Great Which 'world foods' can you recommend? Hunt

kittenmitten

Buy fine yellow maize meal, it's the same as polenta flour but much cheaper.

topgirl2011

I liked the polish chocolates I bought in Sainsbury's until I noticed that they contained hydrogenated fats. Don't touch them now.

redglass_2

amal83 wrote: »

I'm not sure where you live, but if there are any Arabic food shops or stockists close by, they will sell Halva. Might be worth trying them? Or you could search online for it if not too expensive?

Round here, Halva often turns up in health food/veggie shops, though they're probably not the cheapest place to buy it.

Lidl's little chocolate gingerbread hearts filled with jam are very moreish for a low price. They also used to do rose petal flavoured ice cream, which sounds weird but was delicious. Haven't seen that for a while but maybe in your area they still stock it.

redglass_2

topgirl2011 wrote: »

I liked the polish chocolates I bought in Sainsbury's until I noticed that they contained hydrogenated fats. Don't touch them now.

I'd be surprised if there are any chocolates that don't, tbh.

koolkatsaffi

bauhaus_modern wrote: »

i've been desperate to try many of these foods, but since they're poorly listed for ingredients, i've shunned them so far as i'm terrified of eating animal derived product (i'm vegan). This has inspired me to go to the supermarket with a dictionary to attempt translations and to make a bit more effort to try new things!

Ditto!

I was told some time ago by a relative of my friend that Eiddel chocolate (probably spelt it wrong!) is the Polish version of Cadbury. I got a bar while in my local Polish shop & it was delish & to be honest surpassed Cadbury for me!

Fab thread by the way & timely as with more & more shops of other nationalities popping up. I was actually considering advertising in the local Polish supermarket window for a dual language helper to show me the ropes!

Keep it going folks! :T

bkkmei

loup67 wrote: »

I love the authentic Thai sauces you can find in the World food aisle in Tesco. Mae Ploy green and red curry paste, it's really good, go easy though, it is hot! I think it's about £1.80 for a large pot that keeps in the fridge for ages and I reckon I make about 10 curries for 4 people with it so really good value. Also the coconut milk is much cheaper in this aisle, worth looking out for.
Lee Kum Kee premium soy sauce is also a favourite, 500mls of really tasty soy for £1.40 or so, much nicer than the usual soy and much cheaper too!

Thanks, good to know Tesco stocks these.

I don't have a car so stocking up from the local Chinese supermarket is a real pain.

My local is Sainsburys.

Soy Sauce: their own brand isn't bad. Wish they did big bottles. The Blue Dragon brand is foul for soya sauce. But will try the Lee Kum Kee at Tescos now you have pointed that out.

Rice: Sainsburys used to do a decent own brand long grain white rice, but it's changed and tastes horrible / has v. bad texture. Any ideas what I can do with an opened 1 kg bag of disgusting rice, please let me know. Now I use Tilda Long Grain - I buy a huge 5kg bag which is sometimes reduced to GBP5 at Sainsburys.

May try out a Chinese supermarket delivery service one day...

Mee

loup67 wrote: »

I love the authentic Thai sauces you can find in the World food aisle in Tesco. Mae Ploy green and red curry paste, it's really good, go easy though, it is hot! I think it's about £1.80 for a large pot that keeps in the fridge for ages and I reckon I make about 10 curries for 4 people with it so really good value. Also the coconut milk is much cheaper in this aisle, worth looking out for.
Lee Kum Kee premium soy sauce is also a favourite, 500mls of really tasty soy for £1.40 or so, much nicer than the usual soy and much cheaper too!

Thanks for starting the thread and all the contributions thus far.
As with other food I find I have shop around. Some products such as small bottles of Aloe vera juice are 40% cheaper in my local Korean shop.

Don't forget the frozen section of supermarkets. In Mr. Ts, I've seen some fantastic RtCs and offers on ice cream and savoury products from the Indian sub-continent.

I know there have been recent examples of fake and contaminated food in the UK, but I'm wary of buying anything imported from some countries or when the ingredients are in doubt.

juliamarsh

I agree about the coconut milk, in Tesco it is much cheaper if you get it from the World Food section than the other part of the store, and so is oyster sauce and Thai sweet chilli sauce. For soy sauce, you can buy a huge 2 litre plastic carton of Kikkoman (which is the best soy sauce IMHO) in Costco, much cheaper overall than those silly little bottles in the supermarket.

starxtrouble

I'm vegetarian and use a lot of tinned chickpeas. The ones in the ethnic aisle (i think its east end atm, tescos keep changing the brand) are always about 1/2 the price of tescos own and are a lot fatter and nicer.

drjonabmw

Lidl and Aldi are both German supermarkets but Lidl is by far the one that offers the best range of German foods, particularly sliced cold meats and salads. They just don't sound so good in English. Meat salad does not sound as tasty as fleischsalat, but it is every bit as good as that which I bought in German shops over a 30 year period. Pickles, biscuits etc. are all a taste of Germany. We also have a good range of other European foods periodically - Polish, Greek, Spanish. I subscribe to their special offer email and get advance warning of other things like halva.
Polish shops are very common in Peterborough and a great Chinese supermarket. Prices are exceptionally good.