Thursday, October 8, 2015

Favorite Snack Foods, reunited at last

When we moved last year I had a lot to learn about buying and preparing food in England.  There is different terminology and of course different products.

I had to learn to convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius and that you call the oven the cooker. Broiling is grilling, and incidentally a grill is called a barbecue.  It hasn't been too hard to figure out. My biggest mistake might have been instinctively picking up the "red" jug of milk when I needed whole milk for a recipe at Thanksgiving only to discover that in England skim milk is in the red jug. Whoops.  That's a big difference.

Buying meat, fruits, and vegetables is basically the same except ground beef is called "minced," and zucchini are courgettes, and eggplant is aubergine, and cilantro is coriander.  So maybe it's not completely the same, but it's mainly the area of snacks and convenience food that we've had to venture out and learn our way around.  After much diligent searching I've found a new favorite brand of yogurt (Yeo Valley!  though Rachel's Organic may give them a run for their money), and the kids have their favorite cereal bars (Cadbury Brunch Bars!).  But imagine our surprise and delight when an American military family visited our church, and I was able to visit the commissary after attending a Bible study with my new friend.  Here are a few things we enjoyed after that visit.  Familiar products were like a big hug from home.


You can't beat Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup in your favorite character pasta shapes.  It's classic.


This was the KJ Pugh meal of champions whenever I didn't have dinner plans. :) 
"It's good to have familiar food," he said.


I always bought these turkey dogs, because I thought they might be healthier than others?
Sure, they don't taste quite as good as the original, but I'll take it.


Froot Loops because the Froot Loops here look like this:


Ella will have none of that.


Fruit snacks aren't a really big thing here, but kids do eat a gummy candy
called Haribo all of the time.  It seems to be everyone's favorite treat.


They do have a version of the Ritz cracker, but again, as a result of different
food laws it's not quite the same.  The American version is much crispier.


I don't care for these, but the rest of my family likes them.


Our favorite brand of peanut butter and our favorite cracker.
This is Ella's favorite snack.


I was pleased to find these chips to compliment my soup last week.

What would you most miss if you moved away from home?  You might be surprised.  Sometimes you miss the things you wouldn't even have bought very often, simply because they're not available.  


8 comments:

  1. I am excited that you were able to find so many things you know and love. I miss plain old boring saltines. I looked to buy them on Amazon but could not justify the cost.

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    1. Maybe I could get you some! I saw them at the store there. I know what you mean about the cost on Amazon. I paid way too much for graham crackers so we could make s'mores at our July 4th party. :)

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  2. Oh girl. I could write a page on the food we miss. This becomes a favorite subject as an expat, doesn't it? Strawberry frosted pop tarts, fresh milk, and fresh, green, leafy salads. And strawberries year round.. And Dr Pepper. Come on now. :) Love you and love the post a day in October.

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  3. Oh man, I just had to add this because I forgot one the MOST important food we miss. BEEF. McDonald's is just not as comforting without the cheeseburger.

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    1. Oh, my goodness, I did not think about that! Bless your heart!

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  4. Pretty sure Chickfila would be what I'd miss most if I moved out of the country! <3

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    1. Definitely! I found a good recipe before we left to recreate it, but when I tried it here it didn't quite work out. Peanut oil is really expensive here, and it's harder to find real dill pickles, which the recipe used juice from. Also, the Ritz crackers I used were different, so all in all....not what I was hoping for! I'll have to try again.

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