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Post by Laminat on Dec 6, 2013 20:07:34 GMT
Hi everyone,
I was wondering if we'll be able to find different sorts of food that would be classified as "health food" in the west. We're trying to cut down on lactose and gluten, and were wondering if we can get things like spelt flour, soya flour, lactose-free milk, different grains, etc. If anyone has any idea about any of this stuff, is the price reasonable or is it ludicrously high? We're going to be housed in Rakkah, but will obviously shop around for the products.
Any info would be gratefully received.
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Post by UmmRiyam on Dec 13, 2013 10:40:35 GMT
A lot of those type of 'health' food items are pretty expensive here. Probably 50% to 100% higher than what you pay in USA. For example, I know people selling good quality coconut oil for 95 riyals when you can pay about $10 for the same size in USA. If I were you, I would pack as much as I could bring. And then next year when you go for repat, bring back more. Al Marai makes Lactose free milk now. I'm not sure what the cost is, but it's not organic. However, there is a video on Youtube that you can watch done by National Geographic on megafactories. It's quite amazing the production they have here in the middle of the dessert, and the cows really do seem to be well cared for. You can find some different grains here locally at some of the shops, but you might need to find out the Arabic names. I know you can easily find whole wheat, bulgur, barley, semolina, and couscous. Most are not certified organic though. If you are ever in Riyadh or Jeddah, you can visit an Al Watania store. They have organic meat, fresh produce, olives and olive oil (grown in Saudi), juice, spices, grains, and milk (from camels, sheep, and goats). www.watania-agri.com/home.aspThis blog post has a list of places to find organic foods. I just stumbled across it while trying to find any stores in Khobar. It looks like Organic Plus is somewhere I need to go! girlonraw.com/2011/10/where-i-sh ... a-bahrain/ |
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Post by Laminat on Dec 13, 2013 20:10:21 GMT
UmmRiyam, Thank you so much for the informative response. I thought that the cost would be somewhat higher, but I was kind of hoping that it wouldn't be ludicrously high. Now I've just got to work out how many kilos of flour to bring  Hopefully I won't have problems at the customs control with all that white powder... I'll keep you posted. That blog is also really informative and helpful. Thanks very much for sharing! Laminat |
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Post by Twofeets on Dec 14, 2013 3:32:13 GMT
The good and the bad about eating healthy here...
Yes it is possible, but it may be a bit difficult until you have your own transportation.
The good news is believe it or not most of the food laws here are more strict than in the US. Most of the produce in the smaller shops is what we would call 'organic', to them its just produce lol. There are healthy meats and vegetables to be found, you just have to learn what shops carry what items. Some of the larger stores (like Tamimis, formerly Safeway) which cater a lot to the western crowds and carry a lot of western brands but they do charge for it.
There are few 'health food' stores in the area, but once you get your multi entry exit visa you can go to Bahrain. In Bahrain there are a couple of decent health food stores and grocery stores which carry health food items (gluten free, soy based, coconut flour, almond flour, etc).
The bad news is that the local diet is horrible. Dont get me wrong, I love the food, but a lot of it is based on high carbs and high sugar, and some high fat as well. Diabetes and heart disease are a problem here.
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Maursh
Senior Member
Posts: 169
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Post by Maursh on Jan 11, 2014 8:51:00 GMT
I think that it really depends what you mean by healthy eating. The traditional diet here is actually very healthy - low wheat and lactose - think hummus, tabbulah, unleavened bread, rice etc all fresh, tasty and high fibre and you can generally buy these quite readily as "fast foods". However it has mutated to become high sugar and dairy enriched which is ubiquitous in the western world.
I actually disagree that healthy foods can be difficult to get hold of - but again comes down to what you mean. In Hyper Panda (a prevalent supermarket here) there is a whole aisle devoted to, what would be classified in the UK as, wholefoods (spices, beans, different whole grains etc) all in "raw" form. Herbs and spices, in particular, in VERY cheap compared to comparative health foods in the UK - fresh herbs are about SAR1 per bundle in the supermarket. Also fresh fruit and vegetables which are in season are very cheap so long as they are not imported from far afield. For example: gs from the US are SAR55/kg against SAR15/kg if they are from Turkey.
But these maybe ingredients that are unfamiliar and require some research. I worked with a (British) guy who spent a period in California: he and his wife made a habit of buying something unfamiliar in the supermarket each week and then finding out what to do with it from the internet when thy got home. If you are wanting something in particular then you might not be able to find it or might pay a lot for it. I understand that rice flour, for example, can be hard to come by (you can make your own). But like some many things here, if you can be flexible then you might not get what you want, but you should be able to find what you need!
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Post by vpainter on Jan 14, 2014 22:09:49 GMT
Tamimi carries organic Rice flour.
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Hopefully I won't have problems at the customs control with all that white powder... I'll keep you posted.