UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
Feb 15th 2011, 4:51 pm
#346
Just Joined
Joined: Feb 2011
Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
Posts: 3
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
I am so desperate for fish and chips. I once got so desperate I spent $27 on a piece of cod (in Whole Foods) and some potatoes and a large bottle of oil, and I tried to make them myself. But it just wasn't the same as what you get from the chippy, and the vinegar here is so watered down ... sigh...
OTOH, even when I'm in Britain I can't often have fish and chips, because I have coeliac disease so can't eat gluten, and the nearest chippy offering gluten-free fish and chips is 27 miles away.
Another thing I miss is those very convenient gourmet cook-chill meals you get in almost every supermarket in Britain. The list of ingredients is often relatively short and innocuous, even for me with my dratted gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and they don't load them with sweetness. Can anyone tell me where I can get cook-chill meals in in Raleigh, NC? That is -- high-quality meals with fresh ingredients? Are they available ANYWHERE?
I have looked in Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowe's. They don't seem to exist here! You can get those dreadful frozen offerings, that remind me of something Bird's Eye might have produced in the early 70s (and that has been sitting in the same freezer ever since), and you can get a few salad meals, but WHERE can I find good, fresh, cook-chill meals?
I also miss the superb cheese available in Britain. Why can't I find the really strong, unprocessed, unpasturised cheeses I can get in Britain?
I HAVE managed to find a substitute for British cottage cheese though. It is expensive but if you hate the bland stuff available here, it is definitely worth trying. I get it in Whole Foods and it is Nancy's cottage cheese. Delish!
I buy Marmite in Whole Foods, and Kerrygold butter in Trader Joe's.
Another craving I have is for curry and (gluten-free) garlic and coriander naan bread, but at least I know how to make that myself. Kroger has Pataks Indian curry sauces for when I'm feeling lazy.
And why is EVERYTHING here so SWEET? As one who never ate Heinz Baked Beans because they were to sweet even when in Britain, you can imagine how I feel about American baked beans - ugh. I also miss the extremely interesting flavours of apples (not to mention that Bramley cooking apples don't exist at all here) -- why is everything so bland and sweet? And finding a yellow grapefruit here is becoming harder and harder, as more and more of those sweet and very bitter red ones seem to replace them.
If anyone has any ideas re the gourmet cook-chill meals, do tell.
But the steak is much better here than in UK.
If this isn't taking the thread too off-topic, what do you all enjoy eating that is available in USA but not UK? Maybe it would be helpful to think about what we (well, I, anyway!) CAN have here than what we (!) miss?
OTOH, even when I'm in Britain I can't often have fish and chips, because I have coeliac disease so can't eat gluten, and the nearest chippy offering gluten-free fish and chips is 27 miles away.
Another thing I miss is those very convenient gourmet cook-chill meals you get in almost every supermarket in Britain. The list of ingredients is often relatively short and innocuous, even for me with my dratted gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and they don't load them with sweetness. Can anyone tell me where I can get cook-chill meals in in Raleigh, NC? That is -- high-quality meals with fresh ingredients? Are they available ANYWHERE?
I have looked in Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowe's. They don't seem to exist here! You can get those dreadful frozen offerings, that remind me of something Bird's Eye might have produced in the early 70s (and that has been sitting in the same freezer ever since), and you can get a few salad meals, but WHERE can I find good, fresh, cook-chill meals?
I also miss the superb cheese available in Britain. Why can't I find the really strong, unprocessed, unpasturised cheeses I can get in Britain?
I HAVE managed to find a substitute for British cottage cheese though. It is expensive but if you hate the bland stuff available here, it is definitely worth trying. I get it in Whole Foods and it is Nancy's cottage cheese. Delish!
I buy Marmite in Whole Foods, and Kerrygold butter in Trader Joe's.
Another craving I have is for curry and (gluten-free) garlic and coriander naan bread, but at least I know how to make that myself. Kroger has Pataks Indian curry sauces for when I'm feeling lazy.
And why is EVERYTHING here so SWEET? As one who never ate Heinz Baked Beans because they were to sweet even when in Britain, you can imagine how I feel about American baked beans - ugh. I also miss the extremely interesting flavours of apples (not to mention that Bramley cooking apples don't exist at all here) -- why is everything so bland and sweet? And finding a yellow grapefruit here is becoming harder and harder, as more and more of those sweet and very bitter red ones seem to replace them.
If anyone has any ideas re the gourmet cook-chill meals, do tell.
But the steak is much better here than in UK.
If this isn't taking the thread too off-topic, what do you all enjoy eating that is available in USA but not UK? Maybe it would be helpful to think about what we (well, I, anyway!) CAN have here than what we (!) miss?
Last edited by English Sarah; Feb 15th 2011 at 4:54 pm.
Feb 15th 2011, 6:09 pm
#347
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Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Mendocino, California
Posts: 954
Feb 15th 2011, 7:29 pm
#348
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Mendocino, California
Posts: 954
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
Last edited by coastieexpat; Feb 15th 2011 at 7:32 pm.
Feb 15th 2011, 11:53 pm
#350
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
That fella here is doing really well. He can afford to hire a helper one day a week now.
His FB post today was applauding the rain because there's no line, so today's the day to hit the chippy van. Great hours too; he closes up at 4 o'clock.
Of course, you have to work in a van all day.
His FB post today was applauding the rain because there's no line, so today's the day to hit the chippy van. Great hours too; he closes up at 4 o'clock.
Of course, you have to work in a van all day.
Feb 16th 2011, 12:18 am
#351
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Reno Nevada
Posts: 15,917
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
That fella here is doing really well. He can afford to hire a helper one day a week now.
His FB post today was applauding the rain because there's no line, so today's the day to hit the chippy van. Great hours too; he closes up at 4 o'clock.
Of course, you have to work in a van all day.
His FB post today was applauding the rain because there's no line, so today's the day to hit the chippy van. Great hours too; he closes up at 4 o'clock.
Of course, you have to work in a van all day.
Feb 16th 2011, 7:26 pm
#356
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 115
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
I don't much care for them, so I haven't purchased them, but I have seen them in my local Indian grocer. They also sell Enos for when you overindulge on the Bourbons. It might be worthwhile checking an Indian grocer out.
Feb 16th 2011, 8:03 pm
#357
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Reno Nevada
Posts: 15,917
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
You know I never did care much for them either when back in the UK but I just had this want factor as of late lol
Feb 17th 2011, 2:08 pm
#359
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Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Oakland County, Michigan
Posts: 846
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
I find chocolate bourbons and custard creams in Biglots, they taste fine to me 
Feb 17th 2011, 9:14 pm
#360
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Reno Nevada
Posts: 15,917
Re: UK Foods in the US Share your finds!
I found Weetabix in O"Brians market place in modesto today for $4.99 24 box thats not a bad price 