Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Scottish Grocery Experience: American Comfort Foods


Sorry for being MIA last week. Jonathan or I (or both) were bedridden for most of the week which didn’t leave much energy for blogging. Plus, I left the house a total of 4 times Monday-Friday which didn’t provide many topics worth documenting. Most of the week consisted speeding through the first 3 seasons of Friends, and catching up on the 3rd season of Downton Abbey. 
I watched more TV last week then I did in the past year combined. Not only were we sick, but when the weather looks like this all week, you have extra motivation to stay in your jammies.
The worst part about being sick is probably the homesickness. When you’re miserable and lacking much of an appetite, you crave those old comfort foods you grew up with. For me, it was for Mac and Cheese, Chicken Noodle Soup, Saltine Crackers and American Cheese. 

Yesterday I felt up to making an excursion to Wowzie, which is a store downtown that sells American junk food at exorbitant prices. But I was desperate, and therefore didn’t flinch at the price tags for some Kraft macaroni, Velveeta cheese, Apple Jacks (impulse buy), and blow pops (secondary impulse buy). 
It wasn’t until I got home that I discovered that all of these products were hovering right around their expiration date. Which is pretty scary since I consider most of these items to be basically ‘non-perishable’.  How old  does Velveeta ‘cheese’ need to be exactly before it expires? Because this block goes bad next week. Which by my estimations, means it must be at least 14 years old. Scary. I better think of an occasion to make queso dip really soon. 

The Apple Jacks are technically past their ‘best by’ date, but I just had a bowl, and though a tad stale, they were totally edible and delicious. I doubt they’ll last for more than a week in this house. 

The main reason I made the outing was for Kraft Mac and Cheese, only to discover that they only had one lonely box in stock. I still have a month before it goes bad, so I will choose the time of my indulgence carefully.  But hey, if any of you would ever like to send me a care package of Easy Mac, that would be highly appreciated. Anybody? You Americans don’t know just how good you have it…

Though I did find this Kraft ‘Cheesy Pasta’ at Tesco yesterday morning, and it turned out to be a pretty tasty substitute. 
Good to know, especially since it’s manufactured in the UK and therefore costs about 1/5 of the price of the real American stuff. 
Looks the same.

Tastes the same!
Too bad they had to go and ruin it by putting a recipe for tuna macaroni on the back of the box. Yuck!
 
What are your go-to comfort foods when you’re bed ridden?

6 comments:

  1. Funny, Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese is easily available here and its not too expensive. Probably less than the 'Deen. Come visit and I'll give you loads to take back home:)

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  2. Sprite, tea, and crackers... although, I eat crackers constantly even if I'm not sick.

    So, what you're saying is that you are having a mahjong-queso-tea party??? I'm in!! :-)

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  3. I just laughed out loud! Hahahahaa! How old does it need to be?!?!

    Those prices are extortion. When I go into those shops I just want to stand up on a soap box and scream obscenities! Especially if the items are nearing their sell by date!!!

    But...sometimes you just NEED goldfish crackers and a butterfinger.

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  4. Have you checked out amazon.co.uk for things like mac and cheese? They are ridiculously expensive on the german amazon, but maybe it's not so bad on the UK one. Of course it's not instant gratification, but the mac and cheese comes to you!

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  5. Jello! The boxes mix that you boil and make in a glass dish. Takes me back to sick days in 3rd grade

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  6. Send me an email on how you watch Downton Abbey. I'm interested in starting it.

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