Canned soups

Have you thought about making your own

Try "Little London" food shop in Sofia - they ship. The prices are a little eyewatering though...

There are one or two others on FB

@mickg

Indeed - it's hardly difficult and you know exactly what's in it...

Little London will be..... Any other suggestions are welcome:)

We have been eating out every other day( including soups)- we are LAZY!!!!!

Prices are so low compared to America- why bother cooking.

We found this joint that sells bio-angus meat- oh my-definitely  worth cooking at home...

Awesome organic beef:)  Reminds me the beef that I ate in Uruguay a few years ago....

But... I do not mind to eat  a simple meal like  soup for lunch.

In the US there is a huge variety of canned soups in the stores. Here  it is slim pickings...... Even online:(

@TonyFF

Yeah, we know - in the US, opening a can of Campbells soup and a packet of Betty Crocker cake mix is called "gourmet cooking"....

In the US I buy my soups and cakes from  the Whole Foods Market. The brands you mentioned are iconic American brands but they are not necessarily my cup of tea........

@TonyFF

I'm not sure that canned soup is a low-sodium product... and pretty sure it will count as a UPF, which you should, ideally, try to avoid. If your idea of healthy food choices is to replace packet soup with canned soup, you may be setting the bar a little low. :-)

We take advantage of Bulgaria's low cost, and our local produce markets, to enjoy a loads of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and cheeses. Cooking your own meals (or soups) is a little bit of work, but the health benefits are substantial. (And your meal needs no cooking if it's a nice fresh variant of a Balkan Salad with EVOO.) We eat out occasionally for a change of scene, but we're surprised to find that we now notice that the meal ingredients are generally of a poorer quality than we enjoy at home (with, of course, a lot more salt). This is particularly so with salads, which routinely have some cheap-ish oil (as EVOO is getting crazy expensive), while at home we still spring for 3 bottles of the good stuff every month.

When I think of my time in America (which I enjoyed immensely), I recall it as the very worst period of my life from a food quality perspective. My colleagues guzzled sodas and energy drinks, and we typically lived on fast food (McDonalds, Domino's) and junk food (salty snacks, cookies and ready meals). I think there were weeks when the only vegetable I saw was the tomato sauce on the pizza, and nobody seemed to think we were doing anything out of the ordinary. Back then, I too bought canned soups (Campbell's or Progresso) and felt like I was having a restrained, healthy meal, which even included veggies. :-) Of course, I'd still have the pint of Ben & Jerry's for dessert, so the health kick only went so far. It was probably a diet of 80%-90% UPFs and no more than 1 or 2 daily portions of fruit/veg. Bulgaria has really helped me a lot to change that to 0% UPF and 10+ daily portions of fruit/veg. :-)

@gwynj

I agree that eating out results in not  eating healthy . We eat mostly salads, fish, veal, chicken, soups. Pork is out. The weather is 30-40 degrees in Sandanski. In that weather a little extra salt is ok.

As I mentioned I have loaded my freezer with beef from bio angus dot bg.

It is 1/2 price  than in the US and the meat is really super low fat. Tasty! Highly recommended by me.

The markets have fantastic fruit and vegetables here - during the day we snack with them a lot.

Peaches, raspberries,  grapes, melons, lettuce, tomatoes- all very tasty. They taste better than any organic fruit bought in the US. We also use only  olive oil. It took us a while to find 0% fat  organic milk ( at this point only in powder form from Netherland- otherwise 0.1% fat milk  in Kaufland and 1.5% in DM). I also am excited to buy  Einkorn bread from a local producer- excellent bread! I am hooked on it. It is amazing to me how little Bulgaria has such a good quality food.

As I mentioned the only thing I have not been able to find and buy is canned soup. It is not the end of the world is it?

I suppose when the weather cools off we can start making our own........

Make and freeze your own home made soups then you know exactly what's in them and making soup is very simple.

@TonyFF

Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to sound all preachy and critical, as if I'd just discovered vegetables and wanted to bring them to the world of unbelievers. And I appreciate that I've probably turned your throwaway comment about soup into a manifesto on Bulgaria and healthy living. :-)

I agree with you that eating out here is surprisingly affordable, so it's a special treat that you can have every day, if you want. I feel the same about my AC units. :-)

Our local go-to for a quick bite is a charming Italian place next to a small park. We can still have a delicious lunch for 2 (a Greek salad, large, freshly made pizza, a beer, a water, and an espresso to end it) for about 15 euros. Last time I was in the UK, I paid closer to 50 euros for breakfast for me and my brother in his local greasy spoon caff.

Another dish that's easy to find here (especially near the mountains) is a whole fresh trout grilled on the BBQ, which is likely one of the healthiest options on the menu. We've had some excellent fish in some great restaurants, for maybe 5-7 euros. Years ago, I hung out in Marin County, just outside San Francisco. This is a beautiful (but expensive) area full of health-conscious restaurants. My guess is that a proper Greek Salad is now a $20 starter, and a whole fresh fish could easily be $30. My buddy still lives there, and he routinely drops $200 or $300 for dinner for 2, which is now kinda inconceivable to me.

Similarly, you can go to many fancy Farmers' Markets in California and pick up delicious cheeses, fresh fruit/veg, artisanal breads, and stock up on your EVOO. But it will cost you a (not so) small fortune. Whereas here in Bulgaria, you can find a ton of small markets, and they're cheap enough for the locals, not priced so only the Yuppies can afford it. Our tiny village shop (up near Shipka) is just a hole-in-the-wall for booze and ciggies... but even they have lovely tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese sourced fresh nearby.

Like everywhere, Bulgaria has got more expensive, but it's still very, very affordable. It's pretty easy to lean into this with a small village house and some fresh veggies in your garden, and live The Good Life (old UK TV prog) for pennies. Or, as you and I have found, it also lets us indulge our Champagne tastes, but on a (Bulgarian) Beer budget. :-)

When (some) folks on the forum criticize Bulgaria for being expensive, and say that property and life is cheaper elsewhere, I'm just astonished! I've lived in California, and, for sure, if you plonked our 2 bed Plovdiv apartment down among my old hang-outs, it would be a half-million dollar (and up) pad. With $10k plus of annual property taxes, and $10k plus in HOA. Same deal with our Bansko holiday studio if we magically transported it to Tahoe, where I've skied many times.

And it's not just America that's pricey, the EU has headed in the same direction. I still have my Cyprus and Spain residence permits, and my partner recently got her Spanish passport. We love these two countries (my partner especially as she's now Spanish), and we really enjoy our visits. The lifestyle (culture, food, beaches) is delightful... but they're WAY more expensive than Bulgaria. We simply can't justify it when we can live so extraordinarily well here.

@gwynj

I am glad that you enjoyed your stay  and that you have good memories from California.Here is an  update on some prices:

In 2021  a whole fish in California restaurant was $50. ( most likely more now).

Speaking of fish- we  discovered river trout in Bulgaria more than 20 years ago.We still love it nowadays.

Breakfast in California in June 2024 for 2 was  about  $50 ( there are a few nice Berkeley breakfast places- Leila, Oceanview diner- those places have changed prices a few times in the last 5 years.

We do not live in Berkeley but we always go there since the restaurants are great.

Marin County has good restaurants too but we have to cross the bridge so it takes more driving. In Marin county we like cafe  Emporio Ruli in Larkspur.  They have this great chocolate sponge  cake Brasiliana- it is now $42 for  6-8 servings. It used to be $28 a few years ago( still expensive). We buy it about 2 -3 times a year  and splurge since it is one of the best deserts on the planet. …

In our US farmers market : just one example- organic strawberries - 1/2 kg are $20 ! ( about 36 leva)

In our farmers market  in Bulgaria:

raspberries - 12 leva /kg

I just bought peaches today - 1kg for 1 lev!!! Fantastic peaches- tiny but the best

( usually bigger are 3 leva per kg)

Very sweet corn- 1 lev per corn ear

Lettuce- 1 lev

Tomatoes( very big and sweet) -3-3,50 kg

Bananas- 3 leva per kg

And so on….Very very cheap:)

swim pass for 12 swims= 25 leva/month

unlimited usage monthly pass = 50 leva/month

50 meter olympic size pool with mineral  spring water  cooled to perfection.

There are hot mineral spring showers as well  to end one’s swimming  experience.

All unlimited water from Mother Earth. No such thing as “shortage of water and drought like in California.”

My conclusion is : everything in Bulgaria is 2-4 times cheaper here than in California ( depending on what you buy).

Our bill for TV/internet/water and electricity was 127 leva last month !!!

My wife uses pay as you go Bulgarian phone ( about 30 leva a month).  Total 157 leva = $86 .  That is all.

In California this will cost around $600.

Eating out is also darn cheap, I can go on and on and on........

Wow - who'da thunk there would be such a humungous difference in prices between The Golden State and the poorest country in the EU!   You don't suppose it has anything to do with the median salary in California being €89k while even in Sofia it's a princely €16.8k?

I'm surprised one has to come to Bulgaria to discover river trout: as an angler, I can tell you that there's excellent river trout fishing in California - and that the trout on sale here in BG are pretty much invariably either farmed or imported.  If you want REAL "river trout", ie brown trout, you'll need to get your fly rod out and catch your own - if you know where to go....

I'm hoping that the fruit and veg stall are set up in the village tomorrow because I really enjoy fresh fruit and veg. Mind you I've got three cherry trees in the garden so there's bags of cherries in the freezer as well as two bags of fresh figs but the peach tree has never done well so needs chopping down the apricots have been a bit hit and miss as have the plums. But I'll be replacing any trees that I have to remove.

@Kath948381

Fruit trees here are often hit-and-miss: some years ours produce a glut, while in other years we may get little or nothing..

We got loads of sweet and sour cherries and plums (still plenty on 2 trees to ripen) this year.

Last year cherries and plums were non existant whilst figs and grapes were a plenty.

Some apples and pears showing this year.

But not making soups from excess, vodka rum and pims type drink added to excess fruits and left to age a bit mmmm

Kath, pruning the non-bearing fruit trees might be another option rather than cutting them down. They have well established root systems that a new tree will take many years to develop. Most fruit trees have good and bad years, as well as being affected by the weather. Or if they really aren't ever going to fruit, someone who knows how could graft small branch pieces from a tree of the same or similar type with good fruit onto the old tree. You're likely to get fruit far faster that way.

Some fruit trees only give fruit every 2 or 3 years. Have a read up on Biennial bearing.