10 Essential Foods from UK..

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BENIDORM
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10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby BENIDORM » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:44 am

Here is a list of our top 10 essential food products that we still buy from UK , either directly or from English type food shops..
The majority of the products are items that we can't get the equivalent products here in Spain or we don't like the alternatives, or similar Spanish products too expensive.
1..T-Bags..we prefer PG Tips or Tetleys.
2..Oxo's ..all types...(Spanish stock cubes much too salty)..
3..Dried Yeast..
4..Strong bread flour..
5..Tinned Stewed steak..
6..Corned beef..
7..Marmite..
8..Tomato soup..we prefer Heinz
9..Ginger biscuits any..
10..Tandoori curry powder..

So we would be interested to hear from other forum members about favourite foods which are difficult to find alternatives for, or maybe have found Spanish alternatives that we don't know about..
Your comments would be most welcome..
Regards,
Gordon on behalf of Mrs.B...
Last edited by BENIDORM on Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

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anis
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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby anis » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:54 am

...and Heinz Tomato Ketchup, strong Cheddar Cheese, Stilton and some Bird's Custard Powder in the basket for me please.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby ajtg1952 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:15 am

Lancashire cheese, scotch pies and haggis.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby chrissiehope » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:20 am

Weetabix, Bovril, lemon squash (all for hubby - I'm easily pleased :lol: )
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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby peteroldracer » Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:44 pm

Bacon (preferably smoked), and Lamb that tastes of lamb!
Agree about Teabags - purely on cost grounds, but most other stuff is easily obtained here and prices are not that different if you shop around - e.g 12 packs of Weetabix are often priced at more than Mercadona sell the 24 size, and when Carrefour have the 48 size, they are cheaper pro rata, and were on sale with a free box of 12 Chocolate Weetabix, but the latter were only fit for dogs and small children.
Mature Cheddar is in Mercadona, as well as Iceland.
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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby alisonb » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:18 pm

Gammon joints, Gregg's sausage rolls and Bramley apples! Mature Cheddar in Mercadona nothing special, but Lidl are having an English week this week, and they've got Hatherwood's vintage cheddar, which is absolutely wonderful. It's relabelled Pilgrim's Choice. Lidl also have a few types of bread flour and Medcadona have fresh yeast.
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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby oliveview01 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:29 pm

Prefer Tetley to PG,
Large bags of porrage oats (Mercadona's are too fine)
Frys Chocolate Cream (for Hubby, I don't like it)
Marmite (for me, Hubby hates it, thankfully)
Garam Masala
Glace cherries (cheaper in the UK)
Custard powder
Nigella or onion seed
Cardamon pods, infact most spices to make a curry.
Suet ( should try making my own)

Son is visiting over New Year, he will get a shopping list!!

We go to Gibralter once a year for porrage oats, tea bags and a few other things, once a year is enough!!
Last edited by oliveview01 on Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby olive » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:57 pm

Hatherwood's vintage cheddar. mmm

Is Hatherwood just Lidls "English brand"? I have never heard of it before.

This week they also have blackcurrant juice. I watched two Spanish ladies take a jar of Hatherwoods Lime and lemon marmalade to try.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby annfoto » Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:55 pm

The only food items we haven't been able to find here are Cardamom Pods and Juniper berries both of which we bring back on out twice annual 3 day visit to Scotland along with HP Sauce as it is so expensive here.
We don't eat meat or drink tea so most of the thing the rest of you seem to crave have no interest to us.
We both love cooking, hate processed foods and have time on our hands. When some ingredients become difficult to find as fresh ginger did a few years ago, we decided to grow our own. It is incredibly easy and we now have an all year round supply.
from your list Gordon I can offer a few ideas:
2. Oxo's. All stock cubes are a very poor substitute for good home-made stock which can be made anytime and portions of it frozen. A reasonable alternative is to buy 1litre 'bricks' of fresh stock. Mercadona has vegetable, fish & chicken ones.
3. Dried yeast. Why use dried yeast when very good fresh yeast is available in Mercadona for a few cents? It is packed in little yellow packets similar to individual butter portions and is usually found beside the butter.
8. Tomato soup . we prefer Heinz. There is too much sugar in Heinz for out pallet but we make our own which has the same colour, texture and we think an even better flavour. You could modify that recipe to taste exactly the same as Heinz by using milk instead of yoghurt and a tablespoon of sugar.
10. Tandoori curry powder. All of the individual spices that make up a curry powder are easily available here, either in Mercadona or the little Spanish spice shops you find in little alleyways, often disguised a sweet shops (except Cardamom as mentioned earlier but that is not part of most curries).
Ann

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby alisonb » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:17 pm

Olive - yes, Hatherwood's is Lidl's own.
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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby BENIDORM » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:34 pm

Well it would seem that many members have similar tastes to us... :thumbup:

Ann , we have tried the fresh yeast, but it wasn't very successful for us, but perhaps we should give it another go..
And of course we do make up our own curry powders, but quite often we just don't have the time ..so reach for the packet of ready mixed...
Certainly Lidl is getting better in my opinion, quite a good selection , but I wish that they would keep somethings in stock all of the time...

Anyone ever spotted any malt loaves ..anywhere....I'm addicted to them and have just eaten the last piece.. :(
Any make would do, Soreen or even Tesco's own brand....

Regards,
Gordon the malt loaf addict... :)

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby gavilan » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:55 pm

annfoto: juniper and berries grow wild in the mountains here ... ?maybe pick and dry your own?

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby El Cid » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:11 pm

BENIDORM wrote:
Ann , we have tried the fresh yeast, but it wasn't very successful for us, but perhaps we should give it another go..
You can buy dried yeast in most supermarkets. The normal brand is Maizena - Levadura de Panaderia.

It works fine and is very consistent.

As for bread flour, do you have a local bakery? If so ask them to sell you flour - we buy all our bread flour that way. Actually normal Spanish plain flour makes passable bread as it is much harder than the soft UK flour. Look on the label for the protein content. Try and get one over 10% and you may find it works OK.

Sid

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby katy » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:26 pm

When we used to go to Spain as kids my parent used to take allsorts, wasn't even possible to buy breakfast cereal like cornflakes, the car was laden for 6 weeks holiday. Because we were fairly close to Gibraltar could get most things but choice is much better in eg. Waitrose. I agree with Gordon the Spanish stock cubes are far too salty.

If I am permitted I would like to bring a few things back to the UK....

Salsa a la pimiento verde, nothing compares here to packets or my own attempts.
Zara home soap, probably get it online but never get around to it, I just had to pop in Marbella.
Agua fuerte

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby oliveview01 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:48 pm

Forgot to add pearl barley and yellow split peas to the list.

To take back..... Smokey pimiento powder, fresh salad tomatoes, milk chocolate from Lidl, 39p, tastes great ( 3 for price of 2 on Thursday)
Jamon and freshly caught prawns from the indoors market at Ayamonte, ok I know they will be stinky, but this is a virtual list!!

Can I add Devon clotted cream to the bring over list?



A ps. How do you grow fresh ginger please? I tried, got nothing!!

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby murbisa » Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:39 pm

Katy I would have thought patio cleaner from somewhere like B&Q would do the same job as agua fuerte.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby katy » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:07 pm

Don't know but we bought similar in Leroy merlin and they were pretty tame compared with agua fuerte.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby murbisa » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:46 pm

Katy I think it varies. We used it a lot when we had an old cottage with old tiles on the floor and some were stronger than others.

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby oliveview01 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:58 pm

Shredded Wheat

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Re: 10 Essential Foods from UK..

Postby BENIDORM » Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:19 am

Re. dried yeast, well it is a good while since we tried the Spanish products, and I don't think that we've used the Maizena brand, so Sid, thanks for that tip , also never bought flour from the local bakeries so will also give that a try.
During this summer our bread making was not very successful, but as soon as the intense heat subsided it was good again.
Also I was told that as we live inland quite high above sea level that this can also affect the home bread production, however I don't know how true this is,the local bakeries don't seem to have any trouble, but perhaps they add something or use different recipes to us ?

With regard to missing some Spanish products for people who have returned to the UK, well I suppose really that it's like us missing UK products, not really life changing but something like comfort food , I suspect.
Anyway apart from enjoying different tastes I suppose that it invokes pleasant memories of time spent in Spain, I'm sure that even for people who have left Spain because of problems that they will naturally miss some aspects of their time spent here.
I've noticed that many Spanish products are available online, but I guess much more expensive ?.

Many of the foods mentioned here seem to be breakfast cereals,I think that must be because of a liking for a particular product, as most of the big name cereals are available in Spain, possibly with a different brand name.
For me I'm happy having my oats every morning...I also like a bowl of porridge.... :oops:

I wish everyone an exciting culinary experience today....
Regards,
Gordon the Gourmet... :wink:


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