One thing I am most proud of from my time in Norway is that I managed to eat a pastry every single day for 34 days. Okay, to be honest, it was only half a pastry, to make my money go further and my waist not go further, but that does not have quite the same ring to it.

One of the benefits of traveling in a camper is that I could buy my food from grocery stores and prepare all of my meals to save money. Of course, I did splurge a few times and eat out. In general, I found that most food prices were similar to what I am accustomed to paying in Oregon, eating out was more expensive, although less than meets the eye as tipping is not practiced in Norway. I will highlight prices that I paid throughout this post to give you a sense.

I did some research on grocery stores in Norway before my arrival and determined that Rema 1000 would be the best fit. And after having probably visited over a dozen of these stores up and down Norway I can confidently say that I would highly recommend them to any traveler. Prices and selection were good and they seemed to be the most widely available option. I had no problem supplying groceries a couple times a week. That said, I did not end up visiting any other grocery store chains in Norway so I certainly cannot provide a full download of the options.

One thing that I loved about Norwegian grocery stores, as compared to their US counterparts, was that they were about 1/4 the size. Instead of 10 different options of items, there were 2, 3, or 4 (max). This makes shopping so much more efficient.

My staples in Norway were: eggs ($4 dozen), avocados ($1.29 e/), salmon ($7 for 2 fillets), ground beef ($9/pound), chicken ($8/pound), small shrimp $7/quart), yogurt ($4/big container), milk ($3/quarter gallon), muesli ($5), coffee ($8/bag), tea ($5 box), cookies (4$ a package), greens, sweet potatoes, veggies (same prices as here), cheese (same as well).

Yes, seafood is cheaper in Norway than beef, and since I saw numerous fishing and fish farming operations and zero beef cows, this makes complete sense. Hamburgers were often one of the most expensive items on a menu which took some getting used to! Since my preference is seafood over beef, this worked out very well for me.

Some of my common meals:

For baked goods, my preference was to buy these at a proper bakery of which there were many. However, Rema (and gas stations!) did have a nice selection of pastries and bread as well.

Interesting Norwegian foods and experiences:

• The Skolebrød (School Bread) is a traditional Norwegian sweet pastry with a rich vanilla custard filling in the middle topped with coconut and sugar glaze. Since my long-time favorite pastry is a cheese danish I was immediately attracted to this staple of Norway. Made with cardamon in the dough they do have a distinct flavor. I did find that some were dipped in chocolate as well. I ate many, many versions of these over my five weeks and enjoyed them all! For those who have strong opinions about coconut, there were many options without coconut.
• Brunost (Brown Cheese) or whey cheese is one of Norway’s most iconic foods. It is, in fact, not actually cheese as whey is a by-product of the cheese-making process. It is what remains after the cheese has been removed. However, it is consumed in the same way as actual cheese. I was excited to try brown cheese when I arrived and jumped right in by buying a block of it as my only cheese option. I then used it like I would cheddar- on everything and in larger chunks. This was a bad idea. It had a very rich, tangy, and almost sweet taste to it. Used on a taco or eggs made for a very bad combination of flavors. After five weeks I was still hauling around that block of brown cheese and ended up throwing away most of it. I did not find it awful, I just determined that it needed to be used very sparingly- like a spread- and I never was able to incorporate it into my staples.
• Reinsdyr Spekepølse (Reindeer Sausage) Reindeer is widely consumed in Norway but it took me some time to come around. Of course, a reindeer is merely a caribou, which is a species of deer. But still! I did eventually purchase and consume reindeer. Because Reindeer is so lean it generally makes up less than half of the meat in reindeer sausage as the fatter pork and beef are required to make the texture work. I did like it and can now say I have eaten reindeer if I ever want to be seen as a Christmas Grinch.
• Fish everything I was amazed that the seafood section in the grocery store was much larger than the meat section. There were so many different types of seafood options, many of them in a ready-to-eat form. I very much enjoyed buying the fish burgers. Every type I tried was delicious and affordable!
• Hjertevafler (Waffles) Boy do they love waffles in Norway! It was, in fact, on ferries that I saw them most widely consumed. It seemed like everyone rushed up to the cafe as quickly as possible after securing their vehicles to get a waffle and coffee in hand!

What do you get when you combine waffles and brown cheese? Sounds like the build-up to a cringy joke but it was a Norwegian staple that I first tried on a four-hour ferry crossing. There was also butter involved. Verdict? It was okay but I would not seek it out. Perhaps you have to grow up with it?