Baked Beans!

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I like both kinds of baked beans, but neither on toast. I think the first time I had the British-style baked beans was in Belfast. I liked them, but having them w/ breakfast stuff was a little weird. Of course, so was having a Guinness with breakfast, but I adjusted!

Fresh & Easy (locations in CA, NV, and AZ) sells the Heinz beans for a reasonable price.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I do not like baked beans at all and do not understand the British obsession with them.

Guiness for breakfast on the other hand......

[Pompey Boy! 0]

I've actually taught myself to bake white bread as most of the bread here is full of sugar or the dreaded HFCS. Happy to share the recipe and easy as pie! (although i find pie pastry harder to make!)

[Marilyn. 340]

oh, I know how to make bread... lol when I do make it I use my bread machine to make the dough and then I pull it out and put it in a pan for the final rise and then bake it..

Wonder Bread and Sara Lee both make a no HFCS bread and that is what I usually buy..

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yeah, I grew up with cold beans as part of a salad plate as well as hot beans for dinner. My Mom used to like it over toast but I never did so just had them straight.. The molasses pork and beans was our mainstay. Tomato soup here is far too sweet and doesn't taste properly tomato-ey. Campbell's tomato soup in the US is very different than Campbell's tomato soup in Canada (don't know about the UK). The last time my Dad visited I had him bring down several cans of tomato soup so my husband could taste the difference - he did, but he was used to the US tomato soup and preferred that.

I haven't found any 'consistent' sources of Canadian/UK brand stores here in Georgia, however, you can make the rounds - which is what I do - of Ingles, Big Lots, Whole Foods and even Dollar General, where you can get the Dare Maple Leaf cookies for a dollar, and you used to be able to get coffee crisps, although I haven't seen them lately. I am sure that there are such resources available, although I haven't really looked yet. Atlanta is pretty big so I'm sure that there must be something in the area.

Before they closed, the military commissaries at Fort MacPhearson and Fort Gillam also carried a lot of UK/Canadian products but since they closed I think Dobbins Air Force Base north of Atlanta is the closest commissary, if you have a military ID.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Kathryn41

[ukcharlotte 4]

I think that the main foods I will miss when I move to the US include:

Baked Beans

Heinz Tomato Soup

Custard Cream biscuits

Marmite (although Tesco's own is even better IMO)

Roast Dinners

I offered to make my fiance a roast dinner on Christmas day. I asked him where I might find old potatoes for roasting (as opposed to the newer ones that don't roast as well) and he gave me this blank look. Yorkshire puddings weren't a part of his vocabulary either.

There will definitely be culinary lesson in our household. Suffice to say that won't include lessons on How To Microwave A Ready Meal - he's already an A+ student in that.

Edited March 9, 2012 by ukcharlotte

[Pooky 3,681]

I think that the main foods I will miss when I move to the US include:

Baked Beans

Heinz Tomato Soup

Custard Cream biscuits

Marmite (although Tesco's own is even better IMO)

Roast Dinners

I offered to make my fiance a roast dinner on Christmas day. I asked him where I might find old potatoes for roasting (as opposed to the newer ones that don't roast as well) and he gave me this blank look. Yorkshire puddings weren't a part of his vocabulary either.

There will definitely be culinary lesson in our household. Suffice to say that won't include lessons on How To Microwave A Ready Meal - he's already an A+ student in that.

'Nuff said

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Depending on where you'll live in the US, you will be able to find foodstuffs like Marmite in the grocery store. Fortunately for my fiancé, Portland has a fairly large British ex-pat community. Fred Meyer, which is owned by Kroger, has a British section in their stores here and carries Marmite. A local chain called New Seasons also stocks it regularly. I haven't checked, but you may also be able to find it at Whole Foods. I've acquired a taste for it, but he still will eat the lion's share of the jar once he's here.

And if you're in a place that doesn't have that kind of selection locally, there's always the Internet. Amazon.com carries a lot of grocery items now, including international fare. Just sign up for their Amazon Prime program and the shipping rates won't kill your bank account.

During his last visit over the Christmas/New Year's holidays, I surprised my honey by making a pot roast with Yorkshire puddings. I bought a pop-over pan as a Xmas gift to myself and studied the recipe as if I were cramming for a final exam. If he didn't already want to marry me, that sealed it! *pats self on back*

[Darkmoonfaerie 19]

Here in MA, we also have British Delights in Westford and British Supplies in Plymouth. The store in Plymouth is small but has a LOT crammed into it. I've not yet been to the one in Westford but plan to stop by the weekend of the 24th. I'm at a conference up there and the hotel where I'm staying is 1.5 miles from the store. I'm so excited!!! Lots of the Boston area markets carry English food but where I am on the south coast of MA, it's mostly Portuguese and Spanish foods in the international section.

Food Ireland also has a decent selection of English foods. I learned that one from a local pub owner who sells Tayto cheese and onion crisps at the bar. I've learned how to make clotted cream (more for me than the fiance cause I fell in love with it over there), but King Arthur Flower sells it on their website.

Not all Americans are clueless with Yorkshire pudding Mom made it a lot with roasts when I was growing up. I thought Alan would freak at our Portuguese style roast, but he's now making them for everyone back home in the UK.

From an American perspective, I think it's weird that I had to introduce people to cream in coffee. Everywhere I went, people kept trying to give me milk and fake sweetener. I hate milk in coffee and sweeteners can put me in the hospital. Alan invested in a French press, some Dunkin Donuts coffee and I got single cream. My UK mornings were a lot happier after that

Thanks to this thread, I'm having him bring me Heinz beans and tomato soup. I always assumed they'd be similar to ours. Now I'm curious.

[Stranded 0]

I miss my British food. Yes,you can get them online here but it's limited.I'm getting kinda fed up USA food now lol. Beans are not the same here,nor chips(called fries here)and amongs other things,especially in the South the beans come in so many variety especially barbequed flavour.I am surprised I haven't flown back to the UK after eating them and corn? jeez,mostly every type of food I see here is made with corn and more corn. When you come to live in USA,be warned..the breakfast is a joke lol.

[USArmyWifey 2]

I think that the main foods I will miss when I move to the US include:

Baked Beans

Heinz Tomato Soup

Custard Cream biscuits

Marmite (although Tesco's own is even better IMO)

Roast Dinners

I offered to make my fiance a roast dinner on Christmas day. I asked him where I might find old potatoes for roasting (as opposed to the newer ones that don't roast as well) and he gave me this blank look. Yorkshire puddings weren't a part of his vocabulary either.

There will definitely be culinary lesson in our household. Suffice to say that won't include lessons on How To Microwave A Ready Meal - he's already an A+ student in that.

I have seen Heinz Tomato Soup and a few other Heinz products for sale at our local commisary (for a decent price), i dont know if thats because its an army post or they are avalible everywhere but i did manage to come across some! Which definatly made my day! lol

& my husband reacted exactly the same way when i cooked him Christmas Dinner last year lol! Ive been meaning to look up how to make my own Yorkshire puddings and getting him to try them. Its safe to say he was not a fan of my Christmas cooking though lol! Oh well.. more for me! haha!

[John and Camie 39]

Hi all fellow Brits. Just a quick find - I have been paying over $2 for Heinz beans in Kroger and recently tried their own brand 'Vegetarian Beans' $0.63 a tin. Taste like any tin of British supermarket baked beans! Happy days! Although my wife doesn't think me eating too many beans will make her happy!

Hey thanks for the tip! We spend $2.50 per can at Albertsons. My husband is the Brit, but I could live on beans and toast.

[Krikit 1,163]

I made my own baked beans the other day! They were delicious.

[trojam227 18]

That's kinda funny because I grew up on campbell's baked beans & tomato soup, and have eaten heinz beans & soup but don't notice much difference. Any brand vegetarian beans also taste the same to me. In the NY/NJ area, Stop N Shop supermarkets have a british section but not cheap. 40 bags of PG Tips is like $4.75! They have mushy peas, heinz beans, heinz soup, and hard to find Cadberry stuff like digestives & curly wurley's and a bunch of other stuff. I found a nice shepherd's pie gravy too..just played around with it adding my own seasonings. The yorkie puds have to be made from scratch...haven't seen aunt bessie's around here! I'm working on perfecting them before my husband gets here. He doesn't think it can be done by a Yank, but I will prove him wrong!! lol

[LeftCoastLady 441]

That's kinda funny because I grew up on campbell's baked beans & tomato soup, and have eaten heinz beans & soup but don't notice much difference. Any brand vegetarian beans also taste the same to me. In the NY/NJ area, Stop N Shop supermarkets have a british section but not cheap. 40 bags of PG Tips is like $4.75! They have mushy peas, heinz beans, heinz soup, and hard to find Cadberry stuff like digestives & curly wurley's and a bunch of other stuff. I found a nice shepherd's pie gravy too..just played around with it adding my own seasonings. The yorkie puds have to be made from scratch...haven't seen aunt bessie's around here! I'm working on perfecting them before my husband gets here. He doesn't think it can be done by a Yank, but I will prove him wrong!! lol

You can do it!