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SandwichShortOfAPicnic

SandwichShortOfAPicnic

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The standard inventory in most supermarkets follows the same popular well worn commonalities.
Sometimes there’s a supermarket that carries a larger more diverse range where you know you’ll be able to get for example coffee beans grown in the outer Hebrides 😆 but sometimes especially if you like to cook it’s an ingredient that is not popular enough to be carried.

What things do you have to go to a specific supermarket or shop to buy?
What things do you end up ordering online and when you do who do you use?
 
Too much to mention :wink:
Online ordering doesn't work here. Maybe it does in the capital, but not where I am.
To reduce the amount, I'll only mention items I would like visitors from the Netherlands to bring for me.
Borrelnootjes (coated peanuts)
Muntendrop (liquorice shaped like coins)
Boemboe nasi goreng (spice mixture)
Kroepoek (prawn crackers, not yet fried)
Emping (same but from Melidjo nut)
Douwe Egberts coffee
Overaged Gouda cheese
Anchovies in olive oil
Ketjap manis
Dry sherry
 
badjak said:
Too much to mention :wink:
Online ordering doesn't work here. Maybe it does in the capital, but not where I am.
To reduce the amount, I'll only mention items I would like visitors from the Netherlands to bring for me.
Borrelnootjes (coated peanuts)
Muntendrop (liquorice shaped like coins)
Boemboe nasi goreng (spice mixture)
Kroepoek (prawn crackers, not yet fried)
Emping (same but from Melidjo nut)
Douwe Egberts coffee
Overaged Gouda cheese
Anchovies in olive oil
Ketjap manis
Dry sherry
Click to expand...
I’d like some of all of that apart from the ‘Muntendrop’ which I think are like our ‘pontefract cakes’ and I’ve never tired Borrelnootjes or Emping?
Could you get some of it sent to an amazon locker it in the nearest town and pick it up next time you’re near civilisation?

I think I read a while back that ketjap manis is relatively easy to make 🤷‍♀️
 
This is an excellent topic!

Sadly, I’m one of those folks who can’t think of anything when I’m put on the spot, but later, when I don’t have my phone handy, I’ll remember six things. It should be easy, because I do go to several stores for specific things, but now that I’m asked… 🤷🏻‍♂️

Online ordering…no. I draw the line at ordering in an ingredient. I may have done it before, but not that I can remember. I don’t like ordering anything, really, and it’s always a last resort - I do order MrsT’s special decaf coffee, though, but that’s for her.
 
Writing as things occur…

Most British products I get from the international market, so crisps, back bacon, and tea mainly. While there, I also pick up a caramel apple for MrsT and usually something from their extensive beer section.

I’ve also gotten mace there, as that’s not something Kroger would ever carry, and some specific French dried bean I wanted for one recipe or the other.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
What things do you have to go to a specific supermarket or shop to buy?
What things do you end up ordering online and when you do who do you use?
Click to expand...
I don't do "online", because I like to see and feel the products I'm buying, especially vegetables. A picture is never going to be good enough. I might also mention that delivery service in Caracas is not exactly high class; the order usually arrives (if it arrives at all) on the back of a motorcycle.
I go to the Chacao Market if I want something out of the ordinary; wildly coloured cherry tomatoes, courgette flowers, baby artichokes, cayenne or jalapeño chiles, etc. I might also buy some spices there ( I can get fenugreek, black mustard seeds, mace, cardamom, although at a price).
Then there's the Chinese/Asian supermarket near the Country Club. I try to avoid going there because I spend far too much money every time I go :laugh: , but I'll pick up things like glass noodles, gyozas, wonton wrappers, bamboo shoots, Szechuan hot sauces, etc.
If I get the urge to cook Middle Eastern food, then it's off to El Arabito. Typically, phyllo pastry, wonderful Lebanese cracked olives, tahini and feta cheese.
For imported stuff, there are a couple of (expensive) supermarkets, so if I feel the urge for baked beans or Lindt chocolate, that's where I'll go.
 
Brilliant topic!

In general I can easily access most of my immediate grocery needs.

Vegan yoghurts.

I used to fetch the wider selection, fairer prices at a bigger shop within a 10min walk, or some bio shops within 30 min reach.

Hand-made gluten free cookies

When I am rewarding or consoling myself, I walk 5 minutes or within 30 min.

Vegan ice-cream

3 shops within 10min walk have those.

A wider gluten free flour selection, other dairy free items or sushi items, Asian condiments etc.

Within 20 to 40 min reach plenty

Yoghurt vegan ferment

Ordered from Amazon. On my task list to find it locally in a shop

Coconut cream ( 1 Liter)
Not found in store yet. To continue search. Reluctant to order online, but not excluded.

If I think of other items, will add.
 
There are also certain brands of things I like that only one store will carry, like Swaggerty’s breakfast sausage (Meijer).

We used to have a supermarket that was based out of Cleveland, and that opened a whole new set of products to me that I’d never had before, especially sausages and other meats from Cleveland butchers that normally isn’t available down where I’m at (3-4 hours south of Cleveland).

Then there’s the stuff we get from the Mom-and-Pop shops, like the lunchmeats and cheeses I’ve posted recently…the doughnuts from the Amish bakery, etc.
 
I buy things locally if possible but I’m happy to use the modern world to deliver ingredients I just would not otherwise get to try or cook with. I think my POV might differ to a few on here 🤷‍♀️

For example the dried Jujubes I ordered (which I’ve still not tried), I could sub them with dates but then I wouldn’t know what the dish was really supposed to taste like and life’s too short not to know what jujubes taste like 😂
Plus I’d just be buying the dates from a supermarket who sourced them from another country and flew them gawd knows how many miles anyway and I don’t have a lot of time for the way supermarkets treat their suppliers.

Where as buying direct from a small supplier online is IMO good all round.
And even then if they’re using a marketplace platform like amazon who take a cut it’s still not as bad as the treatment producers can be on the receiving end of from the supermarkets who dictate the price and squeeze as hard as they can. The farmers protests globally at their cut throat polices driving them into the ground doesn’t make my local supermarket more appealing than say ordering chocolate online from that little chocolate shop in Wales that deserves patronage.

I dunno I think perhaps it’s horses for courses!
 
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SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
I’d like some of all of that apart from the ‘Muntendrop’ which I think are like our ‘pontefract cakes’ and I’ve never tired Borrelnootjes or Emping?
Could you get some of it sent to an amazon locker it in the nearest town and pick it up next time you’re near civilisation?

I think I read a while back that ketjap manis is relatively easy to make 🤷‍♀️
Click to expand...

Online won't work, but I don't mind. I'll appreciate it more when I can get them, or I find an alternative ,(if possible)
Muntendrop: Muntendrop — Holland American Bakery
Borrelnootjes: Duyvis Cocktail Borrelnootjes coated peanut snacks

Emping is a bit like prawn crackers, but slightly bitter and they don't swell up as much when you deep fry them.

It's mosly Indonesian items that I miss
 
badjak said:
Online won't work, but I don't mind. I'll appreciate it more when I can get them, or I find an alternative ,(if possible)
Muntendrop: Muntendrop — Holland American Bakery
Borrelnootjes: Duyvis Cocktail Borrelnootjes coated peanut snacks

Emping is a bit like prawn crackers, but slightly bitter and they don't swell up as much when you deep fry them.

It's mosly Indonesian items that I miss
Click to expand...
Ah yes those are very similar to pontefract cakes 👍
I like prawn crackers so I’m curious to to try the Emping.
 
We get things like truffles, foie gras, escargot, caviar, frozen or dried porcini at the store where the rich folk's chefs go to provision their yachts.

Although we can get a lot of Asian ingredients in the regular grocery stores, I prefer to go to the Asian markets since the selection, quality and prices are better. Same with the Latin markets and Persian markets.

I do order hard to find locally or a very long drive down into Miami dried chiles like kashmiri, ghost, scorpion, etc. I'll also order some hard to find cheeses on occasion.

Since we live in such a large metropolitan area, we can get just about anything we want. It's basically a matter of how far we are willing to drive, and there are times I'd just rather click a few times and wait for it to be delivered to the house.
 
medtran49 said:
We get things like truffles, foie gras, escargot, caviar, frozen or dried porcini at the store where the rich folk's chefs go to provision their yachts.

Although we can get a lot of Asian ingredients in the regular grocery stores, I prefer to go to the Asian markets since the selection, quality and prices are better. Same with the Latin markets and Persian markets.

I do order hard to find locally or a very long drive down into Miami dried chiles like kashmiri, ghost, scorpion, etc. I'll also order some hard to find cheeses on occasion.

Since we live in such a large metropolitan area, we can get just about anything we want. It's basically a matter of how far we are willing to drive, and there are times I'd just rather click a few times and wait for it to be delivered to the house.
Click to expand...
My dream location!
 
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