Okay, so I needed to get some gram flour recently. I’d run out and was planning on making some pakoras over the weekend. You know how it is, you get a craving for something specific.
My first thought was just to grab it during my regular grocery run. So, I went down to the big supermarket chain store, the one I usually go to. I walked up and down the aisles, first checking the main baking section – nope, not there. Then I remembered they sometimes have a small ‘international foods’ section tucked away.
Found it there eventually. They had one brand, just one option. Looked at the bag, it wasn’t very big, maybe 500 grams? Then I looked at the price tag. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. It seemed kind of pricey for the amount you were getting. I stood there for a minute, thinking, “Is this right?”. It felt like paying a premium just because it was in a regular supermarket.
Decided to Check Elsewhere
I decided not to buy it right then. I figured I could probably find it cheaper if I looked around a bit. I remembered there’s an Asian grocery store not too far from my place, one I go to for spices sometimes. Thought I’d try my luck there the next day.
So, the next afternoon, I popped into the Asian market. Totally different experience. They had a whole section for different flours. And there it was – gram flour, also called besan. But here’s the thing: they had multiple brands and different sizes.
- There were small bags, similar to the supermarket size, but definitely cheaper.
- They had medium bags, like 1 kilogram.
- They even had really big bags, probably 2 or 4 kilograms.
I picked up a 1kg bag. Compared the price to what I remembered from the supermarket yesterday. For double the amount of flour, the price was only slightly higher than that small bag at the big store. Much better value, obviously.
The difference was pretty clear. The specialty store, the one focusing on these kinds of ingredients, offered way more choice and significantly better pricing, especially if you bought a slightly larger quantity.
I ended up buying the 1kg bag from the Asian market. It cost me less per gram, and now I have plenty for my pakoras and probably for a few other recipes too. It just took that little extra step of going to a different store.
So, that was my little adventure in tracking down gram flour cost. It really pays to check out smaller or specialty stores for ingredients like this if you have them nearby. The big supermarkets are convenient, sure, but not always the best value.
