Far From Home...Not Available

Below is a list of items we have found to be important to bring from America or have family/friends send us. Most of these items have been difficult to find or not available. These items bring a bit of comfort from home at times when you are feeling so far away!

Things we need but can't find here:

• Plastic Adult size cups
• a funnel
• muffin pans that are less than 12.5 inches long
• bread pans
• wooden cooking utensils
• plastic spray bottles
• chilli powder
• thyme
  

Our Favs that can be sent anytime:

• DVDs
• Folgers/Churchills whole bean coffees (flavored)
• Coffeemate Powdered Creamers (french vanilla, hazelnut, caramel)
• Slim Jims
• Choc Chips
• Nutmeg
• Brown Sugar
• Brownie/Cake/Cookie/Muffin mixes
• Soup/Dip mixes
• Scented Candles (vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon)
• Pledge wood cleaner
• Skittles, M&Ms, Reeses PB cups, Jolly Ranchers
• Taco Seasoning
• Ranch Dressing
• Gravy Mixes
• Meatloaf Seasoning
• Itunes
• Fritos/Dorritos
  

Washing Produce

You can buy fresh fruits and vegetables everyday from local markets and grocery stores. The prices are quite cheap and the produce is very tasty. However, before cooking or eating any fresh produce, you must first soak and clean them. You can buy Potassium Permanganate from any local Pharmacist, aka Chemist in India. It is a small box full of tiny purple crystals. You take only a pinch of these, place them in a large tub, fill the tub with filtered water, submerge the produce in the water, and let them soak for about 5 minutes. Afterwards, rinse them off again with filtered water, and then they are ready to go! We do this with everything we eat even if it has a peel you discard like bananas just to be safe.

Who Turned Out the Lights?

In most Indian homes, you will find a light switch board similar to that which is shown. It is quite normal for a room to have a couple of these boards for all the electrical fixings within the room. Along with that, is the reality that it can take a person quite a long time to figure out which switch is to which light, outlet or fan. Yes even the outlets have switches that have to be turned on in order for the electrical current to flow to your plugged in appliance. Of course the switch to the fan is always the easiest as it has a dial right next to it that you can turn to select your desired speed, often times 1-5.

And just a little reminder about electricity here. India runs on 220 voltage so remember to bring over 110/220 appliances. It is also common for electricity to go out 2-3 times a day. Most places have inverters or generators that help with this problem. But it's always good for one to be aware of the regularity of power outages.

Safe Drinking Water

Water, pani in Hindi, is not safe to drink from the tap. Therefore, any water that you want to drink or use to cook with needs to be filtered. Each day we spend at least 5 minutes refilling our water bottles for the day by using our Philips Water Filter. It takes more time, but is definitely worth it to maintain a healthy stomach! It's quite simple really. Get your bottles ready, turn on the filter, wait till the light turns green, and then press the go button. It always helps to have a tube that extends from the filter to the bottles so that you don't have to worry about getting the water to aim into the bottle.

Most appliance/electronic stores have water filtering systems that you can buy for around $100. You can call them Aquaguards or Water Filters. They even come with fun sounds to tell you when it's ready to filter and during your filtering/filling up process. My favorite tunes are "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Jingle Bells".