Food shopping and more

India has many wonderful things. One of the wonderful things happening in India is the fresh veggies and fruit that you can purchase every night. They do have grocery stores, but most people buy the fresh things nightly from stalls that line the streets or the stalls that sell them. All the food shown above with something I already put in the fridge I got for under $20 US dollars. All of this and I still stayed way below my budget.
The food is fantastic and fresh they have similar items like apples, oranges, grapes, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, juice and pasta. I have to admit it was a lot to carry and if I hadn't had 3 friends to help me I wouldn't have purchased so much at one time. That being said I plan to eat well for awhile. I will take pictures as I make things. Since everything here is made from scratch it takes a lot of work to make one meal. There are very few pre-made items. Many times you even pick out your chicken that you want them to kill and cut for you. It is an experience that I plan to pass on. I however, have been known to go into a restaurant and order a whole chicken cooked then use it for a few days or freeze a few extra parts to save me from that traumatic experience. (I have a hard time as it is picking out lobsters to eat I could only image how I would struggle with a chicken).
Back to the food the milk is in a carton and sits on the shelf until you open it. And surprisingly they have Coke here. The difference in coke from US and here is the sweetness factor. Coke is so sweet here it almost hurts your teeth. Practically any soda is the same way. I guess that is one way to break the addiction for me. Otherwise most of the food here is full of starch. There is rice or roti (like a tortilla) or noodles. Most people get offended if there isn't one of those as the main part of the meal. I have even heard people say they were hungry when they went to bed because of the lack of rice, roti or noodles. I am doing everything humanly possible to not end up with rice belly.
That being said I have noticed that my portion size is dramatically smaller than I would get at home. So there have been a few nights where I have gone to bed hungry. Sometimes it is hard to get enough protein here so I find when I go places I order a lot of chicken with little bones so that I can get some additional protein. Also I eat a lot of eggs and veggies in hopes of keeping things balanced. One thing I can not seem to get us to is how they drink everything at room temperature or drink it boiling hot because cold drinks cause you to get a cold or damage your throat. So all the water and soda is warm and sometimes it is just hard to choke down.
I have pretty much tried anything that has been put in front of me most has been fantastic while other items have been a "no thank you its not my favorite." All in all India has been a great experience especially when it comes to food shopping and the shear amount of vegetables and fruit available to eat.