British Snackbox

[ZeroCook Profile]

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It is pretty dire! But it always has been for as long as I can recall. A lot of those old British brands aren't British anymore, of course - more to do with a retro marketing idea of what British food is than what it actually is.

I shop at this establishment - basically for their Italian roast coffee - and was shown their British food gift boxes a while back when checking to see if marmite was back in stock.
https://www.worldmarket.com/search.do?query=british+box
I wouldn't consider bothering with much in those boxes but that's just me. Not very to my taste and I never miss much anyway. But I think that's probably true of a lot of people. I think I'd be mortified if I was given one of those boxes! I do buy water biscuits occasionally and Colemans dry mustard from that shop and mainly get continental items like German volkornbrot, proper Italian pasta, Spanish and Greek olives and anchovies etc. but I'm in a generic food desert and certain European items are hard to find. I and family members go to M&S pre leaving UK to stock up on Earl Grey tea (waaay better than Twinings). My sister also likes industrial sized boxes of PG Tips builders tea bags which are not available in Spain. She also stocks up on Asian spices and ingredients.

Online expat items are pretty common these days - I use a Dutch website to satisfy my licorice cravings once in a while.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Love the 'Ploughman's' in your link, ZC. Add your own bread and cheese - the main ingredients!

I am reminded of hampers you could order in Australia to be despatched to friends in the UK in the 60s. We were recipients on several occasions. They included things like a whole tinned chicken, tinned sausage rolls ready to pop into the oven and other things we'd never seen before or since. They were surprisingly good actually!

Your breakfast looks real gourmet stuff, aero . I take instant porridge and fruit these days. Cheaper motels in the USA used to (and I imagine still do) offer wrapped cakes like that and coffee as breakfast, sometimes with supervision to make sure you didn't take more than your share.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

A “pain au chocolate” or croissant refrigerated until it sticks to the roof of your mouth like peanut butter is a staple of chain coffee shops, which is a shame as most are edible if not inspired when gently heated. Sadly you get them in France too now. Never understand why Costa, Starbucks, Nero et al can’t heat them, they usually manage it on planes

That breakfast box is awful, I hate cornflakes, wouldn’t want the flapjack for breakfast, would rather take my chances in a motorway services

[herbidacious Profile]

A lot of things I thought were British, growing up, weren't British at all and I still get caught out. I should have twigged that Kettle Chips were American. But, of course, the young ones use so much American in their speech, these days, one can't tell anymore.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

So much sugar in that Travelodge box. Yuk.

[miss mouse Profile]

So much sugar in that Travelodge box. Yuk.

That was my reaction, and then semi-skimmed milk, the final insult.

[scullion Profile]

from the 'ploughman's' box, on that site, the only thing i've had in a ploughman's, at a pub, is the pickled onion. they have alway's come with sweet pickle (like branston) rather than piccalilli. i wonder why they didn't go the whole hog and put in tinned cheddar - i know it's available - i've had some in jamaica (imported from the states - not brilliant), and a pack of parbaked bread? they could have taken out the bottle of squash and the mustard (that's already in the piccalilli, anyway!) if the weight is an issue.
and jarred double cream? never heard of it. if it tastes like the tinned stuff we had in the cupboard when i was little it would put american tourists off having a cream tea forever!

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Plumrose tinned whipped cream with bread and jam was considered a huge treat when I was a child. I rather think I'd still like it!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I missed ZeroCook’s link

Not even good brands - Duerr’s mustard? English mustard IS Colman’s- even Wetherspoons had to go to that after customers objected to Heinz

We loved tinned cream when I was a child, but not sure I’d be enamoured now

[Suffs Profile]

There was always a tin or two of cream in the cupboard when I was a child … in case of visitors … but we were 8 miles from a grocery store of any sort, Ma didn’t drive, and we didn’t have a fridge.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I did have a recipe for a no churn ice cream made with tinned cream, that I remember as being good p, not that different from recipes using condensed milk as an emulsifying base