steveq

You insist on thrusting your views on what is right and wrong, and can't take criticism. You show no empathy for anyone else's situation.

Whatever your experience and however valuable it might be, you are, with the greatest of respect, a complete arsehole.

scrubbedexpat097

We are all here. We all have different stories, different experiences and different lives.

The one thing we all have in common is we made this move and when someone new to the forum asks a simple question and wants some sensible advice then maybe we could just be a little bit sensitive to their needs, show some compassion and help by answering their questions.

What we need is love and unity in our expat community

Nutek

And cake.

scrubbedexpat097

And lots of ice cream

Hiro11

Anyway, back to shopping. I get what the OP is talking about and I'm American. I grew up in an artsy-fartsy area in New England where rare apple varietals, hand made cheese and fresh bread made that morning were the norm. When I moved out of that area, I was somewhat shocked to find how terrible most mainstream US supermarkets are: a thin veneer af good, wholesome actually food surrounding a sea of processed crap. My tips:
1. Stay on the "racetrack" around the outside of supermarkets and avoid the middle aisles. All of the processed crap is in the middle.
2. Good produce is hard to find but it is generally available somewhere. Search around until you find a local source that's good. Don't settle for the crap in Publix. Also, shop seasonally: don't expect to find good oranges in July and don't expect to find good apples in February. Further note on apples: try Pink Lady, Jazz and Opal.
3. Good bread: tough one. This is sometimes easy to find (I live in Chicago, it's somewhat easy to get good bread here) and some times impossible. I've basically given up on bread.
4. Good cheese: There's actually lots of good cheese in the US but again, you have to search for it. Trader Joes and Whole Foods are good places to start. Ignore the pre-sliced garbage in stores. Cheese from Vermont, Oregon and California can be particularly good.
5. Costco/Sams have many excellent items but you have to sort through chaff to find them. Avoid most produce at Costco as it's generally pretty old.
6. Fresh Market has pretty good meat and produce. Give them a try.
7. Florida is unfortunately a bit of a food desert compared to many other parts of the US. It's possible to get good food down there, but more difficult than some other places in the US. Sorry.

steveq

What a shame.

The bread machine I bought nearly two years ago has just had parts replaced, its seen so much use. We'll have made 300 pounds of flour into bread by the end of the year - we've even provided it to events at work and school, and its been greeted with rapture by our American friends - nothing special, just real. The recipe is one my grandmother left us, the liquid is milk+water.

So, a bread machine, a giant bag od flour from Costco (less than 1/5 th of the supermarket price) and bread wise you're good to go !

We've made fairly authentic bread for Banh Mi, according to a Vietnamese friend, so some imagination and you can do anything.

The look of delight on my manager's face at a real, warm hot-cross bun at Easter, I'll not forget.

kodokan

Another bread machine fan here. My everyday loaf is a roughly 50/50 blend of plain white bread flour and this delicious sunflower and millet variety from Amazon:
I lob all sorts of stuff into the base recipe - the liquid can be milk or whey from strained yogurt or orange juice; honey or maple syrup as the sweetener; eggs if I'm going for more of a brioche-y approach. And then additions of whatever: cheese, bacon, spices, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate. I've also had a sourdough starter on the go before, and used that.

On days where the timings work out, I pull it out after the dough mix/rise phase and make rolls rather than a loaf, as the kids like that.

Bread machine still isn't as good as proper crunchy artisan bread with a thick, chewy crust (which I make occasionally) but it's 1000x better than supermarket pap for daily sandwiches.

scrubbedexpat097

...I feel the love returning

kins

I'll admit, I did have some deep dish pizza last time I was in Chicago and it was wonderful. I wouldn't want to eat it more than once a week, but still...

dj6372

I have Marmite!, Ralphs sell Marmite!

mrken30

Has anyone been able to find frozen free flow mince / ground beef in the US?

Oregon4now

Try the several Butcher shops around you for their dog food cuts, freshly ground mixtures, buffalo, beef, venison et

http://www.jacobsmuhlensmeats.com/

Beef, Steak, Meats in Beaverton, Veal, Grass Fed Beef and more

503-533-0624 | The Meating Place

Good luck.

mrken30

It comes frozen in lumps. I am not sure how they create freeflow mince, but its frozen in like pellet form so you can defrost as much as you want. We were actually after organic pork mince, but a lot of mince in grocery store is previously frozen.

maybe freeflow isn't the right term as it seems to primarily bring back pet food products

Oregon4now

So you are looking for Organic ground pork for human consumption . Again I would visit one of those fine Butcher shops that are local to you, It seems all the meats & Poultry are sourced locally. I am 100% sure you will find locally sourced organic meats and I am sure they have fresh ground pork that you can package yourself into smaller batches.

mrken30

Yes I want to frozen, but not in a block. They only freeze in 1 lb blocks, sometimes I just want a few ounces. The bags of mince in the UK you could pour out as much as you needed. I guess I could use you suggestion and freeze in 1/2 lb blocks. It would just take time and work to weigh, package and then freeze.