Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Packing essentials

I am sure everyone must have made a list of their own of stuff they want to take with them to USA. I would like to share a list of things which we got from India.

- kitchen items
- Pressure cooker (3 litre)
- 1-2 non-stick flat bottom pan(some apartments have electric stove
so it's difficult to use traditional karahi)
- a pan for making tea/coffee
- 6 stainless steel plates
- 6-12 stainless steel bowls
- 6 stainless steel glasses
- 12 spoons and 12 forks
- 2-3 serving spoons
- Grinder (if you make idli-dosas everyday)
- 1 packet of all basic spices you use like Dhania powder, Garam
Masala, chilli powder etc.
- all your important medications
- other miscelleneous things which you think are important.

Grocery items like daals, spices, rice, oil, flour and every thing else you use for cooking can be bought from Indian stores in USA. Even some American stores carry Indian daals and spices (in the international aisle)

No need to carry stuff like iron, dinner set, comforter & sheet set, tupperware or storage containers, shampoos or creams as you can get everything very cheap from Walmart.

We did not carry much clothes as you get good quality clothes at a reasonable rate especially if you stay near an outlet mall like tanger. During sale, it's very cheap and if you have coupons , nothing like it ( I will talk about coupons in another post). Do bring your jackets and sweaters if you are coming in the winter season (maybe one-two for each person). Once you settle down, you can explore all this.

Carry minimum jewellery as you are not going to wear it so often as in India. Same with sarees and salwar suits as you are not going to wear them much or only when you go to the temple. A good option is to bring some kurtis which you can wear with jeans.

As for toys for kids, bring minimum. You can get lots of toys (used and almost new) from garage sales here (I will write about it in another post).