What are some hard-to-get items on the islands

Suzette, if anything could, those Mr. Clean Miracle Sponges are worth a try. They're in the cleaning aisle at Havensight on the very bottom shelf.

OK, I am usually loathe to share my special finds but Fruit Bowl has several selections of Vermon Cheddar, including a divine Roasted Garlic Cheddar and 50% reduced fat Jalapeno Cheddar. But don't tell anyone! 😉

he he he 🙂 - your secret is safe with me !

What about Ramen Noodles? Can you get Ramen Noodles? After the move you probably need some 10 cents meals 🙂

The lady at Goumet Gallery is named Linda.

I doubt they would cost 10 cents here, but good idea !

You can get Ramen by the case at Cost-U-Less. Thanks, Juanita! I was driving myself batty trying to think of Linda's name.

Hi Suzette,

Good news!!!

The White Cheddar Cheese Fairy has been reading this board and decided to pay a visit to Marina Market!

I just checked the cheese section today and there are three brands of white cheddar cheese in stock. They are as follows:

Valley Forge Extra Sharp
Cabot Reduced Fat
Cracker Barrel

Hope this helps!

Best,
🙂 Mell

All hail the new queen of cheese.

Hi Mell, Since I don't there I won't worry myself about those cheeses. But is craker barrel really good??? I know when we visit STJ I find some pretty good one at Starfish and Dolphin.

But I never can find the ones I love the most that I always crave for and thats the smelly ones. Yummy.

Lord, are you sure you aren't a Yankee, Promoguy? LOL! My husband, the NJ native, loves smelly cheesy stuff, too...the stinkier, the more nauseating, all the better. He always was looking for the real deal on STX and couldn't get it, like hard provolone.....that and pickled herring....ickkkkk....too bad we didn't have a cheese fairy to locate that for him....it would have been a true island service that obviously is desperately needed.

Funny the things we write about, huh?

Cracker Barrel is cheese for the masses. I like a good crumbly Caerphilly or Canadian Black Diamond is a good aged cheddar. We are going to Europe for the summer and I shall have some good cheese for you, Mell.

Mell was looking for Suzette who was interested in the white Cheddar, I believe.

That was very nice of her, wasn't it?

Yep, it was.

Thank you Thank you Thank you !!!
I now have Cracker Barrel Vermont sharp WHITE cheddar cheese ! Half of the first one is done, and I have 2 backups. I went to Food Center to get some munchies while waiting for my husband to get back from a fishing trip. I not only found the cheese, I found Orville Redenbacher's microwave Natural Light popcorn ! I YIPPED out loud ! I truly am a very happy woman !!! I didn't even stop at Marina Market since I already had my wealth of comfy foods, and it was getting close to time to pick up my husband.

So if any of you are in a grocery store and hear a YIPPPEEEEEE, it's probably me 🙂

(yes, I am one of the masses. I do NOT like crumbly cheese, smelly feet cheese, or moldy cheese) 😀

Hi Suzette,

Great! I'm glad you found your cheese at yet another place -- always great to have a back up!!!

I have found things that I wouldn't have expected to at Food Center myself. For example, several months ago I was missing sourdough bread and figured I would just be going without unless I was in the states. Lo and behold I came across a pretty decent sourdough at Food Center that they seem to stock regularly.

Anyhow, you sound like a very happy woman -- I am glad you found your cheese and popcorn!!!

Best,
🙂 Mell

I love Cracker Barrel Vermont White Cheddar. Had it toasted for lunch on bread. YUM.

So tell me, do y'all ever order special foods from the states via the internet? Do they arrive in good condition?
I'm a member of the Harry & David fruit of the month club (awesome) and have been known to order Omaha Steaks for special occasions.

I don't order anything perishable.

Jane,

Sorry to butt in so late after the fact.

I do realize that having a place like Walmart for both selection and price can seem to justify your enthusiasm for Walmart, especially when you live in a place where everything is high and there's little selection, but I must add my 2 cents worth.

Walmart, IMO, is really doing none of us any good, in fact, I feel they have poisoned the well.

How?

The world's # 1 retailer has a deep seated corporate philosophy, that not only drains American jobs and investment in the bricks and mortar places those jobs reside in, but also replaces those with minimum wage jobs with a take or leave attitude AND consciously rapes minorities in the process. When they don't get their way bullying some western hemisphere or European manufacturer for the below cost price, They immediately go to China and find someone who will be happy to drive an American out of business, so they can have the worlds' largest market in their pocket.

It is staggering to me that most people still do not understand that Walmart might as well be CHINA inc. They are singlehandedly responsible for the current largest loss of jobs and income in the USA.

Walmart is not the cure for what ails us, they are the disease! The reality is that for the ever present price hound, it is more addictive than heroin or cocaine, or name any other drug you wish. In most cases, China is responsible for much more: industrial and environmental pollution, substitution of filler ingredients (melamine, etc), lower wages and sweatshops, and completely unregulated industries than any other country on earth. Save a dollar and poison your pet today, but just wait, there's a tasty cheap treat coming to a Walmart near you very soon.

Just remember that even the animals know you shouldn't foul your own nest, because you'll have to live in it.

Please do think globally, and please do act locally - support your local economy even at the cost of paying a few more dollars for the "same" item.

OK - flame off. I'll let you get back to your rice bowl now.

Ken

Dear ken, I will keep this very short and simple....You just don't get irony do you?
Please keep your badly organized, rambling, mixed metaphor anti Chinese poisoned pet food rice bowl sophomoric thinking to yourself in future, or people might find out that you never got beyond Intro to Economics.
I appreciate your fervor, but it is totally unwarrented and ill advised. PS I belong to the local Food Co-op, grow my own vegetables and don't eat my pets out of a rice bowl!

hey ken, better lay off the anti-capitalism kool aid. It's a global economy...survival of the fittest and all that. WalMart has done a lot of good for a lot of people. Sorry you local five and dime couldn't compete, but maybe they should have done what Sam Walton had the vision to do. I know a lot of low income people who live a better life style because of the cheap prices they get at WalMart.

You prefer government should step in and control WalMart I suppose?

And could you be a little nicer? Esp to Jane who is now new and MUCH improved?

Personally, I preferred the "unimproved" Jane, (but don't tell Isalnder).

Angela

JANE!!!!! Never really took notice of you until now.....I think I love you!!!
Anyway....back to the subject at hand....hard to find items...there are just no high end retailers so if you want that sort of quality item you must take a trip to Puerto Rico...or have it shipped.
And when people say its high priced here because of shipping....thats nonsense, they ship to Puerto Rico and I can see that from my balcony...its purely a lack of competition.

Not really. Besides gross receipts tax, the USVI doesn't have the quantity which brings lower wholesale prices. I suspect the shipping here is also more expensive as there's more competition with shipping in PR.