A woman who lives in a remote village in Alaska has detailed how she has to take a small plane to buy her groceries because the nearest store is over 160 miles away.
Salina Alsworth, 25, from Port Alsworth, has more than 340,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it’s like to live and work in a rural community of about 130 residents.
In an essay for Insider, she explained that in order to go grocery shopping — an activity that most people take for granted — she has to fly an hour to Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska.
Salina Alsworth, 25, has more than 340,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it’s like to live and work in Port Alsworth, a remote village in Alaska
In an essay for Insider, she explained that in order to go grocery shopping, she has to fly an hour to Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska
Salina makes the journey every three months or so to buy enough food to make it through the season, which requires a lot of planning ahead of time.
‘I bring my shopping list of essentials, but having not been to a store in over three months always leaves me wandering up and down every aisle to search for things I might’ve forgotten to write down,’ she wrote. ‘Sometimes I find things I didn’t know I needed until I discover them on a shelf.’
In October, Salina shared a video of herself shopping at the Costco in Anchorage ahead of the winter season to show viewers what she buys — including both perishable and non-perishable items.
She filled her cart with bread, bagels, muffins, ground sirloin patties, bacon, and shredded cheese, all of which can be frozen.
Salina makes the journey every three months or so to buy enough food to make it through the season, which requires a lot of planning ahead of time
In October, she shared a video of herself shopping at the Costco in Anchorage ahead of the winter season to show viewers what she buys, including perishable and non-perishable items
Salina filled her cart with bread, bagels, muffins, ground sirloin patties, bacon, and shredded cheese, all of which can be frozen. She also grabbed fresh fruits and veggies to enjoy
Salina also grabbed some fresh items, including chopped salad, grapes, Brussels sprouts, and bananas.
‘The greener the bananas, the longer they will last,’ she noted.
She explained in her essay that it can take up to a week for her fresh items to be flown home in the case of inclement weather. Produce is also incredibly expensive in Alaska because it has to be shipped in during the winter months.
She has to be strategic about what she buys and when she buys it or she risks wasting her money on food that has spoiled before she can eat it.
For that reason, she plans her meals around her perishable ingredients and keeps her eyes open for any recipes that call for overripe produce such as banana bread.
Salina’s groceries usually aren’t with her when she flies home after her shopping trips in Anchorage
it can take up to a week for her groceries to arrive in the case of inclement weather
Salina noted that it costs anywhere from $0.90 to $2.50 per pound for freight to be flown into her hometown
After her groceries arrive in Port Alsworth, they are picked up and put into storage
Salina tends to buy more canned fruits and vegetables, which she can keep in her cabinet for three or four months at a time.
She revealed in her video that she spent over $420 at Costco, but she also picked up must-have items at Target, Walmart, and another smaller grocery store.
After she is done shopping, she separates her perishable, frozen, and dry goods and carefully packs them before they are shipped home on another plane.
The items are weighed and given colored tags based on where they are headed. She shared in a previous video that Port Alsworth’s tags are blue and also include her first name.
Salina works at her family’s travel lodge during the tourist season in the spring and summer and at the air taxi service during the long winters
Salina has shared a number of videos of herself driving a four-wheeler to grab her groceries from the air taxi or the storage unit where her bulk items are kept
Salina explained that she has to be strategic about what she buys and when she buys it or she risks wasting her money on food that has spoiled before she can eat it
Salina noted that it costs anywhere from $0.90 to $2.50 per pound for freight to be flown into her hometown. She and her groceries are usually on separate flights, which means she has to pick them up whenever they land.
She has shared a number of videos of herself driving a four-wheeler to grab her groceries from the air taxi or the storage unit where her bulk items are kept.
Salina works at her family’s travel lodge during the tourist season in the spring and summer and at the air taxi service during the long winters.
‘I’m glad to be set for the winter,’ she said in her recent shopping video. ‘I’ll get a lot more orders this winter, just with the fresh stuff that I need because we go through that stuff fast, but now I am set for a good while.’
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