Walmart, Mega, Chedraui… by now, we’ve visited quite a few supermarkets in Mexico, mostly (and officially) to get some supplies for Mark—diapers, wipes, food—but also because I am addicted to their bakeries.
All supermarkets have a huge bakery where you can buy loaves of bread (duh!) but also pastries. They are all displayed on the shelves, you just have to pick a tray and help yourself. They are cheap too, usually about 50 cents apiece.
There are dozens of pastries to choose from but most are fairly simple—we are not talking elaborate creamy cakes here (although you can get that too)— with sweetbreads, sometimes with a jam or cream filling, sometimes dipped in chocolate or sugar. They aren’t too sweet or too buttery… they are just perfect for anyone who loves the texture of bread—like me. Like in Chinese bakeries, there is also savoury bread filled with mushrooms, tuna, etc.
Besides the panaderia, there is often a cafeteria where you can buy your favourite local foods such as pieces of fried chicken, fried plantains, tamales, rice and beans, salads, fries, etc. Mexicans seem to like anything fried!
The vegetable section is quite extensive and includes tons of bananas from Chiapas or Tabasco, as well as mountains of avocados.
Mexicans must like soup—there is often an entire aisle dedicated to powdered soup (think Maggi or Knorr). The meat and fish section is also pretty extensive, both displayed on ice or in coolers (and not pre-packaged like in most Canadian supermarkets).
They definitely have a sweet tooth as well because there are tons of cookies and cereal bars, although most don’t seem too fancy and revolve around chocolate chips or some kind of gooey fruity filling. Breakfast cereals are the sugary kind as well—most have “azucar” (sugar) in their name (at least, they are honest and don’t claim to be the “healthy way” to start the day!).
The dairy section is well-stocked with cheese and yogurt. Cheese mostly revolves around the “easy to melt” kind (i.e. no “fancy” strong cheese like in France). Philadelphia cream cheese and The Laughing Cow are pretty popular. There are many kinds of bottled yogurt to drink on the go: the main brands are Yoplait, Danone and LaLa. Flan is also very popular, as well as “dessert-flavoured” yogurts, such as “dulce de leche,” “apple pie,” etc.
Low-fat products are hard to spot, although nutritional information is available on every product, like in Canada (is it by law? I’m not sure). Pastries do have a sticker underneath that says “over 275 calories per 100 grams,” which I found pretty funny.
When it comes to drinks, Coke (the regular kind) is definitely a winner, and beer seems to come second. There is also Sprite and Pepsi, as well as various carbonated fruit juices. And beer, of course.
The only downside of Mexican supermarkets is the slow checkout time. It invariably takes at least twenty minutes to pay for your grocery. Line-ups are long and cashiers are pretty slow and few cash registers are open, even during rush hour—I’m not sure why.
20 minutes to check out, my Pedro would go mad! If he has to wait for more than 10 minutes, he just leaves his grocery basket and storms out!
We could… but we would never eat!
Oh the Mexican bread! When I was in Mexico City in 2011, I always enjoyed the pastries that local bakeries produced. In fact, I skipped the hostel breakfast plenty of times because I had a better and tastier breakfast by visiting the bakery across the street!
Yep, getting your own breakfast here is a treat!
Thanks for doing this post. There are so many things here that I would love to try!
That last pastry/bread looks really strange. I wonder what’s in that?
There’s so many hot sauces to choose from! I would love to have some real spicy food.
I hate those powder soups, though. A lot of Central European countries love powered soup as well. I just don’t get it – I think they taste awful.
There’s nothing like bread-like brioche with no filling, though. That’s the best “pastry” hands down. I just don’t get how the T&T Chinese bread tastes almost like the French one. How do they do it?
I’ve heard so many good things about authentic Mexican cuisine. I’ve got to convince my husband to go there for work (so I can tag along!).
Ah, the breads you are talking about got me confused too until I bought one for Mark, the official excuse to taste new food 😆 The top is actually a bit of hard sugar and the bread is like a very very light brioche, slightly sweet.
I don´t mind powder soup, I had a lot of these in Canada last winter (no time to eat but need something hot). I use a lot of water though because they are so salty!
One thing I like with these bread is that they don´t have any weird filling (most don´t anyway). No cream, no sticky stuff.
Oh,the pastries! I have never traveled to Mexico but your pics and description of all the yummy breads pretty much convince me to go there just for sake of those, if nothing else. Here I stock up on them exclusively at T&T and tiny Chinese bakeries. Local ones somehow taste too sweet and buttery.
T&T is awesome, we have it too in Ottawa. Their coconut bread… yummy!
Cool! The baked goods look so good ! Maggi is awesome in soup and fried fish. It is popular in West Africa too.
Funny that foods are so similar even continents apart!
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