A Guide to Grocery Shopping in Korea

This blog entry was originally published on the Aclipse Blog, which is produced by current Chungdahm Learning teachers in Korea! The blog features entries on current events around Korea, advice for incoming teachers, and the best spots sightseeing, shopping, and eating. The original entry can be viewed here. 

As I was preparing to move to Korea, I kept reading online that it was actually cheaper to eat at restaurants than it was to eat at home. This can definitely be true, but I still wanted to cook at home. It took me a while to fully suss out all of my grocery options without getting discouraged -- veggies and (especially) fruits can be significantly pricier here, as are things like ground beef. But, if you know how and where to shop, it's easy to find good deals and not break the bank while trying to cook at home.

I'm going to break this down into different categories of grocery shopping to give a clear overview of what to expect and what is at your disposal.

1. Big chain supermarkets: Lotte, HomePlus, and E-Mart

You will likely have one of these huge stores near your apartment and/or school. Typically open until midnight, they're great for post-work grocery shopping and carry everything from food to clothes to literally anything else you might need.

I have all three of the big chains within walking distance of my apartment, and I would say that HomePlus is my favorite. They carry a better variety of products, including quite a lot of imported brands, and it just seems to be well-organized overall.

Shopping tip: Going late in the evening means you might be able to pick up produce and meat that's been marked down. Definitely a good way to save some money.

2. Small, neighborhood grocers

I highly recommend frequenting your local grocery stores. Prices can be quite a bit lower on things like fresh produce and you can often get good deals on meat. The butcher who works at the grocery store around the corner from my apartment always gives us way more meat than we actually need, which really helps drive home the bargain and keeps us going back for more. 

In my neighborhood, the large chain supermarkets are actually closed every other Sunday to give these smaller stores a business boost.

3. Traditional markets

Are you a fan of farmers markets? Then definitely keep an eye out for traditional markets. Some of these can be found in large open-air buildings, others are just set up along a particular street. You'll find everything you'd possibly want here, from fish to produce to spices. Don't be afraid to haggle, either -- you might be able to knock the price down a little. 

4. Convenience stores

You may laugh at the idea of shopping in these, but convenience stores are a viable option for those times when you just need to run out and grab milk or eggs. If you're lucky, you might even be near a little mart that carries fruits, veggies, and other simple kitchen ingredients. Convenience stores are ubiquitous in this country, so there will definitely be one near you. 

5. Costco

This is possibly the priciest option for grocery shopping on the list, simply because Costco carries a lot of imported goods and they sell in bulk. I usually go with a group of friends and we figure out how to split it all up to save money. I wrote a much more detailed post about Costco last year, which you can read here. 

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Any other tips for grocery shopping in Korea? Leave a comment below! 

Crafty DIYer's Paradise: Dongdaemun Fabric & Craft Market

Imagine a warehouse with tiny booths packed so full they look ready to explode. Imagine each booth fill with fabrics and yarn and beads. Imagine narrow little aisles stretching out into an impossible maze. Multiply this by a thousand and put it into one six floor building. Voila, you have Seoul's Dongdaemun Fabric and Craft Market. It's a total sensory overload of colors and textures and people, but for the crafty DIYer, it's basically heaven.

Living in Korea, I often miss the giant craft superstores from home. I've always been artsy, and the latest DIY trend that's been facilitated by the likes of Pinterest has kept me busy with dreaming up all the amazing things I want to make. Unfortunately, supplies are limited in my area -- if craft stores exist, I have yet to find them. Stationery stores abound, so anything paper-craft related isn't hard to track down. Art supplies are also easy, so I haven't had to go without good paints or drawing pencils. One thing that was notably missing, however, was any form of textiles and jewelry-making stuffs. I like to tell myself each winter that this is the year I'm going to finish knitting that scarf and maybe learn a fancy (beginner) pattern. Honestly, the lack of yarn availability was really harming my grand daydreams of starting scarves that I never get around to finishing.

Enter Dongdaemun's fabric and craft market, with both of these things (and many others) aplenty.

I'm not exaggerating when I say Dongdaemun's Fabric and Craft Market has pretty much anything craft-related that you'd be looking for. Any kind of fabric (including a massive section just for hanboks), endless skeins of yarn, giant carts of ribbons, all the pendants and charms and beads you could possibly want... That's just the beginning. In addition to all of that, you can buy things already made. They sell clothes, little decorative lace collars, leather belts, blankets, dishes, embellished hats and jackets... It's insane.

See? I wasn't kidding. They have -everything-.

The last time I went on a craft supply run, we arrived around 11am and the place was already bustling with shoppers and supply deliveries. We had to dodge quite a few delivery men as they plowed down the narrow aisles with giant bolts of fabric on their backs.

Nearly all the stalls are packed full like this.

The prices at Dongdaemun are great -- definitely cheaper than what I would expect to pay back home. I needed fuzzy white fleece for my Halloween costume last year, and when I finally found the right fabric, I was happy to hear that a yard (the smallest amount they would give me) was only ₩7,000 (~$6.60 USD). To make it better, the amount given to me was definitely more than a yard.

Need to replace any buttons? I'm 99% sure you could find any button ever here.

The biggest draw of Dongdaemun for me, however, is all the jewelry-making supplies. I used to have a fierce obsession with seed beads and even had a small bead loom for making bracelets. As I got older, I was way more into buying chains and charms and stringing things together. Not only am I able to make basically the exact same necklaces as I would find at Forever21 or Urban Outfitters, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

We spent a really, really long time searching through the little trays of charms and beads, carefully picking out ones we wanted. About ₩15,000 (~$14 USD) later, I had everything to make several pairs of earrings and new charms for some chains I already had at home. Not bad! 

Overwhelming, but awesome.

My jewelry supply haul! 

To get to Dongdaemun:

Dongdaemun Station, Seoul Metro Lines 1 and 4, exit 9. Walk straight out of exit 9, the entrance will be on your left. See the photos below as a reference: 

   

Tips and information:

• Hours: Monday-Saturday, 8:00am-6:00pm, though be aware that many shops start to close by 5pm.
• Bring cash, as most vendors prefer that / don't accept cards.
• Shop around -- a lot of the vendors sell similar products, but some definitely offer lower prices. 
• The building is divided into four sections, lettered A, B, C, and D, so keep an eye on those are you walk around. (It might also help you not get too lost...)

Photo Blog: Time Warp at the Seoul Folk Flea Market

If you were take a Goodwill thrift store and mix it with equal parts antique shop and estate sale, then throw in a pinch of distinctly Asian flair, the result would be the Seoul Folk Flea Market. Some friends and I stumbled across this amazing market by accident -- we'd set out looking for a completely different market and managed to get completely lost. Luckily, losing our way was the best possible thing to have happened because the market we did find greatly exceeded our expectations.

Though I'm slightly upset that it took me two years to find this market, it's probably also for the best. If I'd known about all the vintage and antique things in that that building holds when I was first decorating my apartment in 2011, it would've been dangerous... That being said, this is definitely a new go-to spot for gifts and souvenirs. 

The flea market was only recently put into an actual building in 2008, with its origins being in the street vendors that used to cluster around that area of the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Now it boasts hundreds of vendors and offers a staggering range of items.

Lucky for us (and you), a respectable amount of effort has been put into making this market organized and tourist-friendly. As we walked around, we noticed that the different areas of the market are color-coded, as you can see in the pictures above, from the signs hanging above the aisles to the tarps that pulled down over the booths. Here's a basic breakdown of the zones: 

• Yellow = household goods, personal goods, vintage clothes, accessories.
• Orange = vintage clothes, shoes, bags.
• Green = antiques, used goods.
• Red = food court!
• Indigo = tools, bicycle accessories, repair items.
• Blue = clothes (sports, men's, military).
• Purple = leisure, cameras, clothing.

Aside from the obviously ancient antiques that makes the market kind of feel like a museum, looking through most of the booths was like a bizarre time warp through the past 50 years. I say bizarre because of the number of very American (and generally Western) items that were being sold, which I can only assume are leftovers from the Korean War and Korea's subsequent modernization. The entire building is just steeped in nostalgia, making any attempt to shop with purpose nearly impossible due to the overwhelming desire to just carefully look at everything.

Directions and information: 

• Sinseoldong Station, Exit 10. 
• Walk straight out of the exit and around the corner on the left. You'll make a left at the Shinhan Bank. From there, look for signs and little lanterns hanging along the streetlights. The market will be on your left! (If you cross Cheonggyecheon Stream, you've gone too far.) 
• Hours: 10:00am - 7:00pm. Closed on every 2nd and 4th Tuesday. (Note: Many vendors close early, so I would advise going before 5:00pm.) 

a saturday in seoul.

so i just spent a good five minutes thinking of possible puns on "seoul" for the title of this entry and came up with some truly godawful ones... then decided against it. yeah, you're welcome.

despite icy weather and the budgeting of funds, some friends from training and i decided to all meet up in seoul for a day of hanging out, eating good food, and cheap/kitschy christmas shopping for family and friends back home. we hadn't gotten together as a group since training week, so it was definitely time to meet up and swap stories about our first three weeks of being teachers. and celebrate our first month of living in korea! (i can't believe it's been a month! crazy.)

i wish i'd gotten a picture of the first thing that happened to us because it was really wonderful. as we were walking down the street, a man with a big dry erase board and dslr camera approached us. in his broken english, he explained it was his kid's birthday soon, so he was taking pictures of people holding the sign with different birthday messages. he showed us a few of the pictures he'd taken and asked if we would be in one. so we wrote "happy birthday from america and england" on the board and he showed me the characters for his kid's name, so i wrote that across the top too. so cute! such a sweet idea. it was a great start to the day. (and we saw him again later in the day taking a picture of a different group! he's a cool dad.)

of course, the first thing we did was grab lunch. (sidenote: dumplings, as seen here, are my new obsession.) we headed straight to the insadong area so we could do some korea-y shopping. (just you guys wait for some of the kitschy shit i picked up to send home...)

booth in insadong selling drawings... will approves.

angry birds! corey says he bought this for his nephew. but then he wore it all day and got tons of compliments, so i suspect he wants to keep it for himself.

i don't remember what these guys were making, but they were singing/chanting the whole time and it was pretty awesome/hilarious. they were laughing too -- they'd drawn quite a crowd.

insadong street. as well as tons and tons of shops selling pretty much every possible gift or souvenir, there were tons of little carts loaded up with more goodies.

LET'S MERRY. i love engrish.

i wish i could send stuff like this home for christmas! so pretty.

best restaurant sign. i want this on a tshirt.

i don't know why this was happening, but they blocked the street for a bit so they could pass.

then we headed over to the namdaemun market to do some more shopping and looking. it was overwhelming. total sensory overload. it's outdoors and indoors and consists of narrow aisles with these booths just packed full of everything you can imagine.

we found angry birds earmuffs to go over his angry birds hat! plus a nice teenage girl pose.

i found christmas. it's kept in this shop. like, all of it. the entire store looked like this.

give me all the korean street food you have.

corey and will asking this dude if they can get a picture with him. because he's awesome.

he was happy to oblige.

then he called me over and took my hand, so we assumed this meant it was me

and kara's turn for a picture. but then after we took the picture... he wouldn't

let me go. and he waved my friends off and gestured like he was going to keep

me with him... it was pretty funny. and a little odd.

will was describing this weird picture of men dressed as women...

one of my shopping missions today was to find one of these: it's a cellphone charm (that i'm going to keep on my actual keys) that works as a subway card. i keep misplacing my actual subway card since you have to swipe it when you get on and off the subway, so i wanted something easier to get to. and so of course i got the angry birds one! ha.

then we headed to myeongdong to find dinner and do a little bit more shopping.

there were groups of teenagers with these signs everywhere. we hugged these guys. and then later there was a group of a dozen and when i smiled at one of the girls, so she decided that meant "hug me," so she did, which set off a chain reaction of the other eleven or so boys and girls also attacking me with hugs.

this area is pretty nice. not super ritzy, but definitely a pretty classy area to do shopping. i can't wait to go back when i actually have money to spend.

possibly my favorite street food i've ever had ever. it's a potato! with some kind of seasoning. not sure what it was. but it's pretty much amazing.

go eat and sources would flow. yes.

more street food! also delicious.

after our appetizer of street food, we decided it was time for dinner. like most korean restaurants, the meal was cooked at our table, and this was the first bit to be cooked. there was chicken in the sauce.

then the rice was added! making this the final result. very delicious.

after dinner we were able to meet up with one more training friend: jenn.

(she had a makeup saturday class at her school so she was busy all day.)

we look so serious. or just really cold.

"everyone pretend to be a korean girl!"

next stop: some celebratory drinks. beers and apple soju.

(soju on its own tastes like watery vodka. not a fan.)

to one month in korea!

boys.

girls.

it was a successful day of shopping! i picked up some of the christmas presents i'm planning to send back to family and was able to track down a few of the things i needed for myself. such as:

new sunglasses! i managed to break mine on the flight over here. (they were in my backpack and i guess i stepped on it at some point during the flight? womp womp.)

mittens! soooo many mittens and scarves being sold in the streets. i brought gloves with me, but sometimes you just need super thick, knit mittens with a fuzzy lining to keep your hands warm. plus they are on a string! just like mittens i had when i was a little kid, so i can just leave them hanging out of my coat sleeves all the time! don't have to worry about losing one! haha.

i also wanted a big, knit scarf. i had to leave my chunkier scarves behind to save suitcase space, so i was on a mission to find a nice big scarf. success! this picture is kind of hard to see, but i found a suuuuuuuper long scarf in a pretty shade of blue.

i can pretty much wrap it around my entire head/neck/shoulders. it's wonderful. i was so much warmer yesterday after i bought this! it's going to get a lot of use this winter. for damn sure.

so that was my saturday. it was a lot of fun and we already have tentative plans to get together as a group again.

now it's sunday and i think i might be getting sick? i'm not sure. my throat and allergies have been acting up, but i assumed it was just the cold weather and dry heat from the heated floor. but it's all kinda worse today... so i think i'll be spending this sunday in my pajamas, drinking tea, and watching tv on the internet. my voice sounds a little croaky and that's the last thing i want to happen. i need to be able to talk tomorrow at school! it's sort of necessary... haha. wish me luck.