Megamart

Qatari Food: You can only find it in our homes, it's not in any restaurants or supermarkets...

thank you, thank you, thank you. You have just added kudos to my cause.

My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.

I went shopping at Family Food Centre in Al Rayyan recently and was surprised at how well stocked it was. Plenty of products on the shelves from Waitrose, (UK supermarket. Many other items that are sold in Mega Mart being sold at Family Food and also at Q Mart in the Mall at a fraction of the Mega Mart rip off prices.

Marks and Spencer soon to open another branch in Villagio with a bigger and better food section than Landmark branch.

With all this competition maybe Mega Mart will pull up it's socks and lower their prices!!!!!! We live in hope!!!

I do agree with you and I can and have shopped there. However, for me it's the fact the mark up is so much more than any other shop that sells the same product. To me it is greed.

My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.

i stil long for bacon and egg roll covered in hot chips for b./fast... but not all people can eat camel food, when i lived in Malaysia i loved the food, but here it is all camel food.. yuk

I shop there all the time. The best products have to be expensive, but they do have the best meat and small goods, and jars of the best quality from all over the world. If you can’t afford it do go easy as that…

bought microwave light pop-corn box (3 pcs inside)with 16.75 QR...went back and asked why it's such a big difference from the others -half price- they said "it's because of airplane cargo transportation"...finally I exchanged it with two boxes "ship cargo" ones *sigh*

Should be re-named mega-thief. Went in yesterday, saw my fave soft drink irn bru, picked up the 1.5l bottle, nearly dropped it when i saw the price - 65 QR! Thats 12 quid! I actually took it to the till cos i though they must have missed the decimal point off, maybe 6.50 QR but no. They said its because they import it from uk - i'm sure theres many things imported from UK bit not with a 1000% mark up. Robbing bastards

Got it PM. No worries. :0)

Good for you pennypitstop- agree a 150% with you and commend you on taking this decision- cost of things way above what it should be - the fact is that you don't take injustice lying down- Good.

AP

Yep--If all the boxes of Special K are gone, you know I've been there! The vanilla almond is my favorite.

So Doubledown--you better double up! ;)

true!

DD, dont' get too attached to the Special K, because you know there's probably gonna come a day when it will just... disappear...

yeh I know solidsnake it's a supermarket not a mall, but it still evolve around malls and how it's inspiring our thoughts and enriching our ever enlarging colourful Malls Gazette, and it seems u r an expert in that area !

Chocolate Milk 80QAR when your ready:)

of you hand on heart can live without special K in your life, im new to Special K and i wouldnt be half the man i am wihtout it, now it is in my life

"BUT...one can only eat so much hummus, mahboos (sp?), kofta, shawerma, lamb ,rice etc" kofta and shawarma is all you need in life

Yes, MM is highly overpriced. That is a fact. You do get some nice stuff there, and brands which Carrefour doesn't stock, but the bottom line is, for whatever reason, products at MM are not as cheap as at Carrefour and Lulu, etc. Does it really cost that much to import 'Western' brands?

Hope someone representing MM can shed some light on this.

lolz saif.irq.. MegaMart is not a mall, it's a supermarket...

it's Friday, in a while, you'll find a Villagio, CCD, Landmark mall "family day" hate thread. wait a lil' bit...

Another thread talking about malls in Doha, QL is becoming Malls Gazette or something!?

I could subsist on chicken shawerma sandwiches. No problem finding those here!

And good luck btw

This is clear and very helpful. I agree with your logic. And I love middle eastern food in general but clearly I may have a hard time subsisting on it.

Let's see if I get the job and make the change. I'll be visiting real soon. :0)

Oh, darlin', don't worry, you'll do lots of adapting here! And I mean that in the nicest possible way. It's not just a job, it's an adventure. And really, I find food basics very reasonable. For example, meat (from Australia and NZ)is much cheaper than in the US.

Mandi

Thank you all for clarifying. I'm a little hurt by PM's comment questioning my integrity but I will chalk it up to my being new to QL. I am quite ignorant as you can see. So I gather that everything comes from abroad and it is all expensive. My truth is I go back to the U.S. every year but rely on nothing there any more as essential. Then again I still live someplace where the food is amazing and the supermarkets are filled with local fare in abundance. That said however, I have adapted well to not living in my own country and truly believe that my own habits MUST adapt to local custom where necessary and not the other way around. :0)

Barrilero, if you plan to live on local foods when you are here, this is what you'll be having:

chicken (except when there's a shortage)

eggs (except when there's a shortage)

flour (except when there's a shortage)

cucumbers (which are quite delicious, actually)

tomatoes (which might be ok in a sauce, but don't look like something I'd ever put in a salad)

bread

Bon appetit!:-D

If you want to eat food that you like, no need to put comments expensive. All are imported items and consumed by a good income salary group. They are doing business and NOT doing donations.

If you can't effort it, don't go there.

Me - sometimes I need some vegetables from Thailand and some cheese stuffs that I can find in megamart.

Other items, I buy form other malls.

Or the time there WAS no chicken in Carrefour last year. My friend from the US tried to take a picture of the empty poultry shelves only to have a stern security guard stop her. Or the months when there were no eggs in Qatar and people had to do "egg runs" to Bahrain. You can't make this stuff up!

Mandi

Numero Uno: You're not here.

Numero Dos: I am doing just fine fitting in here.

Numero Tres: I don't want to forget my home.

Numero Cuatro: I do take advantage of the rich, local culture.

And there is local chicken, I forgot. My husband and I used to just crack up at the ad, "Al Wataniya. Number one chicken from nearby Saudi Arabia." I have NO idea why we found this so side-splittingly funny.

Mandi

SORRY MANDI I HAD TO

Err, yeah.

Mandi

we all like a camels toe LOL (does anyone get this joke)

Camel panini with goat cheese!

Mandi

Mandi, as always the voice of reason! Bless you

camel panini

Mmm, yes, local food! I'd love some! (Has anyone ever seen any?) Actually I have eaten local goat and camel and fish in Oman. Very tasty although I prefer a slightly more varied diet. Dates are good, too. Barrilero, less than one-half of one percent of the land here in Qatar is cultivatable. Hence a lack of local food. Guess we have to make do with Megamart!

Mandi

everyone s entitled to an opinion. Barrilerro although a little convuluted i think i get you. Please elaborate.

isnt 3 quid at MM is it?

Exactly what I mean but you are more polite!

Ok then, we'll all shop only in Al Meera and enjoy the rich culture of KFC and Hardees, the main foods I see being enjoyed here. Why not just let people buy what they want? If we are happy buying walkers crisps whether in MM or FFC, unless it has suddenly become illegal, why care? Especially about the habits of strangers.

nobody here said they did not fit in etc. I think the point is people sometimes like to treat themselves to a few home comforts and this place is the most expensive shop in Doha.

Wait till you get here and you can see for yourself.

My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.

I kind of find it hard to understand that you all seem to want to duplicate "home" while living in another country. I am contemplating a move to Qatar from Spain having live in London and the Netherlands as well (American 16 years outside of the U.S.) and maybe it is just me but unless the local food is just cr@p why not try to fit in better and forget as much as you can about home. Take advantage of the rich local culture. Perhaps I'm off here but just and initial observation. :0)

That is in FFC for 7 Riyals lol

My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.

I am I cant resist paying 3 quid for a can of Irn-bru

Keep Smiling :-) you never know who is looking

It is the biggest rip off in Doha.

All the brands they sell there that are "western', for want of a better word can be found in Carrefour, Family Food Center and Giant and they are cheaper. For exapmle, Walkers crips are 25.00 Riyals (or they were) in Mega Bucks and they are only 12.00 in FFC. Ditto for loads of other stuff.

I live round the corner from Mega Bucks and I have not shopped there for over 8 months as I hate being ripped off.

I would rather drive somewhere else than line their pockets.

Also the food and vegatables are rubbish.

That is my rant over.

My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.

all megamart addicts?

are different. Are maryland cookies (labelled in the uk as cookies) biscuits or cookies :P

it is agreeable that MegaMart is very costly but we do indulge ourselves every once in a while... :P

Am glad doha have megamart atleast we still can find some goods that are our favorites altho the price is 2times more then we use to pay.

be happy. and considered lucky to have megamart in doha. wait till you in tehran then you wont complains anymore.

Everybody is right everybody is wrong, it depend where you stand

Maybe she/he has a computer virus?

Why does a Brit call biscuits "Cookies"

I don't care what they charge, it's such a treat to be able to get home comforts. I just wish they never closed the store at Landmark.

It's not like they are the only supermarket in town. I shop at Giant as they are:

a) cheap

b) I can walk there in three minutes

You have a choice, double. Buy bananas instead.

cos i have no choice lol

Nobody forces you to buy, or?

Mega Big on price...