i got the food blues

ack..i hate it
it seems to taunt me
roast beef...but it dont taste the same here
crappy peanutbutter
no grahm crackers
bread thats too hard
the hot dogs even suck!!!

anyone else go thru this when they moved here?

please please tell me this is just a phase

im off my feed and need help...i see things i like...but dont want to blow my entire weeks food money on just one meal

if you have any good ideas...send them to me please...im desperate...

thanks

Yea, a lot of things are made differently here than at home.  It just takes a lot of experementation to find out your likes and dislikes.  You are almost learning to eat again.  I've been here long enough now that I have discovered the things that I don't like, but have also found things that you can't get at home that I really enjoy instead.  

My best friend came over for my wedding and had a really hard time with the food here.  Even the coke is made differently (at home with corn syrup, in the UK with something else).  I have just found that I really like 7-up here, which I never did at home probably for that very reason.

I completly agree with you on the bread!  Too hard and (I think) too yeasty tasting.  The bread that I absolutly LOVE is the Hovis Farmhouse.  Give it a taste.  It is more expensive than the rest, but well worth it in my opinion.

boy, do i ever know what you mean!

i used to love roast beef, prime rib or just a good steak every now and again.  i now eat lots more chicken and fish. i still am hoping to get to the outback restaurant to see if their stuff is the same standard worldwide.

as for graham crackers, i miss them a lot, especially as pie crust base! still...have learned to live without.  i managed to buy a huge jar of peanut butter at costco, which was nice. i do miss the guava jelly which i used to make pbj sandwiches with.

i found some decent hotdogs ('american-style' at tesco's, and while they weren't the greatest it went down well with our guests.  i have found the chilli-flavored sausages and will probably use that it in the future since i actually like them!

hey glasgow girl, i like the farmhouse-style bread too! yum! i get either hovis, kingsmill or marks&spencer (depends where we are shopping).  that's 'way better than the others.

like gg, it's just a matter of finding what you like over here.  i like that fish pie, and have tried lamb roast which is pretty good.  my cousin loved steak and ale pie, and he has even begged me to send him a recipe (he's from CA) so he can make it at home.  this from a guy who's idea of cooking is making toast.

i also like the danish bacon, for me it's like a cross between the 'streaky' bacon and canadian bacon.  and currently i use a lot of jamie oliver recipes for chicken. delicious!

what i find most difficult as times is that good rice costs 4 times as much as back home, and the japanese restaurants are not so good.  i like indian and others, it's just tough for those few occassions when you're really craving something familiar!

Tamara,

Don't panic!  Just don't panic, whatever you do.  

It is a phase, it will pass.  I remember so well the depression I got when I realised that everything was so different here.  

Coke was a big one for me.  Okay, I could *sorta* get used to the fact that *if* I got ice in it, it wouldn't be but two half melted pieces.  But it just tastes so weird here!  And in some restraunts, it may say coke on the menu but could be any old wacky kind of cola that they want to use.  It's a real pain.

Roast beef, I can't help you there, I'm afriad.

Peanut butter here is crap.  No question about it.  Skippy can be found in Sainsbury if you want to try that.  Otherwise, I sometimes make due by getting the cruchy kind.  It at least tastes of peanuts!

Graham crackers can be substitued with digestives, for eating, dunking in milk, and for pie crusts.  And actually chocolate digestives are a right treat.  And one thing I've learned to like is a bit of digestive with some cheese.  Mmmm mmm.

As for bread, try a local bakery.  Crusty farmhouse is a big hit with me, but I only get it from the bakery.  Hovis is good too, if you want a Tesco brand.

And hot dogs?  Well, if I need a hot dog I go to Mcdonalds these days.  It's the closest thing to real I've found 'round here.

Hang in there tho, kiddo.  You'll soon find things you like better than at home and you will adjust!  I promise.  

I have not had a whole lot of experience there yet...  but in the 6 weeks I was there, I did learn how to make some replacements...  Wishstar was correct on the digestives..  and they are also great to use for smores...  which of course they do not know of yet there...BUT LOVED at our cookout.  in fact, I liked the digestives for smores much better than the graham cracker...

Up North, most people go to local bakery's and butchers for their meat and breads...  also in Alnwick they have a town square market every saturday with lots of fruit (yes) and veggies (big yes) as well as homemade pastries, pies and everything your british man loves to eat...  Having been to all of them...  I have not felt deprived...  not tried roast beef yet...but I love lamb so I will just switch if beef yukky.

I am also use to eating steak once a week and figure I might as well hang that up because it is not nearly as good there...  unless you wish to beat & marinate a long time.

After reading the last couple days about the peanut butter though, I have decided to have that on my wish list for family to send in care packages...  

I must admit though that when I went shopping to make my famous homemade spaghetti sauce... I literally cried to Tom because I could not figure how to replace my base...  they do not have normal tomato puree there...  except what was in these little tubes...  and I came to find out not long ago that what they do call puree over there (little tubes) is actually paste...which now tells me why my sauce was horrible...  so that has more work to be done.  I also like to use ground sausage in my sauce...and well, I do not have to tell you what the sausage is like there...  I figure on having spices shipped to me yearly so that I can add flavor to what I need.  

Now that I am back home for the past year awaiting to go there for good, there are a lot of things from there that I miss...  so I guess after learning how to cook all over again... and making sure my family keeps up with care packages,  the adjustments will be made.

thakns guys...its good to know its not just me

my hubby says im just too picky...he doesnt understand

its hard enuff to adjust to things..let alone feel like your starving to death

thanks for the support...hope i didnt seem like a cry baby

Nah, you didn't sound like a cry baby at all, tamara.

It isn't easy this moving to a new planet...er, I mean, country.  Takes time....lots of time.  You'll find things you like here eventually.  Just try to keep an open mind and don't feel bad for having bad days.  You're allowed one now and again!

eatOoops. Thames. They were getting ready to go back to the States right after I got here, so we went to see them, and the first thing they both told me was how much they missed the food in the States (and how late everything stayed open). It took only a little while to realize what they meant. And, before I moved here, I was hardcore vegetarian ("nothing with a face"). It became absolutely clear that short of mammals, the next best thing would be chips and mushy peas. So I started eating seafood (and believe me, I feel like a hypocrite). But my hub's the same, so it's all right (I suppose). The foot-and-mouth slaughter was incredibly disturbing, especially if you don't eat such animals. Senseless slaughter. It was enough to turn my confirmed, meat-eating father-in-law off to meat forever (it made him realize how cruel and senseless slaughtering animals is). But I digress. I was incredibly lucky to fall in love with and marry a man who looks at food (and animals) the same way I do, and I thank whatever powers that may be for it every day.

yep yep! i hear ya but i been here for almost 3 years (havent been home for 2 years now) and its werid i am used to the milk and the meat.. i think if i went home tommrrow i would forget what the american beef or the milk cuz i have enquirered such a taste for the things here when i go there i would be like eww! lol .. there are things i do miss like i love red hotdogs i just try to buy some american products online if i think there stuff is crap here like peanut butter and fluffy mmm but other than that i think if i went in the states i would whine cuz i want the english beef and milk.. i will never win! lol

You've no doubt been to Marks and Spencer (and know how expensive it is), but go there for prepared pasta meals (or specialty meals in general), and leave the basics (bread, fruit and veg, sugar, milk, etc.) for Tesco or Sainsbury's. Marks and Spencer is like Fresh Fields (for anyone from the East Coast of the States), and their frozen food is easily as good as Stouffer's. Just a thought.

... in fact, I liked the digestives for smores much better than the graham cracker...

Ahhh, this reminds me.  I have one word 'CHOCCY HOBNOBS'.  OK, it's two words.  When I was pregnant I saw someone on tv making smores.  Of course I developed a NEED for them (well that's my story and I'm stickin to it).  Not having the proper ingredients I took two Choccy Hobnobs and vanilla ice cream and made a sandwich.  Hey, it's biscuit, chocolate and white stuff in the middle.  They were lovely.

Oh, and for the steaks.  DH got some thick ones at Costco and they actually weren't too bad.  I like my steaks pretty rare and don't order them in restaurants in England.  I find the cuts are thinner and no matter how I ask them to prepare it they cook it till it resembles the sole of a shoe.  When we do eat out it's usually a Chicken Vindaloo for me.  

Jana

Lately I seem to have moved on from the despairing stage and am now on the English food is okies, but every now and then I must have (insert food here) stage.  So outta depression and into occasional manic craving.  
Personally I quite like the food over here, just get those crazy cravings.  Sometimes ya just want to cook something mom would have cooked.  
wench
oh, and I'd still kill for some Taco Bell.