When I was living in Italy, I was able to get All Bran, and I figured that would be the best I could hope for. But in Chengdu there is a little shop called "Sabrinas Country Store," which I plan on putting in my will, and the first time I went in there I stopped cold when I saw Grape Nuts an d bought two boxes. They run roughly four American dollars for a little box, which is about a twenty five to thirty percent mark up. The last two times I went in there, however, they were out, and I had to settle for All Bran. But yesterday the Grape Nuts were back on the shelf. I should have bought them out just to let them know someone is serious about grape nuts, but given that I had to buy other stuff I only bought what I could carry.
2. With Grape nuts I have soy milk. Now this is the land of soy, of course, and I have no problem finding powdered soy milk. But the problem is, well, it tastes like powdered soy milk. Here, again, Sabrinas comes through with soy milk at about three dollars a quart, about thirty percent more than you would pay in the states.
3. Orange juice. Here is the first area of compromise. I love Tropicana Pure Premium–not from concentrate. And that is just not to be had over here. In fact, 100 percent orange juice is a very difficult find. But the Carefore–the big French-based grocery chain that is a bus ride away–has Dole 100 percent orange juice from concentrate, and I have learned to adjust.
4. Tomato sauce. Here I was truly concerned. Because it is so cheap to eat out and because the kitchen has to be kept spotless otherwise our little crawly friends (and I’m not talking about the neighbors) show up, I am reluctant to cook. But tomato sauce truly is one of the staples of my life. Thankfully, it is pretty easy to find tomato sauce. Both Sabrinas and Carefore have selections of tomato sauce. Sabrinas sells big jars of Ragu of various types, while Carefore has their own brand, which is not great. Sabrinas also has Barillas, which in my estimation is about the best bottled tomato sauce.
5. Salmon. Here I thought I would be s.o.l. Back home I mostly eat wild caught salmon given the problem with farmed raised salmon, and you weren’t going to find either here. Even if it could be found, it would be outrageously expensive. Here, again, Sabrinas comes to the rescue. They sell big cans of wild tuna, which certainly is not the same as a nice piece of fresh grilled salmon, but it works. The canned stuff is actually safer than most of the salmon in stores because most of the salmon in stores is farm raised and the canned stuff is wild caught. It’s not cheap, though–about four and a half dollars for a big can, probably about twice or so what it would cost you in the states.
Overall, though, not doing too badly on the big five food groups–certainly better than I thought I would do. I truly don’t know what I will do if Sabrinas ever goes out of business.