Switching Grocery Stores

As I have said before, whenever I am at Alejandro's house I do some cooking to give Alejandro and his sister a break from the daily grind of having to prepare something to put on the table. I usually do my grocery shopping at Walmart, not because I like Walmart (I never shop there when I am at home), but because it is a quick trip just two stops on the Metrobus line from Alejandro's house.  However, the last two times I have gone there, they did not have something I needed.  The last time they didn't have the bags of shredded chicken breast that I often use.  The time before that they didn't have any poblano peppers.  (A supermarket in Mexico without any poblanos? Unimagineable!)

Yes, I know, I should do my shopping in the market place like a traditional Mexican.  But I am trying to prepare things that are quick and easy, so I use shortcuts like the shredded, chicken breast that I put in chilaquiles, or Hunt's sauce for pasta which I doctor up for spaghetti.  

On Monday I was at Alejandro's house, and I decided that I was not going to Walmart.  If I get off the Metrobus at the usual stop, and then transfer to another line, in just two more stops I will be at another shopping plaza with a Chedraui.

Chedraui is a Mexican-owned chain of supermarkets / department stores that is the third largest retailer in the country.  The first supermarket was opened in 1971 in Xalapa, Veracruz, by a Lebanese immigrant by the name of Lázaro Chedraui.

Although I did not explore the entire store, the grocery section was much larger than Walmart's.  I found everything that I needed to make dinner that day.  So, in the future, I will dump Walmart and do my shopping at  Chedraui.