Shopping online? | Imamother

amother

Denim

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 10:01 am

I'm just curious how it works in Israel.

I know that Israel isn't exactly the same like the US, but do people shop online? (I know there's no Amazon). How's the mailing service over there? do they get deliveries safe and on time?

Also, I know there's no BJs or Costco, but how do people over there buy toilet paper and diapers/wipes?? that's something we're used to buying in big quantities. Do they have any stores that are somewhat similar?

water_bear88

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 10:55 am

Online shopping has really taken off. AFAIK some supermarkets allow online ordering though I haven't tried it yet. Aliexpress is popular for general things, Nextdirect and Asos are growing in popularity for clothing, and BookDepository is nearly as good as Amazon for books. Mail service has improved a lot in the last year or so, though some places are better than others on delivery speed. Within a month is pretty good for delivery, mind- no overnight unless you're ordering from an Israeli company and that's because many of them hire private delivery services- and even so it may be a few days until delivery.

Toilet paper can be bought in relative bulk- about 30 rolls is easy to find. I'm not sure you'd be likely to want much more than that at a time as apartments here tend not to have huge amounts of storage space.

amother

Denim

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 11:15 am

water_bear88 wrote:

Toilet paper can be bought in relative bulk- about 30 rolls is easy to find. I'm not sure you'd be likely to want much more than that at a time as apartments here tend not to have huge amounts of storage space.

I don't mind the space... right now I'm actually living in a tiny apartment in NYC with kids. I'm just wondering how do people buy toilet paper and diapers because over here we're used to buying like every month or so in bulk, I don't want to go to the supermarket each week to buy toilet paper and diapers, although, we'll probably get used to it eventually.

water_bear88

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 11:21 am

amother wrote:

Toilet paper, at least, lasts us a couple of months. YMMV depending on how many toilet-trained individuals are home for the bulk of the day.

queenert

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 11:23 am

Osher Ad sells a lot of Costco items so those things are bulk.
And yeah, toilet paper and wipes generally come in big packages.
What they need to start selling in bulk is flour! I don't know how big families buy by 1 kilo...we're still small and we go through cases monthly!

amother

Denim

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 12:13 pm

queenert wrote:

Is that store available in a couple of cities? or just in tel aviv area?
I don't mind the other stuff not in bulk... the main things are papers like toilet paper, bounty, wipes & diapers.

queenert

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 12:40 pm

Do they have Bounty here? They do have Costco paper towels...
I've never seen diapers in bulk, though it's possible the American brands do come in bigger pacakges.

Why do you want to shop in bulk? For better prices?
Because they'll often have sales for large quantities (3 pkg diapers for 90 NIS is the most common sale for the brand we use). Also, the bulk items are often more expensive here. (Probably because they're more often American products.)

Osher Ad is nationwide. Not sure if they're in the South or North, but they're in Jlem, RBS, Petach Tikvah, Ashdod, Tel Aviv, etc.

aussie2

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 12:42 pm

Osher Ad is in jerusalem, beit shemesh and possibly other cities (I don't know.)
There is also Rami levi and shareei revacha which are also big supermarkets but I don't think as big as Osher Ad.
Osher Ad also has bigger sized heinz ketchup, skippy peanut butter, kirkland garbage bags etc.. (You get the drift.. american products in bigger sizes)

For clothing etc you can order from Next (Uk) free shipping to post office and sometimes Marks & spencer I have gotten free shipping to the door.

The main convenience we are missing is amazon (prime)..

queenert

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 12:50 pm

aussie2 wrote:

There is also Rami levi and shareei revacha which are also big supermarkets but I don't think as big as Osher Ad.

Rami Levi and Shaarei Revacha are big stores with low prices/high turnover etc., but they're not focused on bulk.
(Shaarei Revacha does have some bulk food items, though they're pretty pathetic bulk by American terms. Ex: Instead of little envelopes of confectioner's sugar that are sold in most stores, you can get a big bag that's about 1 1/4 of a normal American bag.)

water_bear88

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 12:56 pm

queenert wrote:

You can try specialty shops for larger bags of confectioner's sugar- I know I found a 1-kilo bag once, I think it was at Mana Achrona (baking supply store near the shuk)

queenert

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 1:12 pm

water_bear88 wrote:

You can try specialty shops for larger bags of confectioner's sugar- I know I found a 1-kilo bag once, I think it was at Mana Achrona (baking supply store near the shuk)

Cute store name.
The Shaarei Revacha bags are 1 kilo. The 2-lb Domino bags are just a little bit smaller than a kilo.

water_bear88

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 1:21 pm

queenert wrote:

Cute store name.
The Shaarei Revacha bags are 1 kilo. The 2-lb Domino bags are just a little bit smaller than a kilo.

If you're a baker, as it sounds like to me, you might have fun checking it out. I was last in there a year or two ago but they also had a bigger variety of extracts than I've seen anywhere else, big tubs of fondant, and lots of other fun things.

israelimom

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 1:45 pm

Lots of my friends do supersol or ramilevi online.

We have a large fam, ka"H, and so I make it to Osher Ad 4-6x a year. We stock up on kirkland paper towels, toilet paper, skippy, nuts, kedem grape juice, foil pans, aluminum foil and saran wrap, etc. Lots of products, larger sizes.

ora_43

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 1:48 pm

I do grocery shopping online. It always comes on time, but usually a few things are missing because they go out of stock between ordering and filling the order (like, no oranges this week).

How quickly groceries comes, depends on when you order. Some times are busier than others. With Rami Levy, the nearest delivery time pops up when you start your order.

You can always buy a lot of diapers at once, and not go to the store every week. Although going to the store often tends to be a lot easier here, because there are many small stores (makolet). I go past 3 stores on the 10-minute walk to my kid's daycare, so if I need to pick up a few extra bags of milk during the week - no big deal.

Marion

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 3:56 pm

water_bear88 wrote:

Mana Achrona (and all the specialty stores) is EXPENSIVE. Shaarei Revacha has the best price I've seen on 1kg bags of icing sugar (6.90/kg) and that's saying something as I've also bought 10kg bags from Poliva (a bakery supply) and it has NEVER been less than that.

water_bear88

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 3:59 pm

Marion wrote:

For sure, if there's somewhere more general to get the icing sugar than it's going to be cheaper. I haven't found mint extract for a significantly better price, though, and it takes me long enough to get through one bottle I don't feel the difference.

essie14

Thu, Jun 01 2017, 11:05 pm

There are many online Israeli websites. It ain't Amazon prime but you can get things delivered. Www.drugstore.co.il - not cheap but convenient
Amazon UK and Amazon France will deliver to Israel.
I go to osher Ad about once a month. Toilet paper is sold in packages of 30 everywhere, I don't think the packages at OA are larger than that. I wouldn't want much more because we don't have that much storage space in the bathroom.
I get my foil pans, Kirkland paper towels and trash bags there and larger sizes of ketchup, rice, etc. OA will not always be cheapest, though. Super pharm recently had Pampers on sale and I stocked up.
3 packs of wipes can be found at most large supermarkets

FranticFrummie

Fri, Jun 02 2017, 2:58 am

Flour is not sold in bulk because of the risk of infestation. Flour beetles and grain moths flourish in the dry heat. (I used to live in central California, and we had the exact same problem.) If your flour gets infested, it's no big deal to throw out a little bag. If a 50 pound bag gets infested, you've got a major problem. That's another reason why everyone sifts their flour here - it's as important as checking lettuce before you make a salad!

For baking, Maimon's is the biggest kosher brand of baking specialties. Try to contact their factory, and see if you can buy directly. They sell everything for professional bakers that you could imagine.

What's hard for me to find is baking soda. Last time I went to America I brought back a couple of Costo size giant bags of Arm and Hammer. Worth every penny, even though it was heavy and I had to pay for a second bag. I also brought back large containers of Italian blend spices, chicken blend seasonings, and season salt. Oh, and NON CLUMPING onion powder! That's the Holy Grail of Israel. LOL

ETA: I live in a small town, way in the North. I hear that in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and to some extent Haifa, you can get everything you need pretty much. Over all, I'm still really happy with what I can find here.

queenert

Fri, Jun 02 2017, 3:55 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Flour is not sold in bulk because of the risk of infestation. Flour beetles and grain moths flourish in the dry heat. (I used to live in central California, and we had the exact same problem.) If your flour gets infested, it's no big deal to throw out a little bag. If a 50 pound bag gets infested, you've got a major problem. That's another reason why everyone sifts their flour here - it's as important as checking lettuce before you make a salad!

What's hard for me to find is baking soda. Last time I went to America I brought back a couple of Costo size giant bags of Arm and Hammer. Worth every penny, even though it was heavy and I had to pay for a second bag. I also brought back large containers of Italian blend spices, chicken blend seasonings, and season salt. Oh, and NON CLUMPING onion powder! That's the Holy Grail of Israel. LOL

Ah! The flour finally makes sense!
Interesting about the baking soda - I actually like that it comes in small envelopes because it becomes ineffective pretty quickly. But, I have found big containers here too BTW, in Shaarei Revacha.
And yes, I have seen your spices in Jlem, but where oh where do you find non-clumping onion powder?!?! I've brought from America, but it clumps too! I've basically given up on using it in recipes unless it's really worth bringing out the hacksaw.