Fynnley

I spent a few weeks on hols back in The U.K and ate myself silly with our incredibly good food and am now back in Canada wondering what is going on with our drab food here. I don't mean fruit and veg, I am referring to ready meals, bread etc.
I found in The U.K the quality and selection is far superior to what is offered here, whilst also being cheaper. For example, ready meals, so tasty and cheap! Good quality sarnies for a pound, 50. (sorry no sterling sign). Baked camembert from M&S, amazing bakeries to make your mouth water. I could go on but you get the point.
Over here its $3.50 for a loaf, $6 for a crappy frozen butter chicken etc. I don't get it. Do we just accept bad food here? Maybe we should kick up a fuss and demand better. I don't mind spending decent money on food if the quality is high but when its expensive and poor quality its a bad combination.
Or is it just me?

dbd33

It's not just you.

tweed_wearer

beckiwoo

I do miss a 5 pack of Morrisons/Lidl/Tesco/where ever jam donuts for £1. However its probably a good thing I cant get them here for that price or quality.

scilly

You're probably quite correct ...............

but you don't have to buy supermarket food, do you??

There are all kinds of delis, sandwich shops, bakeries, etc etc where you can buy good food in Canada

And you can make you own versions of ready-made foods.

I agree re the better ready-mades in the UK ....... but don't complain when you can make your own or shop elsewhere!

CanadaJimmy

I think the lower population density makes it hard for supermarkets here to offer as many fresh ready-to-eat options as they do in the UK. They would just end up throwing out too much. Tesco tried to capitalize on this void with their "Fresh & Easy" stores in California, but it ended up being a failure.

That being said when my mum visits from the UK she loves going to Save-on-Foods, particularly the bakery, as they have lots of baked goods you don't get in the UK freshly made like that. Conversely my wife loves going to Sainsbury's when we visit the UK. So there's still pros and cons.

I would say UK supermarkets are actually some of the best in the world, I don't think it's a Canada thing but rather this is just something the UK is particularly good at.

spouse of scouse

I'd agree with that. Still missing Morrisons, M&S and Sainsbury's now I'm back in Australia!

Have never been a huge fan of ready-meals but was persuaded to try them in the UK and they were fantastic. The ones here are inedible in my opinion. Also loved the summer fruits in the UK and the fresh flowers, amazingly cheap and wonderful variety and quality. Different strokes for different countries I guess.

MillieF

BristolUK

Great for lunches at work. There were more non frozen pasta choices, alone, in Tesco for 99p in the 1990s than all of the ready-mades put together here. Their Lasagne one was streets ahead of it's equivalent here.

The big frozen Lasagnes here are quite good, especially the veggie one that can be turned into a seafood version.
Tesco used to do a wonderful pack of two duck breasts in a plum sauce. Bung it in the oven, great.

The Michelina frozen ones are good for school lunches, especially when they're available for 99c, with an apple added to the lunch box. But they are a bit samey.

I wouldn't necessarily be bothered by that if the selection was good.

It's much better than it was a few years ago. The frozen Indian ones are pretty good, there are a few Thai ones, the odd Mexican.

It's a bit strange that North America probably invented "TV dinners" and there's not a good selection.

Yesterday I was looking at the marinades in Superstore. "Memories Of..." and there's Portugal, Morocco, Tuscany, Spain, Singapore, Argentina etc
There must be a market for something other than Poutine, Mac & Cheese, Alfredo and Indian/Thai.
I just googled Tesco ready meals and on their website there are 350 of them. Cumberland Pie, Ham and Mushroom Tagliatelle, Liver bacon and mash, Paella, Ham Hock in mustard sauce and so on...

BristolUK

Oh yes, the steamer types are pretty good.

cheeky_monkey

i never buy ready meals here..but decided to buy a frozen lasagna as i was running late..that was a bad move..suppose to serve four but was barely enough for one...went eat it and there was zero and i mean zero meat in it no bechamel sauce just pasta and some gluey tomato sauce...was rank

scrubbedexpat091

The frozen lasagnas are pretty bad now. When I first got to Canada in 2004 some of the brands were decent, but they have gotten smaller over the years, less meat, less cheese and less flavor. I don't buy them anymore. We have a decent take out place not far from us that makes a good meat lasagna and pretty big serving and tons of cheese, I think its $14, we get it a couple times a year, it will feed 2 adults no issue, and I don't think I could make it for $14 the cheese and meat alone may cost more, and I certainly could not make it taste as good.

scrubbedexpat134

What i miss most about UK supermarkets is that most of em had a Cafe/Restaurant, nowt like nipping in for a full english or a bacon butty on the way to work.

Almost Canadian

People actually eat TV dinners? You learn something every day!

shelley748

Not just you at all- I really struggle with finding half decent food- I miss things from the UK- hubby is Mr. Picky101 so its even harder, at least I was able to buy beef in the bag for him and have a curry for me- nothing like that over here for example. I miss custard tarts, english convenience foods, neither of us like italian food or pizza.

You are not alone.