# Bringing over few home comforts? (food wise)



## Laduree (Aug 20, 2015)

Hi all, 

we have our move date (next week) just wondering if any of you bothered bringing over any food items when you moved over?

Were definitely not a 'sausage and mash' only type of Brit couple hahah, but I was thinking of packing a big jar of marmite a few boxes or vanilla instant coffee and some parma violets as a home comfort treat. 

What did you bring, if anything or what do you wish you took hahah? 

I'm guessing you can pack these items in check in luggage?


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

Welcome,

Parma violets, never seen them here - but i don't hang around sweet aisles - pretty much everything else you'll find here, Marmite, Seabrooks Crisps too, don't know what valilla coffee even is!

Thing is, yes i know you like home comforts. but surely some of the fun and adventure of moving to another country is buying the local stuff?

Spinneys is here, Waitrose is here, Tescos are even here (In Choitrams), so you really won't have a problem, we're not in a third world country where shopping and conspicuous consumption is involved....


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Laduree said:


> Hi all,
> 
> we have our move date (next week) just wondering if any of you bothered bringing over any food items when you moved over?
> 
> ...


Hi,
You can get most things here but sometimes it can be a bit feast and famine.
At the moment, you can't seem to get Oxo cubes here - so make sure you bring those, if you use them.
I have never seen Birds custard or trifle mixes here - so we bring those over with us.
My wife drinks Milicano coffee - that is now available in Spinneys but is nearly £8 per tin - so we stock up with these when in the UK.
McVities Rich Tea biscuits are not available here.
Cheers
Steve


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## Laduree (Aug 20, 2015)

The Rascal said:


> Welcome,
> 
> Parma violets, never seen them here - but i don't hang around sweet aisles - pretty much everything else you'll find here, Marmite, Seabrooks Crisps too, don't know what valilla coffee even is!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info - 

Wasn't suggesting for a second thats it third world hahah - I think its a little fun to bring over a few bits from the £1 shop. 

We have been to Dubai many times, last time I was there for a month so no shocks! We will be staying in a hotel for a few weeks before we get a place so not sure we will actually do much food shopping for a while. 

P.s Vanilla coffee is Nescafe sachets of coffee with a hint of vanilla (you don't know what you have been missing!) add hot water Voilà . Not suggesting there is any coffee shops haha but for the hotel it might work.


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## A.Abbass (Jun 28, 2014)

Why don't you come and try new stuff instead


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## Laduree (Aug 20, 2015)

A.Abbass said:


> Why don't you come and try new stuff instead


Brilliant thanks


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

You can pretty much get everything save the odd item out here. The difference is that you pay more and in some cases quite a lot more. Sometimes you'll see the UK price as part of the packaging and the UAE price is 3-4 times more! This is particularly the case for imported frozen products.

The other challenge is that you see something in the shop and it looks like a standard item but next week it's gone and it's not restocked for six months! Or ever!

For me, what I miss the most from the UK is good quality produce at reasonable prices. So much of the produce here is bland and unremarkable. And the selection of British cheese isn't as good as it should be (why the heck don't the markets carry proper cheddar?!?! If they can have a smorgasbord of fancy French or Italian cheese despite that the British population heavily outnumbers the French of Italian, we can d*mn well have our cheeses here too). 

But, as has been pointed out, it's not difficult to adapt and cope with the "local" choices. Carrefour is good. Spinneys is good (but you pay for it). I don't like Waitrose out here because it's only Spinneys under a different branding and is definitely not the same as the Waitrose in the UK save a range of Waitrose brand packaged products. 

The only things I bring back from the UK are my mum's home baked goods, especially fruitcakes.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Plenty of nice mature Cheddar around - not sure how you cannot spot it in deli's ?


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## londonmandan (Jul 23, 2013)

Park N Shop have loads of UK stuff imported over


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

There's cheddar and then there's cheddar.

You're not finding the calibre of cheese you get at Neal's Yard. 



twowheelsgood said:


> Plenty of nice mature Cheddar around - not sure how you cannot spot it in deli's ?


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## Byja (Mar 3, 2013)

Laduree said:


> Hi all,
> we have our move date (next week) just wondering if any of you bothered bringing over any food items when you moved over?
> ...
> What did you bring, if anything or what do you wish you took hahah?
> I'm guessing you can pack these items in check in luggage?


I often travel back and forth between Dubai (actually Abu Dhabi, doesn't matter) and home town. Sometimes 80% of my check in luggage is F&B. And not just any food items, it's double haram - prosciutto and brandy, among other things.
Never had any issues with the customs so far...


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

Laduree said:


> ...P.s Vanilla coffee is Nescafe sachets of coffee with a hint of vanilla (you don't know what you have been missing!)...


plenty of that horrid stuff here at almost every store... they also have chocolate, mocha and cappuccino flavors by the box full...

what you will struggle with finding is if you use a specific store bought brand of ground coffee... or flavored creamer... cant find that here either... 

most of the coffee chain store outlets sell their own brand... costa, starbucks, gloria jean, apparently dunkin donuts sells ground coffee too... go figure...


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## Dave-o (Aug 23, 2015)

TallyHo said:


> There's cheddar and then there's cheddar.


True, you can't find 'proper' cheese like you would in your local cheese deli back home. The one thing I'm missing here is decent cheese - Montgomery cheddar, Perl Las, Dovedale blue, Colston Bassett stilton ... cheese that doesn't come in a sweaty plastic shrink wrap.


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## iggles (Jan 4, 2015)

everything you want is here, and more. If you or your partner like protein shakes or anyting else like that it is here, but double (some times triple) the cost of UK. 

thats my only advice regarding UAE food


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