Thailand 1 Dollar Meals Wiki

I use a two piece plastic press that is 4¼ in / 11 cm in diameter. Use ½ cup ground meat and press the top piece firmly for perfect burgers.

Place burgers in bottom of plastic container and separate with parchment paper, either squares or circles and freeze for later use.

— Lee Thayer 2023/01/20 16:43

This will be updated as I add information to this.

2 quart casserole = 7×11 inch baking pan.

— Lee Thayer 2021/07/25 07:33

I have a recipe that calls for breadcrumbs from two slices of bread, this was written before packaged breadcrumbs were common. So I did some research and here is the results based on a typical slice of sandwich bread:

1 slice dried bread = 1/4 cup fine dried breadcrumbs.
4 slices = 1 cup.

1 slice fresh bread = 1/3 cup fresh (moist) breadcrumbs.
3 slices = 1 cup.

Courtesy my friend, Patty Ann, United States.

I came across a recipe that called for 'scant' measurements so I had to look that one up, and I have put it here.

Scant measurements means measure to just before what is stated, so if you see a 'scant teaspoon of salt' you would measure 1 teaspoon but just a little less in the measuring spoon than 1 teaspoon.

When I go grocery shopping, I consider myself frugal, meaning I get value for the lowest cost but not the cheapest quality either. I do this by checking out store brands of items vs the name brand items. Store brand items are mostly manufactured by the same companies that make the name brand, the sell the items as store brands may have the greatest visibility or based the amount the store can sell. Store brands are lower costs than name brands, so you save money on your grocery shopping.

Sometimes you may try a store brand in hope of using that over name brand with the goal of cost savings, and the store brand is not quite up to par, no worries, switch back to the name brand, you will be able to get savings from another item.

I have seen this in Thailand with Tesco products as well in the US as Great Value products in Walmart and Kroger products in Kroger.

This is a guide, not a recipe. Japanese has specific words that fully describe a method of cutting, so instead of saying cut the carrots into random shapes that create more surface area, they simply say, 'rangiri'. The cutting methods are the same, nothing special, they just use one word that describes the precise way to cut. This information comes from a good Japanese friend and excellent cook. This is just a few of the techniques described below, I will add more in the near future.

Rangiri
Random Shape Cut - To cut carrots like this, cut a piece of the carrot off at an angle, then rotate the carrot 1/4 turn, cut another piece off at an angle, repeat the turning and cutting. This makes for bite size pieces that gives more surface area per piece. This is a perfect shape for soups, stews, Japanese curry, simmered dishes.

Wagiri
Round Cut - To cut like this, just slice into uniform thickness to make coins, not paper thin and not too thick. This is good for simmered dishes and soups.

Nanamegiri
Diagonal Cut - To cut like this, just slice into uniform thickness, holding your knife at a 45 degree angle, not to thin and not to thick. This makes a large surface area, perfect for stir frying.

Sogigiri
Angle Slicing Cut - This is perfect for Shiitake mushrooms. To cut like this, lie the mushroom flat on the cutting board, stem side down, and hold the knife at a 45 degree angle and slice. This makes a large surface area and results in even cooking.

Kazarikiri
Decorative Cut - This uses a knife or shaped cutters. As the name says, it is for decoration. I use this if I am adding whole Shiitake mushrooms to a soup and I use the shaped cutters for carrots and daikon when making Bak Kuet Teh Soup.

This guide for Japanese Cutting Techniques inspired by Just One Cookbook.

A lot of the recipes I post here, mostly the Chinese or Thai recipes, will state: Light Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce, or just Soy Sauce. Here is a breakdown and this is not in any way, a official description or use.

Light Soy Sauce - Normally more salty, thinner, but a lighter color so the food being cooked is not turned as brown from the sauce. This can be used in place of Dark Soy Sauce, but use less due the more profound saltiness.

Dark Soy Sauce - Aged longer, can contain molasses or caramel, thicker generally but less salty than Light Soy Sauce, cooking methods bring out the flavor of the sauce. A darker color in foods is the result with using this soy sauce.

Soy Sauce - General purpose, often used as a dipping sauce, marinades, and dressings.

This applies to dry beans to cooked beans. This is a general guide only for common beans, such as kidney, black, chickpea, pinto, and Great Northern beans. I use only dry beans and cook them in my pressure cooker. Most recipes that call for beans, such as soups, stews, chilies, etc, are quite forgiving with how many beans you use.

2 cups dry = 1 lb dry = up to 6 cups cooked.
1 cup dry = 1/2 lb dry = up to 3 cups cooked.
2/3 cup dry = 2 cups cooked.
1/2 cup, heaping, dry = 1 1/2 cups cooked = one 15 oz can.
1/3 cup dry = 1 cup cooked.

1 part dry = 3 parts cooked is the basic rule. Keep in mind, larger beans yield less, and smaller beans may give you more yield.

Nearly all the recipes posted here (except for Thai recipes), lemon and lime juice measurements are commonly ‘juice from 1/2 lemon’ or ‘juice from two limes’. For the readers, this works well if you have regular size lemons and limes where you live.

Here in Thailand, however, lemons are not that common, and limes are small, just a bit bigger than a golf ball. So for those viewers in Thailand that want to use a recipe that calls for the juice of a lime or lemon, use this as a guide, you can still use fresh limes and lemons, BUT measure the quantities.

These are average amounts:

1 lemon yields: 3 tablespoons of juice.
1 lime yields: 2 tablespoons of juice.

When I add recipes, I am clear with stating either curry powder or paste.

The difference is paste is mainly a Southeast Asia item (normally red) and powder is an Indian item (normally yellow).

You can certainly interchange the items but the dish will change in flavor. Powder has turmeric, paste does not, that is the major difference.

Freezing cheese is a great option for those like me that can only get specific real cheese in certain locations. I buy blocks, they freeze well. I also freeze Provolone sliced as that is the only way I can find that.

Now if you need a particular cheese in shredded form, shred first then freeze, as frozen then thawed cheese tends to crumble instead of shredding.

I can only comment on freezing unopened blocks, not opened, used a little bit then frozen, just stick with freezing whole blocks in the original packaging.

Update 4 Sep 2018. This is by no means a scientific finding, just my observation. About 3-4 days ago I thawed out two blocks (both Monterey Jack) and a package of sliced Provolone. After they thawed, I tried to shred a block of Monterey Jack, as I slid it across the large holed grater, it just crumbled apart, no worries, it went into a sauce. The other block and the Provolone went into the fridge for a few more days. Two days ago I opened the package of 12 slices of Provolone, picked up all the slices together, and it shredded perfectly, then yesterday I opened the block of Monterey Jack, and it shredded perfectly. So, I am now thinking that thawed on the counter will result in crumbly cheese, however if thawed for a few days in the fridge, it appeared to shred fine.

Cooking – think making a skillet dish, an omelet, baking stuffed bell peppers, that is using a recipe.

Baking – think dinner rolls, hamburger buns, breads, pastries, this is using a formula, and there is a difference between a recipe and a formula.

Stated often in the recipes I have listed here on this site is what I call variants, things you can to change up, optional items. And as I state many times, recipes are not set in stone and can be changed on the taste of the user or with what is available or on hand at the time.

Cooking, just volume measurements are adequate and perfectly fine.

Baking, one can get away with volume measurements, but the preferred method is by weight. Digital scales are very reasonable in cost and very accurate. If you have a pastry or bread formula in weight and volume, use the weight measurements if you have a digital scale.

With baking formulas, unless one is a very experienced baker, always follow the formula, reducing one ingredient may have serious affects on another ingredient, and these affects are never good and the end product you are making will not turn out well.

Information provided courtesy of good friend, Garland Davis, US Navy Cook (Ret). United States.

Odd question that I never really gave any thought to, what is the difference between stock and broth? This was brought to my attention today by a good friend and respected cook, there is a difference.

I made a chicken pasta dish yesterday, 8 Dec 2016, and I mentioned I boiled the chicken quarters then returned the bones to the pot to simmer longer. As it turns out, I made what I will call chicken broth stock.

Broth is from simmering meat, such as chicken thighs and legs. OR large bones from pork of beef. I also call the liquid leftover from preparing beans from dry, broth.

Stock is from simmering bones, such as the thigh and leg bones I put back into the pot.

Tesco sells chicken carcasses for the sole purpose of making stock which is used in many Thai soups. Chicken carcasses are a common item in Tesco and other grocery stores. In the large cities, one can get pork bones at Tesco also for the purpose of making pork stock.

Anytime I boil chicken, and it is often, I pour the water used through a strainer and reserve the liquid in the fridge for use in recipes, if I have the time, then I continue to simmer the bones for several more hours as well. When I list chicken stock as an ingredient on this site, it will be noted as fresh or from the powder for this very purpose. But what I have been calling stock is actually broth, but for the sake of this site and the recipes listed here, I use the word stock mostly, but feel free to use broth or stock, both are flavorful additions to the dish being prepared.

For the pot of water, I normally just add a onion cut in half and peppercorns, feel free to add some carrot, celery, etc. If you are going to simmer chicken, then skin on and bone in to get the most flavor. Trinity & Holy Tinity will make a more flavorful broth or stock.

Information provided courtesy of good friend, Garland Davis, US Navy Cook (Ret). United States.

I had a great chat with a very good friend of mine in Phuket, we were discussing the nutritional values of fresh, canned, and frozen vegetables. His research showed minimal change, and I did some research today, same results, minimal change, and there is actually a very good reason for that. And canned does not necessarily mean processed, it means prepared.

For instance, if you take a bag of dry beans and cook them, add some tomato sauce and spice, you have baked beans, the same as a can, you prepared that, just like a cannery did. Major difference is the salt added. Canned corn is just cooked corn with salt added, nothing more.

For the difference between frozen and fresh. Frozen, the veggys have to be blanched which does reduce some of the vitamins, but this with quick freezing, that locks in the majority of the nutrients.

Fresh veggys on the other hand, normally are harvested before they are mature, and they mature on the way to the store or on the shelf, if the veggy is not mature, it also is missing some nutrients. Fair trade off.

Canned veggys are a good item to stock in case of emergencies such as loss of power for extended times, downed power lines, unrest preventing travel, frozen is good for a few days only unless you have a local ice supplier.

I like using pasta in many of the recipes here, either as a ingredient or used to serve a sauce over. I use wide fettuccine more than I do potatoes. A simple cheese sauce and any kind of meat and vegetables, you have a perfect meal. Very versatile product. Some of the pasta I use is imported from Italy, good quality and very reasonably priced. All sauces I use are homemade.

Sauces can be:

Cheese based
Cream cheese based
Olive oil based
Tomato sauce based

Additions to the sauces can be:

Italian sausage (home made)
And any number of things like chopped bell peppers, onions, black olives, etc.
Tuna
Ham and Peas
Chicken and Bacon
Chicken
Shrimp
Oysters
Squid
Sardines (both olive oil and tomato based)

Pasta I use: (many of the imports are cheaper than local produced)

Spaghetti
Elbow Macaroni
Maccheroni (import) (Favorite!)
Spiral (import)
Penne (import)
Wide Fettuccine (import) (Favorite, and is a Egg Noodle as well.)

This is a good topic, many get it confused. Just because something is canned, does not mean it is “processed”. I have several examples here to describe these terms.

Processed. Think processed cheese slices, they are so processed, they cannot even be called cheese! Cheese Slices, Processed Cheese Food, things like that, it is closer to plastic than it is cheese. If the ingredients are more than 3 items plus enzymes (milk, rennet, salt) then you are talking about processed cheese.

Processed. Think canned condensed soups (I have another post on this site about that), The main ingredient in condensed soups is water, the label states less than 2% milk, the shortcuts I have for condensed soups, the main ingredient is evaporated milk, world of change there.

Prepared. Think canned beans. Nearly every time, this is beans, water, and salt. Think about it this way, if you take dry beans (like canneries do), and cook them in water (like canneries do), and add a pinch of salt (like you and I would do), that is a prepared beans, not processed. If you cook beans, you do the same exact thing minus the can. There is basically no differences in nutrition between canned and dry beans. Prepared would be also be canned vegetables or even frozen vegetables. You may pay a higher price due to the cutting of the vegetables and canning. I keep canned vegetables on hand for emergencies.

Prepared. Think canned tuna. I like tuna but I do buy them whole and cook myself, cheaper than canned, but it is the same, it is just cooked fish. You can make more cans of tuna from a 16-18 inch tuna for half the price. I keep canned tuna on hand for emergencies.

Not really everything, but here is a few tips for eggs in Thailand. I will post photos for each of these descriptions soon.

Chicken Eggs – These are brown shelled eggs for fresh eggs, always. Eggs are always sold at room temperature, I have never seen refrigerated eggs for sale in the many years I have been here. Brown eggs, if you buy them when room temp, you can store them in your house at room temp, or you can refrigerate them. If you refrigerate them, do not decide later you want to store them at room temp. When buying brown shelled eggs, go for local mom and pop stores or open markets that have them in carton (a flat) on display, pick out your eggs and pay. The local eggs will normally have a sheen to them, maybe even chicken poop on them, perfectly fine, as the sheen is a coating naturally applied by the chicken laying the egg, it is another step to prevent bacteria from getting into the egg. Eggs bought in grocery stores like Tesco, will have been washed, meaning that extra step to prevent bacteria is removed.

Duck Eggs – These come in three colors, white and light green shells and pink shells. The white and light green eggs are fresh eggs. Same rule applies, if you buy at room temp, you can store at room temp or refrigerate, but do not take out from the fridge and store at room temp. Duck eggs have a stronger taste but are quite good. Ducks eggs are also slightly larger than chicken eggs, and not as pointy on one end like a chicken egg. I use duck eggs in potato salad all the time. If you have a recipe that calls for a large egg or two, use a duck egg.

Salted Duck Eggs – These are white shelled eggs and as the name suggests, have a very salty taste. This is a way of preserving eggs. The eggs sit in brine for 2-3 weeks, then hard boiled. The salt does go through the shell as it is brined. These are great eggs to add to a dish and the egg adds the salt flavor to the dish. These normally come in pack of 4 or 5 eggs and will normally have a photo that shows it is hard boiled and cut in half.

Preserved Eggs – These are colored pink. These have a strong taste, I am NOT a fan of these. I would consider the odor from a peeled pink egg right up there with a rotten egg.

Quail Eggs – These are the tiny eggs, with the shell being speckled black, brown, and white. Hard boiled they are great in salads whole. There is even food vendors that do nothing but fry these eggs and sell them. These come in a small bag with a wooden skewer, they are fried in a pan specially made for this. 10 fried eggs is about 15 or 20 Baht. You can also buy hard boiled eggs for the same price, makes for a great snack or addition to a salad.

Brown Hard Boiled Eggs – When you take a bus or van from one city to another, normally they stop along the way for 20-30 minutes for a meal break. The places they stop at can be purpose built for the buses or vans, or can just be a simple road side kitchen, either way, the food available is delicious, wholesome good food, that is very cheap, with meals costing 20-30 Baht. Some of these kitchens will have 5-6 pans of various curries and such, and normally a pan of peeled, but brown hard boiled chicken eggs that are brown and in brown water. These are excellent! These are eggs that are cooked in a 5 Spice mix and have a great flavor, very well worth trying if you have never had these.

Street Vendor Cooked Eggs – These are eggs that have a hole in one end, scrambled inside, black pepper added then added to a skewer and cooked on a charcoal grill. They are cooked and hot when you buy them, it is just like a scrambled egg with pepper added. These are excellent. Each egg is 7 to 10 Baht.

When I was growing up in Michigan, a common dinner we had was Ocean Perch (Sebastes alutus), it was $1 per pound, and sold as fillets frozen in 1 pound blocks. It was always a good meal with some potato salad on the side, maybe even some beans. This was in the 70s and 80s, and wow did the prices go up after this! In 2008, the price per pound was at $10.

Ocean Perch goes by several names, Pacific Rockfish, Rose Fish, Red Bream, and Red Perch. This is a true ocean fish. A tasty fish, firm flesh, and is an excellent table fish just pan fried. The photo shows one fillet skin side up and the other skin side down, exactly how this was bought when I was a child, boneless as well and no pin bones, which is also a bonus.

In 2013 I started looking for Ocean Perch, could not find this anywhere, then one day in Tesco in Pak Phanang, I was looking at their very limited fish display, I noticed, Giant Sea Perch, however, they are a bluish grey, not red, so I bought one and gave it a try. I filleted it skin off. The taste was excellent, and very close to that of Ocean Perch. I was happy I tried a new type of fish and it was good.

I did some research on Giant Sea Perch, and come to find out, there is no Giant Sea Perch, and for the most part, does not live in the sea! This fish goes by many names as I will explain. This photo is a Barramundi.

Giant Sea Perch is actually Barramundi (Lates calcarifer), which is Australian Aboriginal language meaning “large scaled river fish” The fish is very popular in Australia. Marketing drove the name to be changed for marketing to Asian Sea Bass, that sounds better than large scaled river fish. Barramundi is a river fish, can live in brackish waters, and there is ocean populations of them as well.

Then the marketing, and the fish, hit the Thai markets, Asian Sea Bass, not good enough, marketing name changed again to Giant Sea Perch, which works for me as the fish does not really look like a bass.

Now, keep in mind the article I wrote about the Shark Catfish, called Pangasius which sounds better than Shark Catfish, and Dory Fish. Thai marketing even labels Pangasius as Pangasius Dory, I think in hopes of people seeing Dory and thinking it is Dory Fish they are buying. Don’t get me wrong, Pangasius is a very good fish indeed.

The name changes again for marketing in Thailand! Most seafood restaurants on the coasts will have tanks with Barramundi in them, you can pick out a fish or just say yeah, one of those, they cook it and bring it to you, 9 times out 10, the fish in the tanks, and on the menus is listed as White Snapper, which is no where near the same in appearance. List the fish as White Snapper, charger a higher price, same as a high end place saying John Dory Fish for fish and chips, when it is in fact, Pangasius.

Lesson learned here: Barramundi = Asian Sea Bass = Giant Sea Perch, and in some instances, as White Snapper in tourist areas.

I thought of this while putting up the recent recipe, Cheesy Sloppy Joe Burgers. That recipe I found called for Velveeta cheese, which cannot even be labeled as cheese, it is called a “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product”. Here is the ingredients: Milk, whey, skim milk, milk protein concentrate, water, milkfat, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, modified food starch; contains less than 2% of: salt, calcium phosphate, dried corn syrup, canola oil, malto dextrin, lactic acid, sorbic acid as a preservative, sodium alginate, sodium citrate, cheese culture, enzymes, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color).

Now in Thailand, I have never seen Velveeta cheese, but I have seen dozens and dozens of “cheese products” mainly being the packaged slices, labeled as Cheddar slices, Swiss Slices, Hamburger slices, etc. All of those contain pretty much what the Velveeta has in it, all processed.

I buy my cheese at Tesco, Mainland brand Cheddar, Edam, Swiss, it is imported from Australia. Here is there ingredients: Pasteurized cow’s milk, salt, natural cheese cultures, vegetarian rennet. That is it. World of difference on taste.

Think of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the box. First thing that comes to mind is powdered cheese, that alone is a turn off. The second noticeable thing is the color. Cheddar cheese is not fluorescent orange! That is coloring and processing to make it that color to make it appeal to mainly kids. Real Cheddar is a pale yellow.

Think of this the next time you buy cheese.

Many recipes will call for peeled carrots, radish, and potatoes. The skin has many nutrients. My preference is skin on for carrots and radish, and most times on for potatoes, except my potato salad, I prefer those peeled, but for hash browns, scalloped potatoes, fried potatoes, skin on always.

Unless one is a skilled surgeon, you will remove part of the vegetable when peeling. So what you paid for say a carrot, you are throwing part of the carrot away when peeling.

To remove the skin on a potato, wash the potatoes first, using a knife, just cut through the skin in the middle of the potato all the way around, then boil the potatoes as you normally do. Drain and allow to cool to handle. Once the potatoes are cool, using both hands, grab each side of the potato with the cut line in the middle of your hands, twist a little bit and the skin will come, there, a peeled potato without removing part of the potato itself.

For nutrients in the water after you boil vegetables, you can refrigerate that and use for any recipe that calls for water.

One of the beauties of Thailand is the amount of fresh vegetables available, from large grocery stores down to open fresh markets.

Prices are very reasonable on Thailand grown vegetables, so shy away from the imports. Some items are seasonal, such as fresh corn.

Examples of excellent side dishes would be yard beans, broccoli, cauliflower, fresh corn, carrots, radishes, beets, winter squash (pumpkin), potatoes, and even dried beans.

There is also frozen and canned available at reasonable prices, such as a standard size can of peas (425 gram can, drained amount is 230 grams which is about 1 cup) is 20 Baht at Tesco, which is about 58 cents. We normally keep canned beans, corn, and peas stocked here at the house, and occasionally I will buy a bag of frozen for use in recipes.

Long Beans – Although very inexpensive, these can be a nightmare just based on the volume one gets in a bundle. If the beans are really long, it only takes one or two beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces to make a side dish for 2 people, then you are left with maybe 6 or 8 more beans. So unless feeding a crowd or making a bean casserole, look for smaller bundles or shorter beans. A good addition to add to beans is chopped fresh mushrooms and or diced onion and or crumbled cooked bacon. If you are making a dish that requires diced onion, then take a tablespoon or so from that and add to your beans. If making a dish needing bacon, cook a slice or two extra and add that to the beans.
Fresh Long Beans (Pressure Cooker)

Broccoli & Cauliflower – This is imported and will cost more, typically 55-60 Baht/kilo. When you cut these apart, include the stem as well, it is just as good and tender when boiled or steamed. A variant would be to make a cheese sauce and add that as well.

Fresh Corn – Excellent value. Serve as corn on the cob or cook then cut off the cob and serve that way, don’t forget the butter! We buy 10 ears or so at a time, have some for a side this cut everything of the other ears and freeze for later meals. If you are out riding around the country side and see a corn field, look for any houses close and ask to buy fresh corn. Normally you will get this for a better price than at a fresh market.
Fresh Corn I (Pressure Cooker)

Carrot & Radish – just wash, slice and steam or boil, and top with some butter. Boiled or steamed radish (these are the big long white ones that look like a white carrot) tastes like a bland carrot. A bit of diced radish goes well with carrots. I normally take one radish and slice and just put in water and keep in the fridge, makes an easy snack or just bring the bowl out and set on the table when having a meal. Raw radish tastes very much like a red radish.
Fresh Carrots (Pressure Cooker)

Beets – If a Thai has not ever cooked these, make sure you leave the green part on, do not make any cuts on them and just boil them, then when cooled to handle, remove the stem and root ends and easily peel. A possibility is to use a refrigerator pickle recipe and pickle them as well.
Fresh Beets (Pressure Cooker)

Winter Squash – These are the normally large, kind of flattened looking, ugly greenish squash called Pumpkins, which in fact they are, and also available is Butternut Squash. In the US one can easily buy squash frozen in blocks, it is thawed, heated in a sauce pan and served with butter on top as a side dish. Those frozen blocks of squash are primarily butternut squash, but also used is winter squash and even orange pumpkins. Now what to do with a winter squash? Make squash of course! Cut the pumpkin into large pieces and remove the seeds and pulp from the center, then steam, remove the skin and mash, add butter to your liking and serve. Sounds like a lot of work, but it does not take to long to steam squash, so when you are say baking a casserole for 30 minutes or so, you can quite easily make fresh squash for a side dish. Don’t have a potato masher? No problem, use a large empty beer bottle, works great! Speaking of winter squash, think pumpkin pies as well. If you are out riding around the country side and see a squash field, look for any houses close and ask to buy fresh winter squash.

Potatoes – Boiled, mashed, as a salad, hash browns for a breakfast side, even just fried potatoes and sausage for a main dish, all excellent and always available at grocery stores and fresh markets.
Mashed Potatoes (Pressure Cooker)
Cubed Potatoes (Pressure Cooker)

Dried Beans – Yep, these take time for soaking and cooking, but the results are well worth it. Think simmered beans, refried beans, and baked beans for starters. Beans to consider are Pinto, Red Kidney Beans, and Black Beans. Check the labels as some of these can be imported and quite expensive, especially kidney and black beans. Kidney beans as well as Pinto beans (any white beans) make great refried beans, Pinto or any white beans makes great baked beans, and Black beans make a great simmered side dish with Mexican main dishes. A note about Red Kidney beans, these must be boiled for at least 5 minutes to remove a very mild toxin, so if using Red Kidney beans in slow cooker recipe, boil them first for 5 minutes, then add to the slow cooker.
Pinto Beans (Pressure Cooker)
Kidney Beans (Pressure Cooker)
Black Beans (Pressure Cooker)
Great Northern Beans (Pressure Cooker)
Chickpeas (Pressure Cooker)

Papayas – About the easiest fruit to grow next to bananas, and can be used in many ways.

Green papayas is used to make the classic spicy papaya salad, it is shredded to make the bulk of the salad. When a fruit starts to turn orange, cut it from the tree and set on a counter in your kitchen in 1-2 days it will turn all orange, then peel, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the many black seeds, set those aside. Then cut the fruit lengthwise a few more times and you have a nice fresh fruit to enjoy.

Seeds, if you do not have any papaya plants and have the space in your yard, throw a few seeds out there and they will grow! You can also dry the seeds in the sun for a few days and using a mortar and pestle, you can grind these up to make a seasoning close to black pepper.

Plants are male or female. Here is the difference, female plants sprout flowers right near the stalk, where the leaves come out at, these are the preferred plant as they have the largest fruit. Male plants send out a long, 2-3 foot long stem and the flowers appear at the end of that stem. Male plants can have fruit as well but are much much smaller.

Bananas – Easy, and they reproduce, no need to keep planting them.

Banana plants are not trees, the truck that grows, and can be large, is called a pseudostem. When a banana plant flowers, it sends out other stalks that start to grow. When the bud opens, you will start to see the bunches of bananas, after you see about 5 or 6 bunches, cut the bud off (keep that). Leaving the bud on will continue to make bunches, but each will be smaller and smaller. The bud can be cooked in a curry.

When the bananas start to get yellow, cut the entire bunch down, they will ripen on their own now. Then cut down the plant, as it will not have any more bananas, it only has bananas one time.

You can drink the liquid from the plant, it is perfectly safe to drink in a survival situation.

The stalk can be eaten as well, sliced thin and mixed in a curry.

For those who do not grow this easy plant in their yard, you are missing out. Morning Glory is a very common ingredient in fried beef, pork, and chicken easy meals, this can be grown in your yard and used as often as you like.

The alternative is buying this is Tesco (25 Baht for a small bunch) or from a fresh market which is less, but takes time to get to a grocery store or market.

If you pick out a spot in your yard, plant some, it grows rapidly, endless supply of food. If it gets too big, cut it all back and it will grow out again. You can enjoy this for years, at less than 25 Baht investment.

Butter and cream cheese in Thailand is sold different to western countries (I am referring to the US). So this post is made to clear up an confusion with this. I do not use stick measurements on the site, only cup and spoon measurements.

Butter in Thailand is normally sold in blocks of 227 grams (8 oz). There is smaller half blocks, but go with the 227 gram blocks to keep the math right.

1 block = 1 cup of butter = 8 ounces = 2 sticks of butter.
1/2 block = 1/2 cup of butter = 1 stick of butter.
1/4 block = 1/4 cup of butter = 1/2 stick of butter = 4 tablespoons of butter.
For 1 tablespoon of butter, cut 1/4 off the block, cut that piece in 4 pieces, then you have 4 separate tablespoons of butter.

Cream Cheese in Thailand, I have seen Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Caroline Cream Cheese, Caroline is made in Thailand, and the Philadelphia brand is made in Australia. This comes in a block of 250 grams, which just tad over 8 oz, many western recipes call for a package of 12 oz of cream cheese.

250 grams = 8.8 oz.
12 oz package = one and a half, 250 gram packages.

Many people, especially tourists in Thailand, when they look at a restaurant menu and see John Dory Fish and Chips, or just Dory Fish & Chips, priced at say 300-400 Baht per person, jump at that, not understanding, the fish is more than likely freshwater Pangasius (Shark Catfish) from Vietnam. John Dory fish are a deep water ocean fish caught off from Europe and also caught off from New Zealand, the price would be much much higher. Pangasius is about 120 Baht per kilo, that is 2 pounds of fish, keep that in mind.

Common price for Pangasius marketed at Fish & Chips in local pubs will run 150 to 180 Baht per serving, normally 2 fillets, with chips on the side, reasonable for bar grub as they have to store it, cook it, and cook chips, fair enough. To state John Dory or Dory as the fish but serve something else, well, that is common place in touristy areas.

The difference to note is the Pangasius is long and narrow, Dory is shorter, wider and much thicker.

This is John Dory, shorter, wider, and thicker fillets. So next time you are in a high class restaurant, and order Fish & Chips because the menu says Dory and your fillet looks like the one in the photo above the Dory, and you paid top dollar for it, you got robbed, as you would in a high class restaurant anyways.

Both are a firm, tender, flaky, whitefish. In my 10 years living in Thailand, I have never seen true John Dory offered in any store (Villa Market, Tesco, Tops, or even Makro) But I have seen Pangasius offered as Pangasius Dory, which is quite misleading.

For fans of mushrooms, Thailand is a great place!!! We stock canned button mushrooms for emergencies, but our go to mushrooms are a variety pack from Tesco! Normally 3-4 kinds of mushrooms in the pack, costs about 20-30 Baht for what would be a good handful chopped, so we normally use 2 packs per dish I make. If I make a homemade tomato based spaghetti sauce or a cream/cheese sauce, mushrooms are in there for sure.

Some mushrooms fare better than others and all have different textures. Here is some commercial cultivated Japanese edible mushroom species grown here in Thailand. Here is some examples. These are what I like, the oyster, ear, and wood mushrooms I am not a fan of.

Clockwise from the left in the picture above, Enoki, in the US these may be called Golden Mushroom. Don’t let the thin size tell you they turn to mush in a soup, they mushrooms make a great mushroom soup and retain a lot of crunchiness to them, they are very good.

Buna-shimeji, (brown type) the Thai name I do not know, we use these in a lot of pasta sauces simply chopped up and added to the sauce. We use these with the next one. My mushroom of choice when making Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Bunapi-shimeji, (white type) another one I do not know the Thai name of, Tesco usually lists the Japanese, really. Great chopped up in a pasta sauce, either tomato based or cream/cheese based, excellent addition.

King oyster mushroom (Eryngii) is a favorite for omelets. Consistency is like a button mushroom, but much much larger as you can tell. Dice up 1-2 for a 3 egg omelet and you have a good breakfast right there.These are also excellent fried as they do not shrink or wilt up like other mushrooms. These can be displayed with either the English or Japanese name.

Shiitake is the Japanese standard for soups, even used on burgers if you can find large ones.

Straw Mushrooms are my favorite for soups or large pieces of mushrooms. These are delicious and and retain their size during cooking. These are sliced just in half lengthwise or even quartered lengthwise, slicing the other way would end up with chopped mushrooms. Any good Thai soups will have these in that.

Button Mushrooms, to tell you the truth, I have only seen fresh in Makro, canned is stocked in Tescos, never fresh, but we do keep canned in stock at the house for emergencies. If you want a good mushroom for a pizza, you cannot beat a button mushroom.

Most grocery stores and even fresh markets have piles of chicken parts, such as a pile of legs, pile of thighs, piles of quarters (leg and thighs attached), piles of wings and even drumettes which is the meatier section of the wing, then there is piles of chicken breasts and many times, there will be piles of carcasses. Some places will have whole chickens as well. Each of these piles has a different price this is based on if it takes a butcher more time to cut something up, it costs more to buy that item.

Some of my recipes I like to use chicken breast, and some recipes I like to use legs and thighs. My wife likes to use wings. So what we look for is whole chickens if available. The whole chickens we get at a fresh market near our house.

A whole chicken is a money saver! You cut up the chicken and save money. Cutting up a whole chicken takes just a few minutes and you get a few extra items as well. The bonus parts are the heart, liver, gizzard, neck, feet, and the entire carcass.

Heart, liver, gizzard, boil that up for a light snack. Boil the neck as well, that is a quick snack for your dog or your neighbors dog. For the feet, give them to a Thai lady and they will cook those up. For the carcass, boil that with a carrot, an onion, and some celery and you have soup stock. Soup stock can be refrigerated for several weeks and used as needed.

Now if you like legs and thighs, get quarters, not already separated, the separated items will cost more so to save a few baht, get the quarters. So now that you have your quarters at home, you may want to separate them, this is easily done and takes just seconds. Place a quarter on a cutting board with the skin on the thigh part down in the board, pull a little skin on the leg back and you will see a line of fat between the leg part and the thigh part, using a regular chef’s knife, cut directly across that fat line and you will easily separate the two parts and you just saved money by doing that.

For wings, the same thing, buy a whole wing which has 3 sections and separate each part yourself. If you only want the drumettes (the larger meatier section with a single bone), separate all 3 sections, drummettes go in a pile, the middle section (with the 2 bones) go in another pile, can be frozen and used in another recipe. The end section, boil those up for your dog or your neighbors dog for a snack.

Chili Powder – When I first started cooking here one of the first things I made was a pot of Chili, good wholesome chow. I make mine with red kidney beans, ground pork or beef, tomato juice, cumin and chili powder. I needed to get chili powder so I went to Tesco in town and bought a small bottle of chili powder, very finely ground, and I would say it is on par with what is sold as chili powder in the states. Worked well.

I have started using a lot of chili powder so I decided to buy it in bulk in a bag. This is not a fine powder, it is course but on the package is “Chili Powder”. So I picked up three of these bags, got home and poured them into a container for the spice and dry goods cabinet. It will clear your sinuses just smelling it! This is real chili powder.

A few days later I made homemade Chorizo, recipe was followed exactly (I always follow exact before I start tailoring things around) and I made 6 patties. The next day I fried 2 to go with my breakfast of eggs and toast. Let me just say, HOT! Great flavor, but very hot.

So my advice is to check the chili powder if you buy a new brand. My tummy cannot take the really hot stuff anymore so I use the good hot brand I bought, I just use less of it in recipes. If not using the fine powder type chili powder and using this type of chili powder, cut back on the amount used until you get a taste of dish you are making, then adjust as needed.

Red Chili Paste – Paste is used to make coconut curries, and for where I live in the south, paste can be used to just flavor a dish, no coconut milk involved. Every mom and pop minimart that has fresh vegetables will more than likely have chili paste, this is homemade and in small bags, usually for 5 Baht/bag. However, there is a difference in ingredients for curry type, and the non curry type, so be clear on which one you are getting for the intended use.

I lived in Phuket since Dec 2005 and I was always trying to find Egg Noodles, to which I could never find, but always found some wide flat Italian pasta and have always used that. Today, I was doing some research on the brand of pasta I buy, and come to find out, they are in fact, egg noodles, it is Fettuccine from Italy, and this is the brand that I buy at Makro. There is a wide version and a narrow version.

This pack is 250 grams, and surprisingly inexpensive. The pack has 6 spirals of pasta, about 40 grams each. I normally use 2-3 spirals for 2 servings.

Next visit to Makro I will get a price for this. I am also going to try out making home made egg noodles then I can compare the prices between ready made and home made.

Update 1 Sep 2017, I have successfully made egg pasta (used in homemade ravioli) and my next batch, I will cut strips and dry them. If that works well, store bought egg noodles will be a thing of the past for me.

A hot dog, or hotdog, is a frankfurter, it is a sausage, nothing more, just the meat grind is much finer. The imports, the world brands I like to call them, have a lot of additives and fillers. Real hotdogs can be found in Thailand, from Thai producers and local butcher shops. Finding these, however, can be a challenge. I found that Makro does carry Thai made hotdogs, next time I go and pick some up, I will take photos.

Update 4 Jan 2017, Tesco has a brand of Frankfurters called Mr. Sausage, they are good. These will be regular items for me now.

Update 1 Sep 2017, Tesco also carries a hotdog brand called Betagrow, they are also good.

The differences between these items is huge. Real cheese is made from milk, rennet, and salt.

Pasteurized process cheese can be made from a single cheese (solid, or powdered), or a blend of several cheeses. Cream, milkfat, water, salt, artificial color, oils (for consistency and texture), and spices may also be added. The mixture is heated with an emulsifier, poured into a mold, and allowed to cool. Think about that, powdered cheese, that does not even sound good. And when it comes to color, Cheddar is not glow in the dark orange, that is loads of artificial colors. Neither powdered cheese or the colors used can be good.

Many processed cheeses cannot even be labeled cheese in most countries.

This photo shows the imports from New Zealand, Mainland Real Cheese, this is their Mild Cheddar, aged 18 months. This is 185 Baht/250 gram block, you just need a knife to slice it. This cheese has 3 ingredients, milk, rennet, and salt. I use this to make grilled cheese sandwiches, sauces, etc.

Mainland makes many types that are widely available in Thailand, such as Cheddar, Extra Sharp Cheddar, Edam, Swiss, and Epicure. When you read through the recipes that involve cheese, this is my go to cheese!

Any glance at a cheese display in Thailand will show processed cheese slices. For lack of better words, it is plastic, nothing more. Most contain more oil than milk.

When cooking, using a real cheese will really turn your recipe from ok, to excellent.

This is my standard list of the most common things I buy and don’t buy. Common items, such as eggs and milk are not listed.

Products I Buy

Dry Beans / Grains – I can make refried beans, chili beans, baked beans (pork and beans), and various soups and chilies. It does take time to cook and prepare these, ingredients list on a bag of dry beans is just beans. I keep a stock of Red Kidney, Red, Pinto, Black, Great Northern, and Chickpeas on hand. For grains, of course Jasmin rice, and just recently, Barley.

Potatoes – I can make hash browns, mashed potatoes, potato salad, use in soups and stews, french fries, fried potatoes, etc. Healthy, it is a potato, nothing more. I also leave skins on except for my potato salad which is just personal preference.

Evaporated Milk – I use this for making condensed cream of whatever soups for use in various recipes. Takes about 5 minutes to make cream of mushroom (plus you can decide on types of mushrooms and amount used), cream of celery soup or cream of chicken soup. (Condensed milk is normally sweetened so I avoid that unless a recipe calls for it.)

Real Cheese – I buy this in blocks, Cheddar, Swiss, and Edam, these come from New Zealand, and the ingredients are milk and rennet, nothing more. Can be sliced or shredded, and real cheese will melt much much better than packaged shredded cheese. Cheeses are used in many of my recipes listed on this site. The Thai produced cheese I use is Cream Cheese, Mozzarella, and Parmesan, all good quality at half the price of imported. Cheese freezes well. For Cottage cheese, I make that myself from whole milk and some vinegar, easy.

Dry Pasta – Just the pasta, not the prepackaged meals. Pasta is cheap, stores well and for a long time, useful in many recipes on this site as well as for side dishes. I keep a good stock of pasta on hand.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables – You know exactly what you are getting, fresh. If making a stew, nothing is better than fresh potatoes, carrots, celery, etc.

Tomato Paste – I normally have about 20 cans on hand, used to make tomato sauce for pizzas, for pasta, soup, ketchup, and even juice to just drink and enjoy or for making a good hearty chili. Very versatile.

Spices – Most of these I buy in the small bottles but for regularly used items, I buy in large bags, not only does it cut down the price, there is less packaging. There is many spice mixes you can make if you have a large variety of spices available.

Pre-made Spice Packets – I do buy the Thai made, particularly Lobo brand, spice packets for things such as chicken and rice, northern Thai sausages, Chinese five spice, and even gravy mixes.

Canned Whole Tomatoes – Used in a variety of dishes from Chili to some skillet dishes, and even as a base for salsa, which is excellent. I keep these stocked as they are almost as versatile as tomato paste. Reason for the canned is during the rainy season we cannot get to the market for fresh tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are excellent for tenderizing beef as well.

Tuna – I like canned tuna and I keep that stocked at the house for emergency use. Fresh tuna, now we are talking! Want a great tuna salad sandwich, use fresh tuna, making a tuna and noodle casserole, use fresh tuna. One can of tuna, which the ingredients are normally tuna and water (or tuna and oil) is about 30 to 45 Baht a can, a fresh whole tuna is about 40-60 Baht each. One fresh tuna will make about 2-3 cans of canned tuna, without the can or waste. One can of tuna, on average, is 1/2 cup of tuna.

Frozen or Canned Vegetables – Used in many recipes. For canned veggies, I do stock some items for emergency use but mainly buy when I need a particular item. Canned or frozen vegetables are basically prepared items, not processed.

Canned beans – Although convenient, canned beans for the most part are just beans, water, and some salt, we do keep canned pork and beans for emergency use. In Thailand, canned beans can be much higher priced than dry.

Products I Don’t Buy

Frozen Hash Browns, Tater Tots, and Fries – All very convenient, all very processed. Tater Tots are hash browns with natural flavoring added. Adding natural flavoring to a product that is supposed to be potatoes just does not seem right. I have been known to use frozen fries once in a while but that is rare. Hash browns, dead easy to make.

Cream of Anything Soups – Convenient but highly processed, and are mainly made of water flavored to taste like the soup. There is lass than 2% cream in these soups, then if you just wanted to make a pot of soup with these, you have to add a can of water as well, so you are watering down a water based product. Doesn’t make sense.

Processed Cheese – Probably the most hideous product ever created, it is basically a soft plastic and most of it cannot even be called cheese, has to be called Singles, Slices, etc. I have not bought processed cheese in over 10 years.

Prepackaged Pasta Meals – Think Kraft Mac and Cheese, Cheddar cheese is not supposed to be glow in the dark orange! And most packages like this use powdered cheese, that just does not even sound good!

Tomato Sauce / Spaghetti Sauce / Pizza Sauce – These are easily made from paste, you control the spices, salt and sugar. No need to stock these, I just stock tomato paste.

Pre-made Spice Packets – Think imported Taco Seasoning or Cajun Seasoning or even Stew Seasoning to name a few. Not only are these are heavily processed items, they are also expensive as well compared to what you can make from a shortcut on this site. Spice packets are well know to be heavy on the salt as well. This is the ingredients for a common taco seasoning packet, the 3rd ingredient is Maltodextrin, right after, you guessed it, salt. I have no imported prepackaged spice packets in the house.

Cottage Cheese – For starters, this is not available where I live unless I go up to the city (50 km away) and it is also very expensive. Three liters of whole milk, some vinegar, and a bit of time and you can make 3 cups of Cottage cheese, dead easy and foolproof.

Sour Cream – Think strained yogurt and you have sour cream, it is that easy. A little yogurt size cup is about 150 Baht, yogurt is much much less for 4 yogurt cups, makes a lot of our cream.

Salsa – I make mine from scratch using canned whole tomatoes as the base, half the cost of jarred salsa.

Tartar Sauce – I make mine from a shortcut on this site, well less than half the cost of prepared tartar sauce, and you know what goes in it.

Pickles – I make refrigerator pickles, very simple recipe listed on this site, foolproof. Reuse jars with lids you already have instead of paying a much higher cost for a jar of pickles, since you are paying for packaging.

Everyone is aware that processed foods have a greater chance to have numerous ingredients that are just used as fillers and add nothing to the final product.

Here is my example, now keep in mind, ingredients listed on products are listed from highest quantity to lowest quantity.

This is a label from a can of Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup. Now, if you have ever had this and most people have, the label lists water as the major ingredient, followed by mushrooms. Now I did not wake up yesterday, there is about a thimbleful of tiny mushroom pieces in the soup. Third ingredient, vegetable oil. And it states, less than 2% of cream (milk). So in reality, this is cream of water soup, flavored to taste like cream and mushrooms. Remember, this is “condensed” soup, to make soup out of it, you need to add a can of water, get the point? It is water flavored to taste like cream and mushrooms.

Now look at what my shortcut for Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup is: evaporated milk, handful of chopped mushrooms, corn starch, vegetable oil, white pepper, onion powder, and salt which is always optional. Pretty clear which one might be healthier. Evaporated milk does have vegetable oil added, other than that, it is milk that is reduced. You can use whole milk for this but be warned, whole milk will not stand up to long term cooking like a slow cooker, so it has a high chance to curdle, evaporated milk will not curdle.

This seems like a silly topic, but I have seen all of the examples listed when grocery shopping in Phuket at Tesco or even Villa Market. Many Westerners, just like buying packaged meats, will flock to any vegetable that says “imported”, regardless of price. If people want to pay those prices, I have no problem, but what people should be doing is stretching that Baht as far as they can on food items so they can enjoy other things Thailand has to offer.

First is a list of what is locally grown in Thailand, then a list of what I have seen imported.

Locally grown in Thailand: If buying from a fresh market, 99% of the time, this will be available, all grown in Thailand.

• Carrots.
• Radish (Daikon), these are the large white ones.
• Red Radish, these are the small round ones, half red and half white.
• Onions, yellow, white, and red.
• Winter Squash – what Thais call pumpkins, these are normally greenish colored.
• Bell Peppers.
• Potatoes.
• Beets.
• Sweet Potatoes.
• Chinese Eggplant.
• Purple Eggplant.
• Cucumbers.
• Tomatoes, Plum and Cherry tomatoes common, I have never seen large tomatoes.
• Sweet Corn.
• Long Beans.
• Peas.
• Celery, this has much thinner stalks.

Imports: I have not seen all the imports, this is what I have observed from time to time in the grocery stores.

• Carrots, imported carrots.
• Red Radish, the small round ones, I noticed the price on these, package of 6, 250 Baht, local about 25 Baht.
• Onions, I have seen yellow and white, 30 Baht each, local is about 35 Baht per kilo.
• Beets, I have seen imported for 100 Baht each, local is about 35 Baht each.
• Purple Eggplant, I have seen these go for 100 Baht each as well, and local is about 35 Baht each.
• Celery, import can run 50 to 60 Baht for one bundle, but it is very thick stalks, local thin celery is only about 10 inches long and 12 Baht per several bundles. I do buy this from time to time.

So you can see the advantage of buying locally grown veggys has a financial advantage over imports.

When I lived in Phuket we would go to the large Tesco-Lotus once in a while in addition to the Makro when we did large grocery runs. The rest of the time we could get basic items like pork, chicken, beef, and veggies from the local open markets near the house. But for sausages, cheese, etc, Tesco and Makro were great.

The first thing I noticed in any large grocery store is the Westerners head right for the meat items that are packaged and on display and the Thais head right for the large open bins with heaps of various cuts of pork, chicken, and fish and other seafood.

Later it dawned on me, westerners like the packaged items, it is what we are used to. So here is why I like to buy from the large bins and not the packaged items. This applies to pork and chicken and for beef I get locally.

Larger pieces – From what I have seen on a regular basis is for instance chicken drumsticks. A package, they are quite small, in the bins, the drumsticks, thighs, and the best value is quarters are larger. This comes down to eye appeal and packaging. Thighs and drumsticks are trimmed to look nice in a package. This is why some stores have “chicken scraps” for sale as well, these are the trimmings from items to make them look nice. The scraps however are cheap and great for dog food if you make your own. Another factor is pricing, the more someone has to handle and cut a piece of chicken the more it is going to cost.

Now for pork, I like to get large pieces of butt which is rare to find packaged. Pork bellies, excellent in the bins, large, not trimmed to fit a package. Pork fat however will always be packaged, excellent for making lard.

Normally lower costs – not always, but many times, again, the less people have to handle the item, the less they can sell it for. From a bin you have a plastic bag and a sticker with the price, at a open fresh market, you get just the bag. In a packaged item, you have the styrofoam tray, the blood pad under the meat, and the whole thing is wrapped in plastic, and sometimes 2-3 stickers on it for type, price, and other info or just one larger sticker.

Less waste produced – this goes right back to less handling, less packaging, less waste produced, better for everyone.

Ground pork and beef – Mince pork in a grocery store or in a fresh market, from the large bins, will have a lot of fat in it. So invest in either a hand grinder or an electric grinder and buy the leaner, larger cuts, again, the bulk meat items will be cheaper than a already mixed item. Most grinders come with several sizes of disks so you can make a large mince or a very fine grind.

Lazada www.lazada.co.th is probably the largest mail order internet site in Thailand. Excellent selection of items, all lower priced than other online stores. The great thing is cash on delivery, no need to make a bank payment, scan a receipt and email that in. BUT, the most important thing when you register on the site is to give a Thai persons phone number, customer service does speak English but you may have to wait to get one. When you register they will call the number you provide to verify it is a legitimate registration. When they make a delivery, the shipping company will call as well for the exact location. So use a Thais phone number, not yours.

I use Lazada for my kitchen supplies, like the counter top oven, microwave, meat grinder, pots and pans sets, knife sets, and even Pyrex baking pans. Plus our TV, some small furniture, washing machine, and even a large refrigerator.

And I recently discovered a new use for Lazada. One day when I was browsing items, it will show what others have recently viewed, related to what you are searching for. I was looking for a pasta machine, and one of the items recently viewed by others, was dry imported pasta! I discovered Dry Goods in Lazada so I started browsing that section, pastas, jarred anchovies, seasoning packets. I like the Lobo brand and browsed just those items, gold mine! So if you live in an area where a lot of the Lobo brand seasoning packs are limited, give Lazada a try, I think they carry them all.

Makro is a bulk package store with excellent prices compared to other stores. And they have nearly everything. This is a membership store, no fee to be a member but one needs to register to get the card which makes checkout much easier. There is no bagging of your goods, they are simply placed from one cart to another during checkout. You can buy bags there, but just as easy, wheel the cart out to your car.

When I say bulk package, it is not like buying a case of canned goods or 50 pounds of chicken, unless you want. For canned goods I seen them in 4 packs and 2 packs, for chicken, just like Tesco, bag what you want, get it weighed, done. For pasta, one can get the 500 gram bags, and they have a very good selection, or you can get 20 kilo bags if you want.

Items good to stock up on at Makro would be canned goods, frozen sausage, fresh sausage selection is also good, chicken, pasta, cleaning supplies, paper supplies, buy those in larger containers and the price drops considerably.

Another great feature of Makro, at least in Nakhon Si Thammarat is the baking section, for anyone that bakes, they have various types of flour, large bars of baking chocolate, cocoa powder, right down to sprinkles for cake decorating. Great selection so worth a look.

Always good sense to keep a stock of products on hand at all times in the event one cannot get to a market for fresh items, think monsoon season.

Long term items to keep on hand can include rice, flour, beans, pasta, and coffee for dry goods, and for canned goods, stock up on evaporated milk, condensed milk, vegetables, tuna, and mayo.

With this in mind, go for products produced in Thailand. Some stores have dry beans that are imported, some are local grown, go for local grown. A bean is a bean.

Rotate your stock as well at times. Recipes here that call for say mushrooms, you can use fresh or canned. The rule with canned goods and the expiration date or BBF (best before date) is that the product is still good even after that date if the can is not swelled or rusting. Simply the quality of the product goes down after that date, which is normally 2 years after production. Rotate your stock on a regular basis and you can keep a good supply of ingredients to make a hearty meal in the even you cannot get to a fresh market or grocery store.

We normally keep 30 days supply of goods on hand.

I have mentioned tomato paste several times, a great product to keep on hand and stocked. The 170 gram (6 oz) small cans are ideal (these are what used to be available in my location now we only have the 220 gram (7 3/4 oz) cans), and it is universal. The bonus to the 220 gram cans, those are basically 1 cup cans, so for instance if you need 3 cups of pasta sauce, then 1 can of paste + 2 cans of water = 3 cups pasta sauce. The 220 gram cans also have a plastic lid to save any contents for later.

For those in Thailand, buy Thai products vice the imports, 1. You are helping the companies here, 2. You are saving money.

You can make all of this from tomato paste:

Tomato Puree, easy, place 2 tablespoons of paste in a measuring cup, add water to the 1 cup mark. Pour this into a bowl and whisk to remove any lumps, now you have tomato puree to use in recipes that call for that.

Tomato Sauce / Pasta Sauce, easy, 1 can of paste, 2 cans of water, whisk, a little bit of sugar, and some spices like salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, etc, and you have tomato sauce. (For spices I simply use 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, works perfect.) This will make 2 cups sauce using this as listed.

Pizza Sauce, easy, 1 can of paste, 2/3 cup water, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. Mix well, can add black pepper to taste as well. Refrigerate for several hours before use to let the flavors blend.

Tomato Juice, easy, 1 can of paste, 4 cans of water, whisk. Add a touch of sugar, salt and pepper. Perfect. I use this a lot for the chili I make and sometimes just to enjoy a cold glass of juice. If making 'concentrated' tomato juice for use in a pasta sauce, use just 3 cans of water to 1 can can of paste.

Tomato Soup, easy, 1 can of paste, 4 cans of milk, pinch of salt, teaspoon of sugar or honey and heat in a sauce pan, optional items to add is 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of cooked and crumbled bacon, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of celery seed. A can of paste costs 17 Baht, a can of tomato soup costs 50+ Baht.

Honey-based Ketchup, 1 can of tomato paste, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder. Mix in a sauce pan on medium heat, when it comes to a boil reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often, then remove from heat and cover until cool. Chill and store in the fridge.

I am the type of guy that walks into a grocery store, buys what I need and walks out. But in Thailand, sometimes it pays to take your time and see what is stocked.

There is 3 main types of stores. Western goods (think Villa Market and Tops), average Thai grocery stores (Tesco, Tops, Big C), and Fresh Markets.

Western goods, place like Villa Market also charges top dollar for items, so items are not cheap! This is not the place to go to for a loaf of bread, a quart of milk and some other items. These places generally have the spices needed other places will not have, stock up. The places may have a deli section with cheeses and meats, again, prices may be higher than other places. Tops however has good prices and a range of western items as well.

Average Thai grocery stores, places, like Tesco, decent prices and a good range of products. I use Tesco for fresh chicken, pork, and canned goods.

Fresh Markets. These are open air markets, also called wet markets, think fresh vegetables, fruit, meats, seafood. These are the places for fresh veggys! Lowest cost, normally, and fresh. Fresh markets are a great place for potatoes, carrots, radish, tomatoes, etc. Some open markets will have fresh pork, chicken, and even beef. Prices are very good.

Quality of the foods can vary at the various places. First, meats here are free range, the chicken is large, the pork and beef is delicious. The veggys are mostly grown in the central area of Thailand, fruits can be seasonal as well, such as for mangoes.

I have told people that I buy 4 chicken quarters (leg and thigh attached) and when I cut them I can just fit the 4 thighs in a 12 inch pan. Those are from large healthy chickens.