Shopping in South Korea, especially for food, is really important if you plan on living here or are spending an extended amount of time in the country.  You could go out to eat every day, it’s certainly possible, but if you’re like us on a budget, it just really isn’t ideal.  Also, not to knock Korean food, it’s great, but it may lack the variety or taste of home you’re wanting. As such, we found ourselves at our local South Korean grocery store in Songtan quite often. 

South Korean Grocery Store – Songtan

During our 3 months south of Seoul in Songtan, we had the opportunity to get our groceries from multiple locations. We found that there are basically four main places to get your food and basic necessities: 

• Local grocery markets – located sporadically and frequently throughout most cities. They can be in the basement of large buildings or be their own standalone. They will typically have most essential food and care items, but will not carry other home goods such as furniture or clothing.
• E-mart or Home Plus – these are two large box-stores where you can find almost anything you need. Similar to a Walmart back in the US. They carry a very large selection of items and some western items. We came here to get cheese a lot.
• Local Street Markets – these markets are the best place to get fresh produce, seafood, and street food. Direct from the farmers, fishmongers, and craftspeople you can get almost anything you would need. But language barriers could make this experience a little more difficult than the other options.

The majority of the time we went to the local grocery market. It was under a half km from our apartment so it made the most sense. Because we would shop here to often, we would come to develop an almost intimate relationship with the Songtan Grocery.

Conveniently Close

Our local grocery was pretty close luckily, only a 3-minute walk from our apartment.  It was moderately small but still managed to pack in most everything we needed. So we were able to hop right over to grab food pretty much anytime we were hungry. We rarely had to plan a trip out, it was just a quick hop over.

There were usually delivery trucks unloading various vegetables out front, where you can also buy some fresh fruit and various other goods which may or may not actually be random vendors. Out front is where you can find the grocery cart, and these are actually pretty nice because all four wheels can pivot, so no more awkwardly getting stuck in isles.

Fruit Is Expensive

When you walk in, you find fresh fruit directly in front. The fruit in South Korea is a little more expensive generally, though you can occasionally find a few that are cheap – typically it seems to be Kiwis, Pomegranates, Mandarin Oranges, and when in season Strawberries. All other fruit is more expensive or not available. Occasionally, you may find tomatoes.

Only A Modest Selection Of Vegetables

Vegetables are just beyond the fruits, and these are much more reasonable. The selection is far smaller than what you might find in the US, but this is due to the fact that they only sell what is in season in South Korea. Generally, we found Zucchini, Chinese Eggplant, Cucumbers, and Carrots (and a few more). 

Vegetables are much cheaper than what we find in the US, especially the peppers. A whole bag of red bell peppers can be 1500 won (~$1.25), which definitely beats the $1.60 each we’re used to. Other items include the mushrooms: Shiitake, King Horn Trumpet, Enoki, and Portabella at good prices and always in stock.

Another notable area contains potatoes and onions, along with seasonal leaves like parilla. There’s little to say about the potatoes other than you have to bag, weigh, and tag them yourself. And most importantly, they are dirty.

When potatoes and onions are pulled out of the ground, the dirt is not washed off because they believe that this shows that it’s fresh and organic – you can see the dirt that it grew in. So just remember to wash your food when you get home before using.

Pre-packed And Pre-made

As with almost any store, there is a wall full of pre-made items such as fresh noodles, rice cakes, and wrappers. There is also an entire wall dedicated to tofu – something we sometimes have trouble finding in the US. 

Go Ask The Butcher

There is also a butcher where you can get what meats you want: beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish. We didn’t frequent this because Briana doesn’t eat meat, and it’s expensive, but I did get some cuts of pork which are good.

I’ve heard that you sometimes see animals butchered right there and that it can be a problem, but I have not seen anything like that. So either it’s just overly reported or they’ve cracked down on sanitation recently.

So Much Alcohol

There is an entire wall dedicated to drinks and alcohol, mostly Soju, but there are a few other drinks. Although soju is the drink of choice in South Korea, there is a wide variety of local options, along with a few foreign imports.

The Dairy Is Unexceptional

Proceeding down the wall you come to the small dairy section. It’s not really notable except that it is very expensive and does not have good cheese. For the most part, we’ve just skipped the dairy here and get our dairy elsewhere. The butter is overly sweet and almost sickening.

Deep Freeze

An entire section is also full of freezer bins. In these bins, you find frozen items such as egg rolls, dumplings, fish, meat, and of course ice cream. There is even an entire bin of expired ice creams discounted, giving us an excellent opportunity to review some.

All The Rest

The remainder of the store is filled with aisles of food. They mostly consist of various boxed foods, and dry goods, as well as toiletries and cleaning supplies. A good portion of them we cannot properly identify but can figure out well enough. It’s entertaining to look at all the unique items that they have here. You’ll find seaweed, sweetbreads, and all kinds of things.

Where’s My Chocolate?

When you go up the candy aisle, you’ll notice something really quick, almost no chocolate. For whatever reason, it seems that there is not much chocolate here, and what is there, is very expensive.

But it’s all good, we keep ourselves happy with the ice cream and our parents and Briana’s grandma sent us some for Briana’s birthday/Christmas.  They have a limited supply of body care and home maintenance products in the far corner. Near the registers, you buy special trash bags unique to each neighborhood, and other assorted miscellaneous items such as cigarettes and dog food.