Grocery Shopping in Jakarta

Now the first thing you need to do when you move to a new place is learn how to get food (and beer and wine, of course)! Jakarta is much different from anywhere else we have lived when it comes to sourcing food. You can’t just hop in the car and park in front of the grocery store and walk in. That would be way to simple in Jakarta. Here you must call your driver or a taxi and get them to take you to the nearest mall! Nearly all of the grocery stores are in the lower level floor of the malls. In the malls you will also find all of the movie theaters, coffee shops and many of the nicest restaurants! The malls are where 95% of leisure time is spent in Jakarta, so it’s best to get your shopping done during the weekdays.

My favorite section of the grocery stores here is the fruit section! This tropical climate means delicious and exotic fruits year round. We eat mangos, pineapples and avocados every day, but I try and get something new to try every week as well. The pineapples are cut so you eat them like apples, but you can pick out any fruit you like and they will cut it up for you however you like!

My favorite Indonesian snack!

You can get almost any kind of meat in the grocery store. Sandwiches are not a local food, however, so there is not much in the way of lunch meat. We can get chicken and beef in almost any form you can think of though. Pork, on the other hand, is not easy to find, as almost 90% of Jakarta’s population is Muslim.

My next favorite spot in Jakarta grocery stores is the fish department. As Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 islands, the Indonesians love their fish! You can get just about any type you can think of and can order it right from the tank, if you want. They will prepare it however you like, or you can just take almost anything in its natural state. You can even get live snakes in the grocery store, in case you want to make some fresh snake soup – it’s said to be great for circulation, skin and increasing energy levels! 

Now if your still hungry after reading about that, there are always small restaurant kiosks in the grocery store with everything from sushi, to fried delicacies, amazing smoothies and salads. Of course you can always get the meat/egg/noodle &/or rice dishes served on every corner in Jakarta. The photo below is a typical lunch. It will run you about $1.25 including drink!

You can live on very little if you live like a local, but if you want to live like a westerner, you will pay the price! For example, we can get local tortilla chips for about $1.00 a bag. Our favorite Tostitos, however, will cost us about $8! Don’t even talk to me about the nachos I am missing….shredded cheese is close to $10 for a small bag! We can drink the local beer for about $2-$3, but if we want wine or a cocktail it’s going to be at least $10 a glass. Needless to say, we are learning to eat like the locals! It’s all ok though, because the avocados cost next to nothing and I am happy to eat them with every meal!

Avocado and Mango Smoothie! Yum!

Who needs Tostitos? Just give me a fork!

We can get everything we could possibly need at the grocery stores now, but if we really want to experience the culture we need to explore the markets of Jakarta. I have been studying Bahasa Indonesia for months now and I still can barely get through the checkout at the grocery store. Shopping in a market would mean asking questions and bargaining. This old brain is not picking up the language as quick as I want it to! The following pictures should give you an idea of how much more fun grocery shopping will be as soon as I learn the language!

I promise there will be a new shopping post as soon as I am able to navigate the outdoor markets on my own. Until then, no worries! We will not be starving in Jakarta!