Cheap Food in China

China has cheap food. A lot of cheap food. Not only is it cheap, it is usually quite delicious. Originally I was planning on posting this later when I had more pictures of food, but I think I can show this now and if I get more pictures in the future, I will just post another food series.

The point of this post is twofold. First, to make people jealous of the cheap food I get to eat that they don't. Second, I wish to document the food I am eating and the prices for them. Mainly though I just want to make people jealous.

I was pretty excited when I found this drink place. It took me about a month to find this. Drinks like this are all over in Taiwan. This drink is apple flavoring with milk and boba (tapioca balls) and yeguo (coconut jellies).
Price 5 RMB (80 cents USD). In America these are typically $3-$4.

I don't really know what they call this. It is fried bread with lettuce and fried chicken inside. They also add a sauce that I think is a sesame sauce.
Price 3 RMB (about 50 cents USD)

These are baozi. Steamed bread. It is common to eat these for breakfast. I eat them every day for breakfast. You can get different things inside such as vegetables (cabbage or carrots), meat (pork) or tofu.
Price .5 RMB each. About 8 cents USD. (I usually eat four for breakfast. A 30 cent breakfast is not bad!)

This is the pork one. Does not look all that cooked with this close up. I think it probably was though since I ate it and did not die. Delicious too. 

This is not necessarily cheap food (I have never really paid for a meal like this so I don't really know). I just wanted to include this picture so you can see how food is eaten at a restaurant. The food is brought out and put on the glass. At this point, you turn the glass to get the food you want. Surprisingly, when you eat a meal like this you generally don't eat it with noodles or rice (unless you are weird like me and request the rice). 

This is an egg pancake thing. Not really sure what it is called. It is made by frying dough, then putting and egg on the cooked bread. Once that is cooked, some bell pepper chunks, lettuce and sauces are added. 

Price 2.5 RMB. 40 cents USD.

When you go to the grocery store or supermarket, you will find a lot of bulk. Here are some of the things I like to get.

These things look like fake Buggles but they are much harder and have different flavoring. If you don't expect them to taste like Buggles then they are super awesome. This bag cost me 2.3 RMB (36 cents USD)

These are like cheapo cookies and vanilla wafers. 3.3 RMB (52 cents USD)

Produce is also quite cheap. These are like mini oranges. I think they are the same as the "cuties" my mom buys at Sam's club. Pretty sure these are much cheaper though. This bag was 5.2 RMB (82 cents USD). This probably would have been cheaper if I bought it on the street or if it was on sale (I have got it for almost half this price). 

It is common to have branches and leaves still attached. Also, when people pick out the fruit, they will often go as far as peeling and tasting the fruit to make sure it is good (I have only seen that with this fruit though). It is very common for people to handle the food with their hands. If you buy rice in bulk, you should not be surprised if many people have run their hands through it inspecting the rice. I should probably start washing more of the food I eat here. 

Quite small but super delicious. 

Re gan mian (hot dry noodles). Noodles in a sesame sauce. This is on the cheaper, less-fancy end of the noodle spectrum. This is the cafeteria food at my school. 3 RMB (About 50 cents USD).

This is more school cafeteria food. Probably my favorite meal. It is called Suan tai rou si (garlic shoots and sliced meat). If the meat is not specified in meals, then it is pork. And delicious. This meal is some of the more pricey stuff I get. 7 RMB. About $1.11 USD. You know it is good if I am willing to spend more than a dollar for it.

The lady I bought this drink from said it was like suan nai (sour milk) but not. I don't know what it is other than  being something I love. I don't even know how to describe it. It cost 1.5 RMB. If you were in America that would cost a quarter.

Just as a note; suan nai (sour milk) is very common here. The translation given would be yogurt, but it is not yogurt because it is in liquid form and actually tastes good. 

The last food thing I will show is called 火锅 Huǒguō (hot pot [fire pot if you want to directly translate it]). This is a popular meal here in China; and for good reason. It is fantastic. You can spend quite a bit of money on this meal, but obviously I don't. I will show you the low budget version.

These are vegetables and mushrooms (fungi) on a stick. The mushroom here is so amazing, it makes the mushroom in America seem gross (oh wait... the mushroom in America has always been gross). You basically choose what you want and put it in boiling water with soup.

Here is the meat and fish part of the huoguo. I typically don't like fish but for some reason when the nasty parts of a fish is ground up and put into ball form, it tastes incredible. 

Here is all of our meal together. We also added some noodles. The whole thing ended up costing 23  RMB .  $3.64. Not too shabby for feeding two people (and we were both pretty full). 

This is what it looks like cooking.

If you don't think you quite got jealous, just let me know what Chinese food you want to see and I will go out and take pictures of it before I eat it.