Replacing Your Old Favourite English Brands for Spanish ??

[BENIDORM]

Over the years we have spent in Spain we have searched for locally available foods to replace many of the English foods that we have 'grown up with', sometimes because of necessity and sometimes just as an adventure.!
And we have found many equally good products, sometimes it's just a case of getting used to different flavours and textures, but equally as good or better and usually cheaper !
A recent thread explored the possibilities of locating British bacon in Spain and many replies came back including how many now use Spanish bacon.

We have always liked English tea, PG,Typhoo, Yorkshire tea etc., but for us living inland it's not so easy to obtain them without making a long journey.
So we've been trying Spanish tea without much success, and then we thought we would try Lidl English Breakfast tea, which we have looked at many times and not tried it because the price was cheap and we thought it would taste like 'dish water' as many of the Spanish teas do.
And I have to say that we are very impressed, price wise and quality.!
Many of the Brits we know use tap water for their brew, actually not a very good idea as it contains high amounts of lead,copper,and many other 'nasties', we actually use bottle water for all drinks and also for cooking veg. etc.
So if you haven't tried them please give them a go !

I'm sure that there are many other Spanish replacement products that forum members are now using ....please share your Success Stories here..
Regards,
Gordon the Gourmet

[olive]

sounds like a good find. Hope you aren't using this

http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/04/19/ine ... 64434.html

bottled water but instead our good Loja stuff.

I like Lidls own brand TUC looky Likey biscuits in a yellow triple pack.

[country boy]

Meercadona" Te Breakfast" isn't bad if want to use "Jigglers" ; flavour's good but a bit on the weak side, we usually double up for mugs. We use spring water....superb and free!

[BENIDORM]

Olive,
Well bottled water from plastic bottles isn't really a good idea, far better from a glass bottle, but not easily obtainable here and quite expensive.
And of course living in an area like Loja there are many springs bubbling from babbling brooks, excellent taste but unfortunately often contaminated by agricultural fertilizers etc. and of course you don't know if Mr.Rat has just done number 1's and 2's just upstream

Rather reminds me of the old sign in my local pub, ''All water served in this establishment has been passed by the Landlord''

And Yes, the salty biscuits purchased from Lidl are excellent and I prefer them smothered with lashings of cream triangles cheese..yum yum....

And we have tried country boys recommendation 'Meercadona ''Te Breakfast', not bad, but of course like all things there is a right and a wrong way to get the best out of anything, and 'Jigglers' in a mug is possibly OK as a last resort ..!
Making tea for me is a ritual process, having been brought up and influenced by Edwardian parents and Victorian grandparents, I try to follow the correct procedure...
First warming the teapot ,then ensuring the water is boiling when poured onto either loose tea or teabags ,( if you listen carefully you can hear the taste buds singing ), then covering the teapot with a suitable tea cozy and then wait for about 5 minutes before pouring into a china cup with fresh milk added first, no sugar for me, but if you must, sugar lumps should be added and stirred vigorously.....Bliss...

And now what about coffee, such a huge selection available, we use and prefer the Nescafe Dolce Gusto capsules.....

Regards,
Gordon

[Wicksey]

I'm not a tea drinker but my OH likes his strong and finds he can't beat Yorkshire tea so we do buy that from the local British food store. He only drinks one or two cups a day so not too much of a problem. I drink Mercadona's green tea with mint. Re coffee we still use ground coffee (again, only one cup a day) and have found that the Aldi Natural brand is as good as any other named brand (and we have tried most of them over the years). We read an article in the paper about the best way to make coffee and it says not to use boiling water but to let it cool slightly, which we have found to improve the flavour.

I don't buy much British foodstuffs as I find between Mercadona and Lidl I can get everything I need on a day to day basis. I do like to use soft brown sugar and soft muscovado sugar which I have never found here. They have the demerera type, but not soft sugar which I do like to use in baking. I have never seen golden (unrefined) castor sugar here at all, so always bring back a bag from our yearly trip to the UK.

[olive]

Coffee.Saimaza for brewed. I make do with Nescafe instant coffee everyday here but back in the Uk use Gold Blend or similar. Haven't found a suitable freeze dried coffee here.

I thought I was in luck when we went to Icelands for the first time (near Fuengirola). My goodness that was an experience.Had our first and possibly last (in Spain)tub of double cream as a treat. Couldn't really see anthing there that took my fancey coffee wise.

[BENIDORM]

Wicksey,
Mrs.B also misses the soft brown sugar for many of her recipes, but she adds some miel de cana, seems to work with some recipes and she makes a 'sort of castor sugar' by putting granulated sugar in a processor but she finds the icing sugar different in Spain...
And you are correct about not putting boiling water on coffee, our machine makes it correctly..but it isn't very hot and Mrs.B puts her cup into the microwave...
Olive...We don't use much instant coffee, but keep a jar of Nescafe, just in case.....but whatever country you buy Nescafe instant coffee from it seems to taste different.?

One Brit. product that we have changed from is Digestive biscuits, actually preferring Mercadona or Lidl own brand and Mercadona Chocolate biccies are great, but I can eat a full packet if put in front of me.....
Regards,
Gordon

[Miro]

An elderly British acquaintance of mine here keeps demonstrating to me the folly of a) being lured by recognisable brands and b) stubbornly refusing to acquire even the most basic grasp of Spanish. Having shopped for years in Mercadona, he switched loyalties to Dealz (Poundland) when it opened here, believing that because nothing is more than a mere €1.50 it must be cheap.
Example: pack of 25 baby wipes in Dealz €1.50; pack of 80 baby wipes in Mercadona €1.44
Example: pack of 4 "thins" (some kind of oatmeal bread rolls) in Dealz €1.50; pack of 8 "thins" in Mercadona €1.50
He also prefers shopping there because, he says, he can read the labels easier so knows what he's getting. Seriously? Baby wipes? Bread? He also frequently asks me to explain his phone bill because "it's all in Spanish". The items on it are the same every month, the rest is just numbers.
I don't mean to sound snobby or anything, but when in Rome...a little effort to adapt goes a long way!

Having said that - we get double cream, Utterly Butterly & flavoured still water once every 6 weeks or so from Iceland!

[wollie]

is it possible to get good quality "leaf tea" in spain?

[Lyric]

I have never seen leaf tea at the common retailers, there may be a specialist somewhere.

[northandsouth]

Have to say we use Spanish brands for just about everything and we love Mercadona butter, (we use the small restaurant/hotel style butter containers in the summer as it can turn to liquid so rapidly in the heat)
Mercadona's fresh pasteurised milk leche fresca is great, and their nata fresca isn't bad either. We also love their mascarpone and queso curado mature cheddar.
As for my essential beverage,tea, we are relatively spoilt down here as all of our local supermarkets sell at least 3 brands of "British" tea PG tips Tetley and Brooke Bond.

[BENIDORM]

Miro,
You've actually 'hit the nail on the head ' with your report about the couple who don't have any basic Spanish language ability, it highlights the situation were people actually carry on buying British goods because they can't recognise alternatives or are able to ask for products, and rely on visual buying from Supermarkets.
However I fully understand that some people for a variety of reasons are unable to progress very far with mastering a new language and often it's just confidence issues that stop them.
What I suggest to anyone who can't get their head around Spanish is to write down what they are looking for in Spanish, it's easy to Google translate,and hand it to the shopkeeper, it doesn't have to be perfect and I'm sure that they will find most Spanish shopkeepers will be very patient and helpful.
This way they will probably soon remember words relating to the items that they are looking for and that's it.. and of course use Spanglish ..it works !..

Wollie,
I've also had problems obtaining loose tea, and have to get it from UK, however even in UK there isn't a very good selection now.!

N and S,
Good to hear that you've also gone 'Native'....I mean of course with your food...
We also buy Brit.tea-bags from Mercadona..only small boxes available though.
Regards,
Gordon

[katy]

Waitrose has a large selection of loose leaf tea. White, green, black. Kenya, Ceylon, Assam etc. Sacorelli in Gibraltar used to sell loose tea and Fortnum and Masons brands too. I rarely drink tea, about 3 cups per week but OH drinks it all the time, he likes Twinings English breakfast tea. I think the Twinings in other countries tastes different but suppose it could be the water. Good tip about using bottled water. I can only drink tea with a very small amount of milk, about two teaspoons!
Best cup of tea I ever had was in Kenya, the owner of the lodge mixed her own blend from 2 local teas. Quite a lot of Spanish like tea too. We have come a long way from the days when the tea caddy was locked up!

[BENIDORM]

Katy,
Thank you for alerting me to the extensive range of loose teas available at Waitrose, I will summon one of my off-spring to purchase a selection for me..
I have also taken tea in in Kenya, very good, but my best cuppa was in Madras, served in a former Nestles canned milk tin and I sat with locals at the roadside, my Aunt Nellie was appalled when I told her of my experience.
And yes values have changed so much in just a few hundred years, such valuable commodities as tea leaves, nutmeg , brandy, whisky and even the wife were kept under lock and key..

And what about chocolate ?
I actually prefer Spanish chocolate, in particular Valor, I now find British chocolate too sweet, however I do miss Cadbury's creme eggs...

Regards,
Gordon

[Wicksey]

And what about chocolate ?
I actually prefer Spanish chocolate, in particular Valor, I now find British chocolate too sweet, however I do miss Cadbury's creme eggs...

Regards,
Gordon

I read that Cadbury changed its recipe for the choc for their creme eggs last year, much to everybody's horror!

I like Lidl, Aldi and Mercadona's dark chocolate with whole nuts in. It's packed full of nuts and tastes pretty good quality to me. I find most Lidl stuff excellent ... their vanilla ice cream (in the big 2.5 L red tubs) is the best I've had here.

The best thing in Lidl is when they have their themed weeks. It was 'Greek week' the other week and I bought up loads of Retsina (yes, we love the stuff and haven't been able to buy it for many years), aubergine dip (similar to baba ghanoush), dolmades (Stuffed vine leaves), baklava etc etc. Some of the items were made in Germany but much was produced in Greece and very tasty it was too! Lidl Indian range is good too with excellent naan breads and curry sauces. I do make my own Greek and Indian food but it is very time consuming so it is nice to have a few store cupboard things.

[BENIDORM]

Wicksey,
Interesting to hear of your gourmet journey through the world of food at Lidl, I have to say that they really seem to have 'got their act together' with regard to the improved selection and better quality.
My only real gripe is when I'm ready to pay for my goods, sometimes can't even find a check out person and I always queue in the wrong isle, and then it's like a trolley dash as my goods are slung into the narrow packing area where the eggs get broken and my apples are bruised and my yogurts are squashed.!
And another problem...overcharging for goods and doubled up charges, I check my bill before leaving now, 6 times this year incorrect bills....

Mercadona is certainly best for service and quality of fruit and veg, and in all of the years that we have shopped there we've never noticed an incorrect bill.
But between the 2 shops we get 95% of our groceries, so shouldn't really complain..!!
Regards,
Gordon

[Wicksey]

Gordon I find the Torrox Lidl pretty good and they will open another check out when the queue gets more than a few people in it, and the staff have been friendly too. It differs very much from shop to shop I think. Our Mercadona staff seem to have a competition as to how fast they can process a trolley of items. It takes two of us to cope - one to unload the trolley and one to catch the shopping as it flies through the till to the other side!

[Lyric]

Just tell them it is not the Olympics Mrs W, they take that quite well.
Have you played spot the English speaker in there ? there are at least four, only one placarded as such.

[olive]

Gordon I find the Torrox Lidl pretty good and they will open another check out when the queue gets more than a few people in it, and the staff have been friendly too. It differs very much from shop to shop I think. Our Mercadona staff seem to have a competition as to how fast they can process a trolley of items. It takes two of us to cope - one to unload the trolley and one to catch the shopping as it flies through the till to the other side!

Can't agree more with your comment about Mercadona staff in particular. I think it is a throwback to everyone shopping daily. There would only be one or two bags full which would be put away back home within fifteen minutes. Bit different if you live in a remote place and shop only once or twice a week. The thing that really gets me is when they have finished scanning they then start helping. Soft fruit at the bottom of a bag with tins on top. Perishables spread over bags so you can't just put the one bag of perishables in the cool box in the car.

[Wicksey]

Have you played spot the English speaker in there ? there are at least four, only one placarded as such.

No I haven't. As it's usually the only chance I get to speak any Spanish I prefer not to speak English! I am pretty good with the ingredients and foodstuffs in Spanish and only have to ask if I can't find something. When I was in Dia the other week I was asking for harina (a-ree-na) and the girl kept taking me to the avena (a-vay-na) (porrage oats) .... I really don't think my Spanish accent is that bad!!