Grocery shopping.....Bush Style!!

Well grocery shopping on an island comes with it's challenges and quite a price tag if you aren't a careful shopper. We have several places to get food here, not your typical variety and definitely not your typical prices. So, when it's time to do some shopping, Alaska shoppers use the nomad...the Coastal Nomad, that is.

Spann Alaska is a grocery order outlet out of Seattle that supplies bush Alaska with groceries and are shipped to the surrounding islands via water freighters. Everything from freight, vehicles, groceries, and building supplies are transported and provide us with access to the rest of the world. This freighter usually comes in every 10 days and arrives around 5:30 or 6:00 am, so guess what time I was there to get my stuff?

Building materials, groceries, hardware, and appliances are unloaded and placed on the dock and you come and claim your goods. Fork lifts are used to lift the pallets and deliver them to the dock or load them into your vehicle.

Not any protection out here from the environment, so you better get there quick and retrieve it before it gets rained on.

So once again, the cupboards are loaded (and yes those cans are all alphabetized and labels facing forward). Doesn't everyone do that?

Not a week has gone by that someone hasn't brought me fresh fish. I don't even own a pole or a fishing license and I have a freezer full of king, red, and silver salmon, several halibut steaks and gray cod. I have been so fortunate and very thankful......I still have a freezer full of meats and food I bought in Anchorage three months ago.

Well, shelves are stocked, food is plentiful and even the TP is well stocked ($18.50 for 48 rolls through Spann Alaska, $45.00 for 36 rolls if you buy it here on the island...YIKES) I even buy and LIKE shelved milk. Not powdered, but in a box and is stable and shelf ready to use. It comes in 2% and it sure beats paying $10.00 a gallon in the store. Except for an occasional stop at the store, I am pretty well supplied. Looks like I am prepared for quite a while and I won't be going hungry anytime soon.