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British Snackbox

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British Snackbox

Postby mistakened » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:19 am

Among Lidl Cyprus's special offers this week is a British Style Snackbox, it contains fish fingers, chicken strips and potato wedges. Does this reflect the true state if the British Take Away trade?

Moira

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Sloe-Gin » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:37 am

It probably reflects what Lidl think ex-pats miss.
Like the aisles in French supermarkets full of baked beans.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:44 am

There has been much emphasis lately on the fact that the kind of take away which sells those kind of fried goods are often the only shops in what would once have been a row with butcher, greengrocer, grocers etc, particularly in less affluent areas. The lack of youth facilities and prevalence of cheap 'meal deals' means that youth use them as a meeting place and a place where they can get affordable meals. So, yes, there are a lot of takeaways like that. If you have ever seen an advert for a KFC 'boneless bucket' ...... https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/9445505/ ... -box-meal/

You can also get takeaway from decent restaurants, curry houses, kebabs, pizzas and much more. One of our most popular is a local tapas restaurant - they did a roaring takeaway trade during lockdown.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby mistakened » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:52 am

Sloe-Gin wrote:It probably reflects what Lidl think ex-pats miss.

The way that it is listed makes me think that it is directed at the British Cypriots
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Re: British Snackbox

Postby aero280 » Sun Aug 01, 2021 12:24 pm

One of the British things I’ve seen in shops in France, which I have never seen in the UK, is Heinz canned steamed fruit pudding.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 01, 2021 12:29 pm

Oooh, I remember those from the 60s and 70s. I wonder if they'd still seem nice.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Suffs » Sun Aug 01, 2021 1:52 pm

aero280 wrote:One of the British things I’ve seen in shops in France, which I have never seen in the UK, is Heinz canned steamed fruit pudding.



I remember seeing them in shops on campsites ....

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby herbidacious » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:24 pm

South east London suburbs tend to have multiple fried chicken outlets on their high streets. I have a Bajan friend who says that fried chicken is incredibly popular in Barbados, at least, so I wondered whether the ubiquity of them in SE London reflected a quite large afro-Carribean population. But maybe it's the same everywhere.

The British bits of French supermarkets used to have quite od fashioned things, such as mint sauce, and almost always Lipton's tea which we don't really drink in the UK. I can't remember waht else. It's been two years now...
British things were filtering into the mainstream supermarket aisles last time I was there though - cheddar, Tetley tea, Kettle Crisps etc.

I used to read the Normandy section of a website called Anglo-French info a lot and they would frequently have wannabe ex-pats asking what Biritsh food they should take with them when they moved there... depressing.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:33 pm

Marmite? Beef suet? Trying to remember what Joan’s friends used to take her.

The kids have arrived. It’s noisy but they are going camping for two days tomorrow, back Wednesday and then away for a week in Somerset from Friday. So we’ll be getting them in short bursts. We don’t appear to have their father. I presume he’ll appear at some stage.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby herbidacious » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:37 pm

Cheddar used to be on the request list for friends. Sometimes Cadbury's chocolate.

Yes I think I have taken Marmite and Coleman's mustard powder for me (in the grip of a delusion that I might bake some nice savoury things and give them to our French farmer neighbour!) I used to take Azera coffee with me. I am now so hooked on real coffee I doubt I will bother next time I go.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:50 pm

When my friend lived in France and Germany, Seville orange marmalade was much coveted. They were annoyed when some guests from England found some which had been purposely hidden away in the larder and helped themselves copiously.

You might be glad of the short bursts, PP :lol:.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby aero280 » Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:31 pm

We have been asked to take Canderel and sweet chilli sauce.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby northleedsbhoy » Mon Aug 02, 2021 8:27 am

aero280 wrote:One of the British things I’ve seen in shops in France, which I have never seen in the UK, is Heinz canned steamed fruit pudding.


They were sold in Sainsbury’s and other supermarkets up until a few years ago and I think they’ve now stopped production. There were a few varieties such as chocolate, the fruit one you’ve mentioned and my childhood favourite, treacle sponge pudding. My sister and I used to fight over who would scrape the tin lid :lol:. Looks like they stopped producing them in 2014.

Cheers
NLB :thumbsup

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:54 pm

I used to sell the canned steamed puddings in Woolworth's circa 1970, and they were a staple of student life a little later, nothing unusual about them at all
I think there was another brand as well, and there were several varieties - syrup sponge was probably the best, served with a lake of custard

mistakened wrote:Among Lidl Cyprus's special offers this week is a British Style Snackbox, it contains fish fingers, chicken strips and potato wedges. Does this reflect the true state if the British Take Away trade?

Moira


I don't see what this has to do with takeaway? It adds to my sense that these days "snack" means anything not actually a full sit down meal with gravy and so I get confused

But no, fish fingers are not a normal takeaway, though a fish finger sandwich is a common alternative to a burger as a relatively small meal, and potato wedges aren't actually a staple takeaway item either round here, though often found in pubs and diners

I take it these are frozen?

Edited to add I googled and it seems in France Lidl sell an American style snack box that includes onion rings and crispy chicken strips; and in the UK a cheese snack box that includes Brie nuggets; so it's clearly the kind of thing you'd get on an inexpensive sharing platter to have to soak up beer in a pub

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Uschi » Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:12 pm

Over here British weeks at Aldi's or Lidl's have things like baked beans, mixed pickles, shortbread, lime jelly, orange marmalade, wine gums, a few years ago a black tea flavoured with mint and chocolate which was actually very nice.

We are part of Aldi Nord, but Aldi Süd (southern half of Germany) seems to have an even bigger offer. I do not remember seeing the fudge cakes.

https://jedewoche-rabatte.de/aldi-sud/aldi-sud-prospekt-8IsfRIQHYr-43

https://jedewoche-rabatte.de/aldi-sud/aldi-sud-prospekt-8IsfRIQHYr-44

I have completely blocked out the fish and chips. :D

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby aero280 » Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:33 pm

We are staying overnight in a Travelodge in Yorkshire. In the morning we will have the delight of a “Breakfast Box” collected from reception to eat in our room…

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby MagicMarmite » Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:11 am

I've not had one Aero, but I've seen them.
Good luck!

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:01 am

How exciting! I always take my own food.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby aero280 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:47 pm

Well, the Travelodge Breakfast Box was "OK", but not spectacular.

Cornflakes and milk were fine. The bonus being that the milk was not UHT.

The flapjack was light and crumbly, not chewy as I would expect. But tasty enough.

Orange juice was saved for later. We had the tea and coffee already in the room.

The Pin au Chocolate was the worst bit. Sealed in plastic and kept chilled, it was doughy. Not a crispy bit in sight.

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IMG_3856.JPG (124.95 KiB) Viewed 3407 times



The alternative at 7am would have been some snacks from Costco or sandwiches from M&S which had been there from the night before.

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Re: British Snackbox

Postby karadekoolaid » Sat Aug 07, 2021 3:56 am

To be brutally honest, it all looks pretty dire.
And I think they´ve got a nerve to describe something as " pain au chocolat" - in French, in the hope of making it sound slightly "gourmet", when the thing is wrapped in plastic. I´m sure there are some French patissiers out there who are silently screaming !

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