This is Eastuff Grocery. (I often mis-spell it as Eaststuff.)You will find various imported Asian food stuffs here, mostly Chinese. It was created by former Thompson Rivers University students, and cater to the homesick cravings of TRU students. The aisles look a bit sparse but what they do carry however, are the more popular brands of specific items that are not available at your super grocery store ethnic aisle. Before heading home I picked up a few things.

Instant Cane and Carrot Juice ($3.99)

I usually buy an instant chrysanthemum drink that looks very similar to this. The cane sugar really just takes over. I can’t taste the carrot aspect of this drink.

There are so many varieties of Asian instant hot drinks in the ethnic aisle of major grocery chains. It’s worth a look. I keep a selection of instant hot drinks in my desk at work. Handy when you want something tastier than just tea.

Steak Sauce flavour crisps ($1.99)

I tossed these in my basket only because they are “steak sauce” flavoured. Yeah, I'm that kind of shopper.

For emergency Winter food I like to keep a selection of hot pot stuffs on hand:

Spicy flavour Hot Pot Broth ($4.99)

I can’t find hot pot stuff anywhere else in Kamloops. You can make your own healthy broth from scratch but if you are a little deficient in vitamins M, S and G then this is a quick fix. It includes everything you need for a hot pot broth: bag o' chili peppers, bag o' chili oil, bag o' fermented soybeans, bag o' amomum fruit with cardarmon pods and a big bag o' seasoning.
Why is there a picture of a mountaineer on the package?? Does this mean the sherpas on Mount Chomolungma* are enjoying hot pot before ascending the Hillary Step? It turns out that this company brand, Little Sheep, sponsored events for the Chinese Mountaineering Association. A bit random.
*Not to be confused with that British music group with the one 1997 hit “Tubthumping”

Fish Balls with dried Tofu ($3.99)

I don’t usually buy frozen fish balls but I thought it would be nice to have some variety.

Shrimp Balls ($3.99)

Against my better judgement I tossed these into the basket too. Way too much of that "seafoody" aroma.

Fish Noodles ($4.09)

These are exactly what the name says. They are noodles that are made from fish. Not fish flavoured noodles, but noodles made out of fish. Kinda like squeaky udon.

Frozen sliced Lamb ($9.99)

This didn’t look professionally packaged. It is just loosely cling filmed the same way you would do it at home. The lamb is of varying thickness and not of the paper thin variety. If you have a meat slicer at home, you are much better off to buy your own meat, freeze it and then slice it. I took a chance on this because it looked like Eastuff sold a lot of their sliced frozen meat, as several customers picked up packets with no hesitation. It is certainly convenient as I've not encountered anywhere else in Kamloops that sells sliced meats for hot potting purposes.

Eastuff will try to bring in items for you if you are looking for something specific. I still travel back to the coast often enough to get my specialty provisions there, but I'm glad to know that in the future Eastuff could possibly order some items inland.

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