Ghana Market Tour (Shopping at an African Market) Getting Groceries in Africa

Akwaaba and welcome to Expat Life Ghana. I'm Ayo and this is Tony and we're documenting our move from Texas to Ghana as we go beyond the return. In this video she's at the market. So let's get this video started. So we're popping out to get groceries at the local market. You're popping out I'm not going. Yeah it's a common thing here men do not really go to the market as much as the ladies. I mean I do see them once in a while. What man are you seeing at the market? The delivery guy? No the butcher, the melon man, the guy with the big sack of rice. So going to the market here is much different than shopping at Piggly Wiggly. Or Kroger. Whenever you visit a place shop like a local to get a sense of the place. That is totally true. I feel like that is definitely something you should always do. Anyway first off walking through the market here is a completely different type of, I mean the sights, the smells. Oh my goodness. I usually shop at the outdoor market near my house here in Tema but for this video I actually tagged along with a friend who was going to the Community One Market in the heart of Tema Old Town or Tema, Maine. Yeah that place is always busy. It is. Yeah and that's why I don't go there. Yes but they have better prices there. Yeah I've been to that market a few times so I could remember some of the spots inside but if you don't know your way you can get lost. Really easily. It is like super confusing. I even I've been there several times now and I'll be like wait I think we no no no that yeah. Yeah a lot of where you shop inside the market is about relationships. Yeah I mean that's really true because you know there's a ton of vendors you can choose from 25 different people to buy your tomatoes but you're probably buy from the same ladies week after week. Yeah when you do you haggle less and you you know them they know you they give you a fair price so you'll keep coming back. Yeah exactly and that's how you keep your budget managed so you'll see we kind of pass some people to get to others. Yeah and you're also shopping really seasonally here. Oh absolutely when mangoes are in season they are very affordable but just after season the price goes through the roof and they're so hard to find so shopping seasonally is the best. It's much cheaper. I think it's a healthier way to live too even seasonally and eating what's grown here at the market as opposed to you know the frozen stuff that's been preserved or shipped to the supermarkets from wherever. Yeah definitely true and I love when watermelon season comes around the melons are huge and so watery and sweet they're so good. So the first time I saw the butcher just out with the big old chunk of meat the machete no fridge no hair net I was like this is different just a big old chunk of meat on a butcher block. People get really weirded out when they see that the first time they're like wait a minute because it's so different. There's no refrigeration section inside of the market everything is outside that means your meat your fruit your veggies your grain your live animals your fish everything is well it's fresh and you realize that not everyone has a fridge at their house oh that's true or may not have a freezer that is completely true and if they do like us it's really small like our fridge here is half the size of the one that we had in the states would you say that's true oh yeah for sure and milk products are not as widely used or sold here I mean it is so hard to find cheese not processed cheese food cheese and like most people are not using cheese in their cooking now and milk and eggs are not refrigerated so you're buying them at room temperature unpasteurized correct so everything in the market like no refrigeration even the fish when you're at the market you'll find most of the fish has been smoked to preserve it for selling so it's not frozen it's not like raw it's smoked or some seafood is still alive at the market and you're taking that home a pet right remember the crabs that got loose in the kitchen he's trying to go out the door yeah the good old times oh such good times hi I'm Leo subscribe right now if you're not ready to shop at the local market like me you can head out to the to a more uh supermarket type place yeah there are plenty to choose from in the greater Accra area and we even have a pretty like a couple supermarket-y type places here in Tama'a but again most people are not shopping at these places they are shopping at the market right uh the friend who showed me through community one market afterwards I took her to a supermarket here in Tama'a she had never been to one before um and I took her and she was like oh okay you can get most of the stuff at the market it's like okay all right well if you can't get everything you need at the local market why would you need to shop at the supermarket I mean yeah that's totally true and for those of us who kind of tend to purchase some things that are imported they're not normal staples so you won't find them you won't find them out of the market you have to go to the supermarket for those right so like what do you think every month or so we kind of head out to the supermarket and pull in some of those import-y type things yeah they're about once a month we don't travel out to the supermarket too often no and I think we're more about getting out to the local market every week yeah I agree on this trip we got the essentials and it came to a total of about 17 dollars for all of our fresh food if you want to know the amounts of everything she bought stay until the end to see her market haul the takeaway here is that you should make a trip to the market as part of your vacation not just lunch at a crawl mall although that's fun too but the local shopping lets you see local people local life and it's it's just different yeah different it's just authentic right like you just kind of see like it's the real culture right it's the real thing exactly so if you are out at the markets here in Tama I'll see you out there at the shops she'll see you I'll be in the car with you so there you have it shopping at the market here in Ghana if after you watch this video you can't wait to get here in Ghana check out the tours and the day trips we have to offer at expatlifegana.com plus we now offer accommodations at our B&B check out the rooms and full service options online expatlifegana.com if you're planning your return join our closed Facebook group so you connect with folks just like you and hit that like button if you're still here with us and subscribe okay plus don't forget to hit the notification bell so you can join us for our monthly live videos here on YouTube the last Friday of every month and with that Charlie out for now okay so this is the haul all right so first we got garlic how much was the garlic five CDs so that's about 50 cents then we had the onion how much were the onions 10 CDs for the onions which is about one dollar all right so we got ripe and unripe plantain how much was the plantain so 10 CDs 10 CDs so one dollar one dollar we got bananas how much was the banana five CDs so 50 we got three pineapples 10 CDs for three oh the price was good so it was a dollar for three two watermelons that was 15 CDs right 8 CD for the big one 7 CD for the small one that was about a dollar 50 we've got the four apples the apples 16 CDs ow 16 CDs for the four apples so four CDs we got green peppers there how much were the green peppers five CDs for green peppers the grapes were expensive grapes were 30 CDs for the packet of seedless so that's about three and then we've got the um tomatoes how much was that one one six okay so about a dollar 60 16 and the eggs i think were the most expensive thing right the eggs were 35 so three dollars and 50 cents for the egg how much was it all together we spent 175 well yeah 175 that was so that's not bad 17 50 including um taking a cab to and from the market that's pretty good and just for context these two boxes of cereal were 170 for the same price of all of those groceries join the conversation drop a comment below and let us know what you think and he had that that limerick stuck in his head so the doctor had a patient the patient had a rash the doctor said my goodness it's spread all on here and he wouldn't say the last one he'd start laughing hysterically in the shower at least he didn't say it i feel like did we do something right yeah i haven't said the rest of the poem i know right it's coming