Buying English foods in Florida

[KirstyVQT 0]

We are going on vacation to Florida in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone could let me know where are some good places to find some foods from England. I know it is more of a tourist hotspot and probably easier to find foods there than here in Oregon. We will be in the Clement / Orlando Area. i know that the WalMart's there have an international aisle, are these usually imported foods or just the whole Hershey trying to be Cadbury type deals...Any replies would be great! Thanks for your help

Kirsty

[Old Dominion 26]

The Wal-Mart stuff will be from overseas. I must admit that I have never seen "English" foods anywhere - perhaps Scots or Irish products, but no English. Have you tried searchng online for what you want to buy?

[Mark&Steph 0]

We are going on vacation to Florida in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone could let me know where are some good places to find some foods from England. I know it is more of a tourist hotspot and probably easier to find foods there than here in Oregon. We will be in the Clement / Orlando Area. i know that the WalMart's there have an international aisle, are these usually imported foods or just the whole Hershey trying to be Cadbury type deals...Any replies would be great! Thanks for your help

Kirsty

Publix in South Florida have a selection of English foods, maybe Orlando Publix will have, too.

A quick search also finds this store...

http://britishsupermarket.com/

[formakashic 0]

im not sure about florida as i live in north carolina but i find most grocery stores have an international section along with a united kingdom bit. the prices can be a bit outrageous tho. i got a lil bit addicted to hobnobs while staying with my fiance in scotland. i was getting two packs of them for a pound. my local grocery store in the states has 1 pack of hobnobs for $5!

sorry, this probably isnt any help at all but i just felt like expressing my outrage on the price of hobnobs in the states.

[watkinson.m.a 0]

im not sure about florida as i live in north carolina but i find most grocery stores have an international section along with a united kingdom bit. the prices can be a bit outrageous tho. i got a lil bit addicted to hobnobs while staying with my fiance in scotland. i was getting two packs of them for a pound. my local grocery store in the states has 1 pack of hobnobs for $5!

sorry, this probably isnt any help at all but i just felt like expressing my outrage on the price of hobnobs in the states.

My Advise is to find some new favourites, they recently added a "english foods" section to my fiancee's supermarket and they routinely charge anythin from 4-10x as much as you would pay over here for things! A large bottle of squash was something like $15! They are £1-£2 here!!

[essjay 0]

Publix, Target, Walmart and Whole Foods all tend to stock some English items in Florida. Also Fresh Market if that goes as far north as Orlando. Pricing is higher as the foods are mostly imported. But, if you shop around, sometimes Publix is cheaper for certain things and Whole Foods is cheaper for others.

I do agree to try and find "new" favourites though. You'll save a fortune!!!

[Krikit 1,164]

Try searching this link, Kirsty: BritishFlorida.com. I live in Central Florida and have had a terrible time finding anything from the UK. Usually I just bring back everything I need from Canada. I've heard it's much easier in South Florida, though. The most I've been able to find is at the World Market. Quite a few products there, and not too badly priced.... though they have been increasingly expensive these last few months. The Whole Foods has a very small (and I mean VERY small) but very expensive section of UK foods. There's a pub not far from Orlando called the St Andrews Tavern that sells real British bacon and bread and Heinz beans. Their fish and chips weren't that great, and their mushy peas are horrible, though. I did have a great fish and chip and mushy peas dinner at another British pub in Kissimmee but I've forgotten the name of it.

I found nothing at the area Walmarts. Be careful of their Cadbury products because they're made by Hershey's and bear no resemblance to Cadbury's. Make sure you read the labels to see where they're from before buying anything. Their international sections are mainly Mexican with some Asian. The Fresh Market doesn't have anything UK other than Weetabix, but you can find that anywhere, really. Haven't seen anything in Target. But, like I said, if you head a bit further south you will find more British products there than in the central region.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Krikit

[thatbritishlass 2]

The Kissimmee Wal-Mart (just outside Disney property on the 535) has an international aisle with a small but quite wide-ranging British section. It stocks everything from Marmite to Bisto to McVities Ginger Nuts (yum!). They do also have Cadburys - but as other people have said, beware! Although it is not made by Hersheys it is also not imported from the UK and therefore still doesn't taste the same.

The way to tell true Cadburys - look for the royal seal on the wrapper on the back. If it doesn't have it, it's gonna taste like Hersheys and therefore taste like ####### (sorry ).

In Old Town (old-style funfair on the 192) there is a British shop that does stock authentic British goods but when I went there one time the owner was less than pleasant. Admittedly I was reading the front page of the Telegraph, but if you're gonna charge $5 for a 2-day old paper don't expect me to buy it

Round Clermont area (where my other half lives) again the Wal-mart does have a small international section as does Sweet Bay which opened a few months ago on Hwy 27.

Your best bet is the Kissimmee Wal-mart. If you want the real deal on Cadburys the only sure-fire way to go is to go to the UK pavilion at EPCOT - but $75 for a chocolate bar seems a bit extreme

Orlando is my stomping grounds so let me know if you want any other advice

Jess (stuck at home with suspected swine flu and bored out of her mind!!)

[essjay 0]

I've heard it's much easier in South Florida, though.

Krikit, I think you are right. We are down in south Florida, and we do seem to have a fair number of British things. I think most of the stores are catering more for the British tourist rather than someone living here as prices for some things seem absurd!!

And I agree with the warnings of others, even if they are British foods, sometimes there is something decidedly odd about them. Ages ago, we tried a tin of Heinz Baked Beans. They just didn't taste as I remembered them - and yes they were definitely well within the sell by date...

Jess, I hope you feel better soon, and that it is not Swine Flu...