What are you bringing back from the US?

A thread to sing the praises of all that stuff we love to bring back!

These are the things I often bring back:

Big (500-1,000 count) bottles of ibuprofen
Neosporin
Bandaid brand Bandaids (sorry I find the plasters here poorly designed such that they end up sticking to your wound!) - "I am stuck on Bandaids, 'cause Bandaids stuck on me!"

Secret Cucumber/Aloe scent deodorant

Clothes - underwear, socks, shoes, T-shirts, Levis (for DH), various & other sundry clothes for me

Ranch dressing packets (for others - I don't like it really!), Cheezits, Triscuits, graham crackers, hot sauces that I can't lay my hands on here

Candy for my workmates - Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Pops, Candy Corn, sometimes peanut butter cups

I've also brought back certain pancake syrup before - butter pecan flavour specifically.

I'm sure there's more!

What about you?

Great thread!

Vitamins/supplements- no matter how you slice it they are at least half the price in the US

Clothes- but only if they are a bargain/needed. Clothes prices have gone up a lot since I've moved over and I brought very little back the last time.

Shoes!- I struggle to find shoes that fit well in the UK. There is a thread somewhere about the difference in foot shapes between the US and UK.

Stain Stick (Spray n Wash)- A laundry must have!

Herdez salsa, corn tortillas (can be had in London but who can resist a huge,cheap pack?)

3M bandaids- I'm with Mrs. R, UK bandaids are rubbish. 3M ones never seem to fall off.

Odds and ends- Whenever I have an upcoming trip I will start a little list in the back of my diary.

Mrs Robinson we may not agree on everything, but I always save about a quarter of my suitcase for a bottle of Ibuprofen and some decent Band-Aids.    Also, Nyquil tablets. You can get nighttime cold pills here, but they always just come in packs with daytime ones and you get 20 days and 2 nights and I never take days.

Also, they band-aids here are almost all German, so we can blame them.  If one more person says you you can buy the one on the giant roll to have bandages that don't stick to your wound, I'm gonna lose it.  Because I always carry around a pair of scissors. 

Shoes way cheaper.  I go to Kohls.

Shirts for work.  For some reason here my size either means I am 60 or a total ho.

Baking stuff. Last time I bought a pie crust saver and a little flippy teaspoon set. I spent about 20 minutes in Lakeland sounding like a lunatic.  (It's the silicon, or possibly aluminium (argh!) disc thing that goes around the crust to keep it from burning. No, it's open in the center.....)

Underwear- There is a particular brand/type that I like for hiking because they aren't huge, but don't ride up.

Various other hiking stuff since from REI and LL Bean, it is cheaper, it has the features I want and it is better quality. 

Candy/Tastykakes for co-workers and various kidlets. Graham crackers (although I found a place near me that has them from time to time). 

Solo canned fruit stuff for kiffles (apricot and poppyseed and walnut).  It is thicker than jam and they don't have it here and Dried Orange Peel (not candied) for my Christmas cookies because I am lazy.


 

Well, I haven't been back to visit the US yet, but my parents send care packages now and then, and I always make sure to ask for a box of individual flavored coffee creamers, I know they can't send bottles since they could expand and burst during transport, but at least it's something since they don't have anything like that here. Also I had my mom send me some Mucinex last year when I had a chesty cough and nothing I could find here was working properly.

Ibuprofen! Hmmm didn't think of Bandaids. Underwear and bras!! Both my daughter and myself are rather umm, well endowed, and I have a hard time finding pretty AND functional bras here that don't cost an arm and a leg. Oh and cotton yarn that I use in the states that I can't seem to find here. I love to crochet my own dish clothes and wash clothes...and I use pretty colours. The only cotton that I have found that is similar in weight is dishcloth cotton and it only comes in white and ecru.
I will have to put together a list before I go.

I won't really know till I get there and see what's what, but I anticipate bringing back:

HV Ranch packets
Glide floss and floss sticks/picks
Comptoir Sud Pacifique 'vanille mokhe' perfume, if I can find it
and probably some stuff from Bath & Body Works.

People have been very kind to me on their travels, and I now have enough Neosporin to last a lifetime, so won't be buying that this time! 

Underwear, socks, salad dressing, Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews and if it were possible, Angelina's Pizza in Braintree, Massachusetts and Uncle Charlie's in Weymouth. God I miss those places.

Big bags of 8 O'Clock Coffee (Just because I absolutely love the stuff, not that you can't decent coffee here, lol)

Hot Tamales (mmm, cinnamon flavoured high fructose corn syrup sweeties)

Chipotle Chilies in Adobo sauce, Zataran's Stuff, Goya Rices and Near East Rices (Just to make life interesting)

Oyster Crackers. (Because all soup needs oyster crackers)

I bring back clothes as well. This is not because I find them cheaper, but rather 1.) Because they have much better clown (aka colourful hippie and/or raver style) clothes in the US and they're available in the sizes I need (FAT!) 2.) There are tons more options for well made, non tatty work clothes for me in the US (in the FAT! sizes I need) 3.) I keep needing to get new clothes every time I am there because I have lost 4 stone (but far more to go  ) and I keep needing to get ones that don't fall off me. 

I will also usually just pick up a GIANTIC bottle or two of contact lens solution if I have room in the case (Can get good contact lens stuff here, just its ££££££)


 

Glide floss!  My mother buys me some every year from BJ's discount club and so we have enough to last the rest of my life.

Mine's probably changed since I posted before.

Kiss My Face soap
Co-wash/Curly Girl supplies
Good hot sauce and some seasonings we can't get here
Packs of tuna (not tins to save on weight)
Pop-over tins
Underwear (including thermals)
Other clothes
Shoes
Sweets (mostly for Mr O, but a load of Swedish fish which I will have Mr O hide somewhere until I get a raging craving for them).

Basically, whenever we go again, I plan for us to go over with an empty suitcase and fill it.  I can live without most of these things, but since we don't go over often, I am going to make the most of the trip when we do.

Why are so many people buying underwear in the US?  What am I missing out on? 

Good hot sauce and some seasonings we can't get here

Oh yes THIS!!!

Why are so many people buying underwear in the US?  What am I missing out on?  

Well I used to buy mine there, before I found a kind I liked here.  Now I tend to buy DH's cotton boxers there (if he needs some) because they're cheaper.

What hot sauces are people still bringing back?  The reason I ask is that I used to stock up on Cholula & others, but so many of them seem to be available here now - certainly Cholula, I heard Chipotle Tabasco has arrived (although I have a bottle so haven't looked), also I found Franks Hot Sauce somewhere awhile back here so I've got 2 bottles of that in the cupboard.

I still have a bottle of Rooster Sauce (Sriracha) in the cupboard that I brought back from the US, but for us - that lasts forever!

And then in the Jamaican section of shops - there are so many interesting hot sauces to choose from, plus there's peri-peri etc.

So wondering what ones we still can't get here (short of mail ordering from import sites)?

OH - I find makeup to be a lot cheaper in the US, btw - but I don't wear much, so not that bothered for myself.

Old Bay Seasoning - another one that comes to mind!

Various other hiking stuff since from REI and LL Bean, it is cheaper, it has the features I want and it is better quality. 

I agree for things like this & just basics - I find quality better over there too.

The underwear here have made me almost go all Jeremy Paxman.  Either they are too expensive, fall apart, weirdly waisted (really low), exactly two styles in my side, weird gusset or a combination of a few.  Maybe there's some source of knickers for big girls here which I am missing, but it sucks trying to find it.  In the US, I know pretty much what I want and where to get it.  Plus, I really like boy short underwear.  I know it's a bit about what's in style now, but I can find ones here which aren't very low waisted.  I don't need them up to my pits, but higher than right above my lady garden.

Thermals are simply cheaper and more widely available in the US.

It's a little hard to look at someone else's list and understand it.  They are, by nature irrational things.  But as for hot sauce, I've never seen Franks here at a reasonable price.

Oh I wear those Sloggis - big granny pants for me! 

When I found the Franks - not 100% recollection, but I think it was at Sainsburys (didn't expect it!) & I didn't think it was too crazy priced - but no idea if it's a consistent thing with them or not.