5- Food Markets

It wasn’t until I moved out of my uni dorm and into my own apartment that I really started to appreciate the markets around Beijing. Like seriously they are awesome.

I’ll tell you what, in China there is no such thing as ‘organic’ and ‘non organic’, all these fruits and vegetables have come fresh out of the ground (or tree) and you can really tell the difference. Every morning very early you can find pop up sellers with their produce on the floor consisting of a few varieties of vegetable, they are all cleared up by about 7:30am as they are so cheap and fresh.

For those with a somewhat later schedule AKA we get up after 7am there is always the all day market that is generally located in every community. Stocked up high with veggies and shockingly only a fraction of the price of the supermarket. I can normally get myself a three or four days worth of veggies for less than £1 which is a beautiful thing. 

On the flip side though, I always struggle to buy meat at the markets. The conditions are just so different to what I am used to in the UK, even at the supermarket I cringe at how on display the meat is, with no covering and free for people to touch with their bare hands if they want (and they do!). Whenever I buy meat from China I cook it that very day/or freeze it and make sure its thoroughly done! I could just be being overcautious but the standards are extremely different to that of the UK so just be wary of that. 

Highest quality meat storage I have found so far - Carrefour

Overall though I must say I do love shopping at the markets, going to each little section for what I need and for a really low price you can't go wrong! I wish it was this way in the UK but I guess you just can't compete with the low prices of large chain supermarkets that import things very cheaply. Extremely refreshing to see it the other way round here in China - big thumbs up to that!