Is it really THAT different to the US??

One Thanksgiving shortly after I moved over, I went back to see my family & SIL took me to Kohls (department store) on the eve before Thanksgiving & the great big barn of a store was all but empty - I nearly cried because there was just soooooo much space!

I'm amused that everyone gets overwhelmed with supermarkets--for me, going to a supermarket is one of my more favorite tourist things to do in different countries. I can wander up and down aisles of a supermarket for ages, looking at different things and observing how different things are in different countries. It does take awhile to learn to cook with ingredients that are available, etc in each country and know what you'll like but even looking at things that I'll never buy can be interesting. *shrug* I try not to eat a ton of processed food and honestly, vegetables and fruits are pretty much the same everywhere, and things like bread and pasta and rice and tofu and cheese aren't usually too different (and in the case of bread and cheese, pretty much universally better outside of the US). And like I said, I really enjoy the wandering process.

Yes, I agree with this wholeheartly.

That said, I can see why and how the supermarkets make people uncomfortable.  Its all change and its all different and its the tiny little things that really get someone sometime.  We're all different in our coping mechanims and sometimes you just want bloody Lucky Charms!

When I spent some time in China, all I wanted at the end of the trip was peanut butter!    Silly things sometimes.  

B&Q can have the same affect on me, melt down!!! - even 4 and a 1/4 years on!

LOL...I was definitely not exaggerating. I had a complete meltdown in ASDA. Hubby had to hurry me out of there. Of course I suffer from anxiety anyways and couple that with the stress of not finding anything I needed to cook with, knowing that once I bought something any recipes I wanted to use from the US would need to be converted to UK measurements/cooking temps as I brought NOTHING from the states with me the first time and I had NO internet, no cookbooks...NOTHING, and being miserably homesick, and the crowd in ASDA on a Saturday, I LOST IT. Of course it happened shopping for clothes once too. I had recently lost 30 pounds when I came over and was happy with how I looked. Then I came over and NOTHING fit right. I couldn't find jeans to save my life and everything had big bold prints on it...much too busy for me. I decided at that point I was going to have to stay in the house naked as I would never find something to wear.
Some people just deal with things differently. At this point in my life, I would probably laugh at the same things that upset me before, but I have also learned how to deal with overwhelming emotions better and can de-stress a heck of a lot easier now.

Gosh how I miss all the varieties of salad cream salad dressing!!!  There are hardly any (one!) that I have found that I really like here - although more often than not, we'll just do oil & vinegar for simplicity/low cost.

Isn't your vinegar in its own vinegar section, with 32 or more varieties of it?  

Well that part was about when I moved to the UK, where it really does look like just all salad cream to the frustrated person looking for white vinegar in the entirely wrong place. And seriously, what's with the salad cream? That and the crisps are the only things that they seem to put out in large quantities.

 

I know it's overwhelming & I too have been overwhelmed when I go back sometimes, but usually I just stand there in complete awe of it all (sort of like that Simpsons moment, where the clouds part & the sun shines down on Homer & the heavenly music plays, that sort of thing!) - plus having all that amazing space that I just took for granted (at least the places that I lived), elbow room & all.  One Thanksgiving shortly after I moved over, I went back to see my family & SIL took me to Kohls (department store) on the eve before Thanksgiving & the great big barn of a store was all but empty - I nearly cried because there was just soooooo much space!

The space is nice, but I just do much better with less stuff in front of me! I'm a simple girl with simple needs.   Though, like when I moved to the UK, I'm sure with time I'll have the whole thing sorted out again.  

ETA: Though, to be fair, I am very pleased at the larger selection of vegan/gluten free/organic/all natural what-have-you in US shops. For all the processed HFCS stuff, there are plenty of alternatives. In the UK, it was quite limited unless I took the trip to the giant Sainsburys in Braehead or something.

Admittedly, I did have somewhat of a meltdown regarding Christmas decoration hooks. 

It started with me and hubby getting ready to put our tree up. I pulled decorations out of boxes and said " where do you keep the hooks"? Hubby was confused. He said he was not sure what I meant, but that he used thread. 

Thread? To hang up decorations??? Surely that would take hours!! That's when I realized, it must just be a one-off family thing. I smiled sweetly at him...thinking "aw, it's a little tradition and he didn't know there were hooks this whole time"!

So, I asked if we could nip to B&Q. There we were...hubby trying to tell me that I was not going to find any, and me telling him I would just go ask the clerk!

So....there I was "pardon me, sir... Can you tell me were you keep your decoration hooks"? He then said "sorry"?? Hubby then translated ( you know what I mean-LOL!) the man pointed to some picture hooks.  I figured he just didn't hear what we asked, so I said "you know, hooks to hang Christmas tree decorations- like baubles ( proud that I knew to say baubles!). A lightbulb went on for the clerk and off he ran. My heart filled with hope!! Until I saw him walking back, holding a huge white pastic suction wreath hook!!!! 

We got to the car and I just stared at my shoes. Hubby said "I told you"!
Oh snap- floodgates!

A couple weeks later we were in Waterstones and I went to the Papyrus section. I was looking at Christmas cards and there...out of the blue...they were!!!!! HOOOOKS!!!!! Bendy kind for decorations!!! ONE box!!!! Mine!!!

As I walked through the store I had a smug smirk and showed hubby! He just stared at me. LOL!!!! I cannot tell you how triumphant I felt!!

Well that part was about when I moved to the UK, where it really does look like just all salad cream to the frustrated person looking for white vinegar in the entirely wrong place. And seriously, what's with the salad cream? That and the crisps are the only things that they seem to put out in large quantities.  

Yeah, I worked out later I had it the wrong way round - lol!    But I'm confused most of the time, so...    I must admit I don't 'get' salad cream - it tastes like, nothing.  If I'm going to add fat calories to my salad, it'd better taste nice!  

Benrese, I know what you mean!  It's like I'll look & look & look for 'thing' (whatever) and then when I do stumble upon it, where I least expect it, it fills your heart with so much joy!  Lol!  My husband thinks I'm a nut for squealing when I see Frank's Hot Sauce & snatching up bottles...

Oh & what bookgrl said about how the supermarket giveth & the supermarket taketh away...  In Morrisons (my nearest/most convenient) here for instance...

A chipotle pepper flakes (in vinegar for preservative) product they carried for awhile & I got used to using...  Now gone!  Then they had one with dry chipotle flakes, that's gone now too.  Luckily I kept an extra one each of those spare that I have squirreled away in the cupboard.

White albacore tuna in springwater... now they have stopped stocking this, only carrying the one in oil.

That would be the start of my list.  Sigh.  Make do & mend, eh? 

I must admit I don't 'get' salad cream - it tastes like, nothing.

First digestives and now salad cream?!?!?! 

First digestives and now salad cream?!?!?! 

Hehehe - I know I'm a radical. 

That would be the start of my list.  Sigh.  Make do & mend, eh? 

Yeap, I learn to hoard when I find something I like, because you never know (and it usually happens) - when something will be taken away!

Benrese, my boyfriend grew up under a rock so he usually doesn't know what something is, even if it's 'British' - so I've always got that 'smug' feeling, hahaha... No but in all seriousness, its great sometimes when you find something you've been searching for and its in the most bizzare places.    

White albacore tuna in springwater... now they have stopped stocking this, only carrying the one in oil.

If you have a large Sainsburys near you, they do both the oil and the water one.  My medium-sized Sainsburys has neither... only boaky cat food tuna.  So I have to go out to Braehead for tuna and a couple of other things.  

If you have a large Sainsburys near you, they do both the oil and the water one.  My medium-sized Sainsburys has neither... only boaky cat food tuna.  So I have to go out to Braehead for tuna and a couple of other things.  

Yeah, I'm just lazy...getting in the car & driving 3-4 miles away to the big Sainsburys, or walking 5 minutes down the street.  But sometimes I just can't go without those Taste the Difference Sicilian sausages any longer & I make a pilgrimage there...  I always end up spending too much in a Sainsburys or Waitrose because I end up buying all the cool foodie things you can't find at the low rent shops (like Morrisons).

Our little Sainsburys in city centre (near work) doesn't carry much either.

If you have a large Sainsburys near you, they do both the oil and the water one.  My medium-sized Sainsburys has neither... only boaky cat food tuna.  So I have to go out to Braehead for tuna and a couple of other things.  

I buy the albacore in oil (if there's none in water) and just rinse it in a sieve until all the goopiness is gone. It's easier than driving an hour to get to a Sainsburys. 

It's funny because I told DH off (just a bit) a few weeks ago for buying the one in oil, when I specifically asked him to get the one in water... Then I realised they had stopped stocking it.  Ooops!  Poor DH. 

I prefer the oil one, cos I think the tuna tastes better/more moist.

I prefer the oil one, cos I think the tuna tastes better/more moist.

I think you're right.  We've been having the oil one lately.  The only reason I go for the water one is to save on calories, but I don't know if it really makes that much difference.  I've been just draining off the excess oil.