Where to buy?

One of the things I'm missing most in Australia is the food and drink available in the UK. For example Kettle Chips just aren't the same, but I discovered the IKEA brand of crisps taste like the nice thick crispy ones they don't seem to sell over here. I miss sweets like fizzy cola bottles, fizzy dummies etc. I've found some specialist 'lolly shops', which help. Currently I'm missing passion fruit juice and lime juice (not cordial) - any ideas where I can buy these from (online, shop etc?), I'm in Sydney.

Would also love to know where I can buy other UK things that are not available easily, I know Coles have a limited selection. Thanks!

TBH over time you do adjust and find new things you like here and the things you are used to from the UK tend to fall by the wayside. Sure some things like Marmite or a fizzy drink like Irn Bru are not going to be replaced but most things you find Aus alternatives for. I loved Kettle chips in the UK but buy a different premium brand over here and enjoy them just as much. Also if you don't eat Kettle chips here for say 6 months, when you do eat the Aus ones you probably won't even be able to notice the difference in texture or taste anymore or its much less noticeable.

Many things I found tasted different here under the same make and name, 3 years on, I eat the Aus versions without any issue or dislike. A few things I will still buy from the UK are Marmite and Bisto but other than that, I've moved over to the Aus stock.

If you really want to throw money at UK goods then use online sites and pay the premium to get them shipped over. In the long term though hopefully you'll find some Aus things that will be popular with your tastebuds. Airmiles and costs are going to mount up otherwise :cute:

Didn't it occur to you that as you were going to live in a different country that the food available could well be different also. You could make your own fruit juice if you can't find any to your liking, there is plenty of fresh fruit available. However, if you intend to stay, it might be a good idea if you try to get used to Australian food,

Allen's should do most of the gummy/sweetie things that you're after, I'd have thought. Any Woolies or Coles will have them, and other similar items by other manufacturers.

As you are in Sydney, there's also a 'British Shop' on in the Piccadilly Arcade on Pitt St in CBD (think it's call called Treats from Home). Have only been there once and that was before I moved to Aus permanently. Apparently there's a British 'Lolly Shop' in the Harbourside complex on Pyrmont side of Darling Harbour.

I'd say it would be cheaper and easier to find local equivalents though, or just wait for a treat the next time you're in the UK or someone comes over to visit.

No offence to the OP but I find that without exception the 'foodstuffs' missed by Brits, on this site and other groups I belong to, are junk food.

You can get the fizzycola bottles here:

http://www.britishsweets.com.au/UK-Food/Sweets/page/2

There are several suppliers of British foods in Oz - have you googled them?

Fizzy cola bottles and lollys can be bought at any shop, Haribo make them.

Woolworths and Coles also have a uk section with lots of different goodies and are cheaper than the British shops.

Cal x

Surely part of moving to another country is to try other foods and treats?

I am sure that the OP has tried local food. It doesn't mean that they cannot miss junk food from home that they would like now and again.

Should I not watch the Premier League now as there is soccer in Australia?

Local IGA's (larger ones) have random British stuff (my wife was delighted to find Polo's the other week). The Reject Shop has recently been importing Cadburys (e.g. 4 x Wispa / Double Decker/ Flake / Dairy Milk etc etc) for $3.

There are a few online places but each wants a good profit out of you and from my very limited experience it arrives on its best before date and not fresh. Who wants to pay triple price for something that doesn't even taste right.

I am on the lookout for Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup for my wife. She has tried all kinds but that is still her preference.

I am sure that the OP has tried local food. It doesn't mean that they cannot miss junk food from home that they would like now and again.

 

Should I not watch the Premier League now as there is soccer in Australia?

 

Local IGA's (larger ones) have random British stuff (my wife was delighted to find Polo's the other week). The Reject Shop has recently been importing Cadburys (e.g. 4 x Wispa / Double Decker/ Flake / Dairy Milk etc etc) for $3.

 

There are a few online places but each wants a good profit out of you and from my very limited experience it arrives on its best before date and not fresh. Who wants to pay triple price for something that doesn't even taste right.

 

I am on the lookout for Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup for my wife. She has tried all kinds but that is still her preference.

NO! you should not watch Premier League.....You really should watch Rugby league:tongue:.

Have you tried the 'Rosella' tom soup? (with a little milk mixed in)

Wow, bit harsh some of the comments! I love trying new foods and have tried many since coming to Australia (including lots of fruit and vegetables I'd never heard of before!), as well as on my travels in Asia. However there are somethings which to my taste, just aren't as good! I really don't like Australian sweets/lollies and chocolate, Allens for example I just don't like. After a year I just about got used to Crunchies - other Dairy Milk, no thanks! In terms of sweets yes, I mostly buy Haribo but their fizzy cola bottles just aren't as good as the old British penny sweet/ pick and mix ones! I've been away 18 months and still can't get the taste for Australian crisps, yes I eat them but they are just not as good in my opinion - even Pringles for instance taste different - I actually prefer the salt and vinegar version here (in the UK the original ones are my favourite!). Mostly I just live without that stuff that I love - onion bagels, caramelised onion sausages, caramelised onion cheese (I actually found this in Woolworths today I was so excited!), proper Dairy Milk, but sometimes there's nothing like the real thing!! I occasionally get my fish and chip fix at the Traditional Fish and Chip Shop and get a can of Lilt etc to wash it down with. In terms of other types of food, turns out I just prefer Westernised Chinese and Indian food. I also really don't like chicken thigh that comes in the food here - I much prefer chicken breast.

No, I haven't paid to have anything imported or bought anything online yet, but I have been to the British Lolly shop in Darling Harbour - I will check the one on Pitt Street out thanks, I haven't been to that yet. I did find Drumstick lollies in The Reject Shop (they weren't the freshest but were still great!), so will keep an eye out thanks! I will check out IGA thanks, I've not been to any of the larger ones. I actually don't mind the Heinz tomato soup here, it's the chicken one I miss! I have just learned to live without it, but it would be nice to have when feeling ill.

Yes, it is mostly junk food I miss, because I cook from scratch a lot I can pretty much make what I like (except for anything with Spanish chorizo in - still looking to find a substitute for that the Australian version is vile - the flavour is severely lacking!). I've tried visiting Spanish delis and just cannot find a comparison, that I actually wonder if it is illegal to import it or something.

On the fruit juice note, yes I could just squeeze limes, but a) they are expensive here and b) it's so much easier out of a bottle!! And yes there are many lovely fruit juices here, I do drink other juices, and I love that I can get fresh passions fruits a lot cheaper but I really miss a good 'Porn Star Martini' cocktail, hence wanting to find passion fruit juice!!

I don't intend to stay more than a few years, I've found I have a new appreciation for my hometown (just wish it was a bit warmer!), and unfortunately Australia is just not for me permanently. I'm trying to enjoy it while I'm here (and yes try lots of new food etc), I just like my home comforts once in a while!

I just like my home comforts once in a while!

Fair play :wink:

I'm sure all have things we sometimes miss or crave. I've got Cadbury's Giant Buttons and Munchies on my shopping list for when I go back to the UK in May! I don't miss them as such, but want to take advantage of being able to buy them easily and cheaply. In the meantime, I'm doing my waistline a favour by avoiding most of the Australia chocolate... apart from an occasional trip into Haigh's (which I try to avoid doing too frequently!).

You do have to trial and error and shop around to find some things that are near to equal on your tongue. Aldi Plain crisps are the best tasting for us, but then it does depend on the potato crop used and, with me especially, too much salt can ruin the flavor, but that applies to any crisps (bring back the blue bag!). The only anglo things we get are bisto gravy - granules and powder, paxo stuffing mix, and English cheese, (which Linda likes in her sandwich).

One other thing everyone should try is Mrs Balls Original Chutney (Coles and IGA), it is South African but is delicious with cheese, spam, as a salad dressing and however else takes your fancy.

I can understand the need for a comfort/junk food fix, I used to do it when we first got here. It wears off though when you start paying $100 every week for crisps and sweets. Plus, another poster is right, couple of years down the line, it tends to make no difference. In fact, similar to this topic, after spending my first few years here yearning for a British Chinese, I went back last year and found it greasy and stodgy so tastes and palate do change I reckon.

Wow, bit harsh some of the comments! I love trying new foods and have tried many since coming to Australia (including lots of fruit and vegetables I'd never heard of before!), as well as on my travels in Asia. However there are somethings which to my taste, just aren't as good! I really don't like Australian sweets/lollies and chocolate, Allens for example I just don't like. After a year I just about got used to Crunchies - other Dairy Milk, no thanks! In terms of sweets yes, I mostly buy Haribo but their fizzy cola bottles just aren't as good as the old British penny sweet/ pick and mix ones! I've been away 18 months and still can't get the taste for Australian crisps, yes I eat them but they are just not as good in my opinion - even Pringles for instance taste different - I actually prefer the salt and vinegar version here (in the UK the original ones are my favourite!). Mostly I just live without that stuff that I love - onion bagels, caramelised onion sausages, caramelised onion cheese (I actually found this in Woolworths today I was so excited!), proper Dairy Milk, but sometimes there's nothing like the real thing!! I occasionally get my fish and chip fix at the Traditional Fish and Chip Shop and get a can of Lilt etc to wash it down with. In terms of other types of food, turns out I just prefer Westernised Chinese and Indian food. I also really don't like chicken thigh that comes in the food here - I much prefer chicken breast.

 

No, I haven't paid to have anything imported or bought anything online yet, but I have been to the British Lolly shop in Darling Harbour - I will check the one on Pitt Street out thanks, I haven't been to that yet. I did find Drumstick lollies in The Reject Shop (they weren't the freshest but were still great!), so will keep an eye out thanks! I will check out IGA thanks, I've not been to any of the larger ones. I actually don't mind the Heinz tomato soup here, it's the chicken one I miss! I have just learned to live without it, but it would be nice to have when feeling ill.

 

Yes, it is mostly junk food I miss, because I cook from scratch a lot I can pretty much make what I like (except for anything with Spanish chorizo in - still looking to find a substitute for that the Australian version is vile - the flavour is severely lacking!). I've tried visiting Spanish delis and just cannot find a comparison, that I actually wonder if it is illegal to import it or something.

 

On the fruit juice note, yes I could just squeeze limes, but a) they are expensive here and b) it's so much easier out of a bottle!! And yes there are many lovely fruit juices here, I do drink other juices, and I love that I can get fresh passions fruits a lot cheaper but I really miss a good 'Porn Star Martini' cocktail, hence wanting to find passion fruit juice!!

 

I don't intend to stay more than a few years, I've found I have a new appreciation for my hometown (just wish it was a bit warmer!), and unfortunately Australia is just not for me permanently. I'm trying to enjoy it while I'm here (and yes try lots of new food etc), I just like my home comforts once in a while!

Yes, some of the comments were a bit harsh. You'll be pleased to know that you are not unusual in wanting stuff from home! I am not in Australia (yet) and have never lived there, but I did live in Luxembourg for fifteen years where, although it is relatively close to the UK, there was a thriving English shop, where two of their best sellers were Heinz beans and white sliced bread. :smile: When we visited our parents we used to go home with the car packed with all things UK, including paint and wallpaper the year we bought our house. People like what they like - our personal top imports from home were macvities chocolate digestives and UK bacon! It doesn't mean you haven't settled, or that you're unwilling to try new things. Just means you like a taste of home now and again and unfortunately you aren't in a position to drive back with a car boot full of biscuits and Heinz baked beans. Hope you find what you're after and enjoy it when you do!

Have a look at Taste of Ireland. They have an online retail shop, a warehouse shop in Botany in Sydney, they also supply some stuff to Coles & Woolies and various pubs (cant beat Tayto Cheese & Onion)

The chocolate in Aldi is a lot nicer than the Aussie stuff, mostly Choceur (they have a lovely choc orange nought - like a cross between chocolate orange and toblerone) and Riesens are great.

Have a look at Taste of Ireland. They have an online retail shop, a warehouse shop in Botany in Sydney, they also supply some stuff to Coles & Woolies and various pubs (cant beat Tayto Cheese & Onion)

 

The chocolate in Aldi is a lot nicer than the Aussie stuff, mostly Choceur (they have a lovely choc orange nought - like a cross between chocolate orange and toblerone) and Riesens are great.

Youre right about the chocolate in Aldi! Have you tried the salty one? Its fantastic.

Wow, bit harsh some of the comments!

Yeah, agree

Yes, it is mostly junk food I miss, because I cook from scratch a lot I can pretty much make what I like (except for anything with Spanish chorizo in - still looking to find a substitute for that the Australian version is vile - the flavour is severely lacking!). I've tried visiting Spanish delis and just cannot find a comparison, that I actually wonder if it is illegal to import it or something

http://www.rodriguezbros.com.au/

The only place I have found, but it's a schlep. I can rarely be bothered. Son's best friend is half Venezuelan, half Spanish, his Spanish dad usually has some so I tend to scrounge

The range in all supermarkets can vary a bit depending on local demographic. For instance our local IGA (borders of Turramurra and Wahroonga) has South African and English gear in, as does Woolworths in Hornsby. The big IGA in St Ives has tons of South African stuff as there's a big community up there. So look for the areas with loads of Poms and you'll find more on the shelves. Depends where you are of course, but big Pommie areas are Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs, Upper North Shore, some of the Inner West suburbs

EDIT: The only UK things we bother with now are Marmite and Bisto gravy. Both of these are the wife's preference, given my way I'd ban the first and I make my own gravy for anything that requires it, which in my world is only roast dinner & bangers/mash anyway. That doesn't mean I'm completely Australian in my tastes - the correct meat for a sausage is, of course, pork - but I don't crave anything enough to require buying it.

I did buy the wife a packet of Revels in Woolies yesterday though for our wedding anniversary

Our Aldi had a British week a few months ago so I stocked up on Bisto [emoji23]

I miss uk cadburys but not much else food wise. I do order some things from British corner shop online though. Germolene antiseptic cream and carex hand wash haha

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Coles do a continental chorizo at the deli which is the best I've tried here. They often have white stuff on the outside which makes them look off but they are fine. If you have tried these then I don't have any other suggestions. I don't eat sweets (don't like them rather than any heathy eating reasons) so can't help there but we used to eat kettle chips and do like the Red Rock Deli crisps here. Not quite kettle chips but probably my favourites of the ones I've tried here.

Lime and passion fruit juice sounds interesting. I don't remember ever seeing it in the UK, and certainly don't think I've seen it here, but I might just try it next time I'm in the UK.

I've been caught out, on my long holidays in Sydney, by buying things that turn out to be not what I thought they were ... E.g. I bravely invited daughter and partner to dinner and tried to make mozzarella salad because hey, nothing can go wrong with mozzarella salad ... But the mozzarella was dry and rubbery and my daughter told me I should have bought ... Erm .... Was it buffalo cheese? Ditto double cream which turned out not to be double enough, what I eventually found was something going by the wonderful name of "dollop"

Yeah, agree

 

 

http://www.rodriguezbros.com.au/

 

The only place I have found, but it's a schlep. I can rarely be bothered. Son's best friend is half Venezuelan, half Spanish, his Spanish dad usually has some so I tend to scrounge

 

 

The range in all supermarkets can vary a bit depending on local demographic. For instance our local IGA (borders of Turramurra and Wahroonga) has South African and English gear in, as does Woolworths in Hornsby. The big IGA in St Ives has tons of South African stuff as there's a big community up there. So look for the areas with loads of Poms and you'll find more on the shelves. Depends where you are of course, but big Pommie areas are Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs, Upper North Shore, some of the Inner West suburbs

 

EDIT: The only UK things we bother with now are Marmite and Bisto gravy. Both of these are the wife's preference, given my way I'd ban the first and I make my own gravy for anything that requires it, which in my world is only roast dinner & bangers/mash anyway. That doesn't mean I'm completely Australian in my tastes - the correct meat for a sausage is, of course, pork - but I don't crave anything enough to require buying it.

 

I did buy the wife a packet of Revels in Woolies yesterday though for our wedding anniversary

I don't like beef or anything other than pork sausages, I was really surprised to see these over here. Not sure why of course. The only thing I would pay stupidly over the odds for would be a decent pasty!

Its strange how our palates adjust . There is a big push on to avoid sugar here now and I notice that a lot of sugary junk stuff is not so available now. I find most soft drinks absolutely vile here so rarely drink them. I was given a bottle of Pimms at Christmas and I chucked it down the sink, horrible nasty stuff. I used to like timtams but had one the other day and felt like throwing up.

Its strange how our palates adjust . There is a big push on to avoid sugar here now and I notice that a lot of sugary junk stuff is not so available now. I find most soft drinks absolutely vile here so rarely drink them. I was given a bottle of Pimms at Christmas and I chucked it down the sink, horrible nasty stuff. I used to like timtams but had one the other day and felt like throwing up.

Funny, when I first visited Oz twelve years ago I loved Tim tams but earlier this year we visited and I found them far too sickly, I decided they'd changed the recipe but maybe it's me! Btw the one thing I know I'm going to miss is - don't laugh - rich tea biscuits. Tried just about every pack of plain biscuits in woollies last trip but the were all like rocks. Still, when the time comes, I expect we'll survive :wink:

Other than Coles, Sweet Success have a British section and The Reject Shop can have a bit, although it can be very hit and miss.

Being back in the U.K. for Christmas I was able to find a whole sheet of Bacon Fries for her. She even managed to bring half of them home.