Grocery Items Unavailable in the US

[SapphireDreams 71]

I hate High Frictose Corn Syrup. I love sweet stuff, but its just way too sweet.

[Reba 2]

I do miss the Bulk Barn! There's no such stores like it around here anywhere, if anything is sold "in bulk" its just in bigger packaging, rather than in bins where you can choose exactly how much you want.

Now we have an Aldi in town though, and they actually have a few products without HFCS in it! Wonder of wonders...they only have one type of salad dressing without it though (why do you need to sweeten salad dressing anyway? ) I've been making my own lately. Its just fine without sugar!

Edited May 11, 2008 by Reba

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Oh, I miss Bulk Barn too! I have tried to explain the concept to a number of people here and they all look at me like I am slightly crazy! What, buying only the amount of food that you want out of a bin instead of taking the pre-packaged -over packaged items that are offered on the grocery shelf?

Aldi's are wonderful. They are actually a German owned chain that are all across Europe and have now expanded into the US. They don't carry the same variety of items - although ours does have about 5 or 6 different types of salad dressings available - and they do carry a lot of items from Europe and Canada along with their own store brand. Their store brand products are very good - and their prices are wonderful. They are my main grocery shopping venue. The only thing I don't like is that their fruits and vegetables come in prepackaged amounts so you sort of have to take what is offered rather than what you need/want. Do yourself a favour and buy one of their 'freezer' grocery bags - I think they are about a $1.00 - but they are incredible. I re-use mine all the time and they really do work - they keep the food cold even in a hot trunk so that by the time I get home after running my errands the frozen foods are still frozen.

Another useful place to stop for non-standard grocery items is Big Lots - I have found Canadian products there fairly regularly - and they get in ceylon tea often so we stock up when it is in and enjoy good tea all the time.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Kathryn41

[Marilyn. 340]

yeah count me in as someone who misses buying stuff from the bulk bins.... hubby was surprised to see those things at the Superstore... he had never heard or seen of anything like that before....

[Krikit 1,164]

I miss Bulk Barn too. I also miss proper fruit and veg markets where you're able to pick which and how many items you want, also, instead of buying a ton of them already packaged for you.

[Reba 2]

I won't buy pre-packaged produce, I think its a waste. Except those salad bags, because if I buy a whole head of lettuce, plus everything else that goes in a salad, we end up throwing most of it out because we can't eat it all before it goes off. Shrink wrapped bananas though is silly, so I buy those at Bi-Lo or one of the other gorcery stores in town. I usually split all my shopping between 2 or 3 stores to get the best prices. Best price for imported chocolate is hands down at Aldi's that's for sure! 99 cents for 2 German wafer chocolate bars, can't beat that anywhere! Probably not even in Germany!

[Marilyn. 340]

hmmm, everywhere I have shopped allows you to pick as much fruit or vegetables as you want... a few things are prepackaged but they usually offer them not packaged too...

[MarkNAshley 0]

My best suggestion for swiss chalet sauce is in Canada you can buy small packets of it powdered from the grocery store and you just add water and it tastes EXACTLY like the restaurant stuff. It's only like $1 a package and it very easy to ship/bring back with you!

I do miss dill pickle chips and ketchup chips a lot...

We can buy heinz ketchup here...i get it at all of our grocery stores.

[Marilyn. 340]

My best suggestion for swiss chalet sauce is in Canada you can buy small packets of it powdered from the grocery store and you just add water and it tastes EXACTLY like the restaurant stuff. It's only like $1 a package and it very easy to ship/bring back with you!

I do miss dill pickle chips and ketchup chips a lot...

We can buy heinz ketchup here...i get it at all of our grocery stores.

yeah but it tastes completely different then the Heinz Ketchup in Canada

[SapphireDreams 71]

My best suggestion for swiss chalet sauce is in Canada you can buy small packets of it powdered from the grocery store and you just add water and it tastes EXACTLY like the restaurant stuff. It's only like $1 a package and it very easy to ship/bring back with you!

I do miss dill pickle chips and ketchup chips a lot...

We can buy heinz ketchup here...i get it at all of our grocery stores.

yeah but it tastes completely different then the Heinz Ketchup in Canada

Yup because it has HFCS!!

I'm totally going to stock up on the swiss chalet sauce packets.

[warlord 73]

We have Wild Oats or is it now Whole Foods out here and you can get bulk candy, nuts, grains etc at those stores. They're in these plastic containers and you just grab a bag, fill it up, weigh it, put the code on and you're set to go. They also have that for spices too. Not sure what stuff Bulk Barn in Canada has as I have never been to one, but it might be similar from the way it's being described here...

[MarkNAshley 0]

Apparently Heinz sells an organic brand that is a little more similar to the Canadian Ketchup since it uses Sugar instead of HFCS. There is more sugar in Canadian ketchup so it doesn't taste quite the same.

Also I found this website from a link about the differences between the two. It seems to have some of the products that can't be found in the US.

http://www.canadianfavourites.com/

Mark

[T.O_2_FL 0]

We have Wild Oats or is it now Whole Foods out here and you can get bulk candy, nuts, grains etc at those stores. They're in these plastic containers and you just grab a bag, fill it up, weigh it, put the code on and you're set to go. They also have that for spices too. Not sure what stuff Bulk Barn in Canada has as I have never been to one, but it might be similar from the way it's being described here...

Wild Oats/Whole Foods is not the same as Bulk Barn...imagine a huge store with nothing but everything bulk bins for you to scoop out and just buy what you need. No packaging just plastic bags....everything from spices to grains, candy to nuts, dog food, freshly ground peanut butter, pie filling, and sooo much more. There are rows and rows of food all in bulk. The bins are a lot bigger than the ones in Wild Oats and Whole Foods.

Ahhh the memories. I think I'll have to make a pit stop there when I go back up to visit.

[Marilyn. 340]

I have never been or even heard of the Bulk Barn.. sounds cool....

I just know that most big grocery stores up in Canada had a bunch of bins you could buy stuff from... Superstore had them and Save On Foods had them...

[T.O_2_FL 0]

it's a crazy place I tell ya...

Here's a pic I found....

http://www.scarboroughtowncentre.com/st_images/bulkbarn.jpg

Just imagine the whole place with huge bins!