Tesco coming to the US

[NealandCari 0]

http://www.yahoo.com/s/566285

I do miss British-style ready meals.

[homesick_american 1]

http://www.yahoo.com/s/566285

I do miss British-style ready meals.

Yeah, they're good but Sainsbury's meals are better than Tesco's.

I predict Tesco won't penetrate the US market to any major degree because the US market is already saturated with supermarkets and Wal-Mart-esque stores, e.g. Wal-Mart.

If any UK store tries to take over America I want it to be M&S Simply Food. Mmmmm.

[NealandCari 0]

Yeah, I'm not saying Tesco are the best, just generally...you can't get frozen meals in the US like you can in the UK.

And I'll second the Marks and Sparks notion. I have fantasies about the smell of their bakery and the vegetarian moussaka...mmm...

[homesick_american 1]

Yeah, I'm not saying Tesco are the best, just generally...you can't get frozen meals in the US like you can in the UK.

Yeah, but that's sort of a good thing too, isn't it? Ready meals are generally not very good for you.

And I'll second the Marks and Sparks notion. I have fantasies about the smell of their bakery and the vegetarian moussaka...mmm...

Yeah...I like it all, except for their handmade crisps...those are rubbish. The rest of it is pretty yummy tho!

[Mags 112]

If any UK store tries to take over America I want it to be M&S Simply Food. Mmmmm.

I agree. I loved M&S.

If I ever needed a nice meal (as a treat) I'd always get something from M&S. Never failed to please!

[TheZilla 0]

Awe man, M&S food! I'd much rather see that come over here. Their adverts in the U.K. are evil, but so delicious! I can still here that sultry woman's voice tempting me to go buy M&S profiterolds [she haunts my dreams....in a tasty way]. I have to say I don't think I've ever had such good food that was ready-to-eat, their smoothies were good as well.

Oooh, their deluxe variety of tea biscuits! And their tub of flapjacks! I'm a sad human being for how excited it gets me.

[Mags 112]

Awe man, M&S food! I'd much rather see that come over here. Their adverts in the U.K. are evil, but so delicious! I can still here that sultry woman's voice tempting me to go buy M&S profiterolds [she haunts my dreams....in a tasty way]. I have to say I don't think I've ever had such good food that was ready-to-eat, their smoothies were good as well.

Oooh, their deluxe variety of tea biscuits! And their tub of flapjacks! I'm a sad human being for how excited it gets me.

Oh yeah, those little square flapjacks in a tub! LOVED them.

[Dr_LHA 3]

The one thing that US supermarkets lack is things that I can just take home and eat, because I don't always feel like cooking after a long grocery shop. I really miss that about UK supermarkets, even if its just the deli section with yummy onion bhajis, scotch eggs, spring rolls and the like.

Sounds like Tescos are going to fill that gap. I doubt they'll be opening near me any time soon though.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Dr_LHA

[TheZilla 0]

I do have to say I pretty much agree, there's not a lot in American supermarkets that is really appealing for take home or ready to eat. I did like that M&S had a lot of tasty ethnic foods and such a larger variety of dishes. I hate being stereotypical, but I think the majority of American tastes do sort of have that resistance to trying new things so it's rotisserie chickens or sandwiches for take home. Still, with the explosion of 'foodies', it's starting to change a bit.

Don't worry Dr_LHA, if you and Tesco's were meant to be [and I think you are], it will come to you!

[flutter95 4]

Sounds like its going to be mini-healthy-tescos, aww!

I am also in the pouting boat with Dr_Lha, none around this way!

[Tim and Bethanie 1]

What is the fascination with frozen and prepared meals? I find it difficult to even eat left-overs I prepared the day before. Sorry they have that refridgerated taste.......insert vomit smiley here.

[homesick_american 1]

What is the fascination with frozen and prepared meals? I find it difficult to even eat left-overs I prepared the day before. Sorry they have that refridgerated taste.......insert vomit smiley here.

Some of the ones do taste pretty nasty, but some of them are good; you just have to experiment.

On the one hand I will miss ready meals, but on the other I won't. They're very convenient and not really that expensive to feed an adult, but they are an awful awful habit to get into. Most of them are full of sugar, salt, fat, etc. They're just not good for you. I cooked more in the US than I do here and I lived alone in the US; I did it because I had to. You can get tons of microwaveable frozen meals in the US; I don't know what that other poster was on about when she lamented the 'lack of variety', but they're just no substitute for a proper meal. If I'm forced to cook more, that can't really be a bad thing.

[TheZilla 0]

I think I was the poster you were reffering to, hehe. I mean, I'm definately more the home cook because it's true that it makes such a difference when you KNOW what you're putting in your food. It's just as easy to cut up potatoes into sticks and stick em in the oven as it is throwing on the frozen kind. Still, when time pushes for ready-made or frozen dinners, I did prefer what the UK had to offer better. Here it's basically fried chicken dinners, Italian, or Mexican. Over there I just felt like there was much more variety and a wider range of choices if it comes down to not having time to cook from scratch.

That's another thing, the lack of Indian restaurants unless you're in a bigger metro area. Here, it's all about the Italian food or chinese food. I miss being able to get a good curry delivered to the door. I'm learning to cook them myself but it's hard to find Naan and poppadums. [Awe man, prawn crackers! We don't get those here either].

[homesick_american 1]

I think I was the poster you were reffering to, hehe. I mean, I'm definately more the home cook because it's true that it makes such a difference when you KNOW what you're putting in your food. It's just as easy to cut up potatoes into sticks and stick em in the oven as it is throwing on the frozen kind. Still, when time pushes for ready-made or frozen dinners, I did prefer what the UK had to offer better. Here it's basically fried chicken dinners, Italian, or Mexican. Over there I just felt like there was much more variety and a wider range of choices if it comes down to not having time to cook from scratch.

Maybe that's just where you live; I left Texas six years ago and there was way more on offer than fried chicken, Italian, and Mexican. Italian and Mexican dishes freeze well and microwave well, so they'll be popular everywhere...but it sounds like where you live and/or shop suffers from a lack of variety as opposed to the US as a whole.

That's another thing, the lack of Indian restaurants unless you're in a bigger metro area. Here, it's all about the Italian food or chinese food. I miss being able to get a good curry delivered to the door. I'm learning to cook them myself but it's hard to find Naan and poppadums. [Awe man, prawn crackers! We don't get those here either].

Hehe, we had no lack of them in Texas. We even had Indian supermarkets so I had no problems finding naan bread or poppadoms, and those sloppy Sharwood's stir-in sauces too for when you want a British curry. Dallas had a bigger variety of Indian restaurants than Austin did; Austin seemed to be dominated by southern Indian restaurants while Dallas had a nicer mix of all sorts.

You will sometimes be hard-pressed to find Indian restaurants that serve the same ghee and meat-filled saucy/sloppy curries that dominate in the UK because those curries were either developed in the UK or have been heavily adapted to suit the British palate. Indian food in the US is different, but some of the Indians I've spoken to find it more faithful to actual Indian cuisine, probably because it's 'new' in many areas of the US and we have not had time to sufficiently bastardize it like we have done to Chinese and Mexican cuisine. It isn't that Indian food in the US sucks; it's that Indian food in the UK often isn't really 'Indian'. Doesn't mean it's not tasty tho.

[TheZilla 0]

It's funny you should say that because the curries I've been making taste nothing like the stuff I got in the UK, hehe. Making the fresh spice pastes and such, it tastes much 'cleaner' I guess than the stuff I had in restaurants over there.

And yes, I don't live in a place anywhere near what Dallas is like, or any of the bigger cities. I live in a small town where things like "Tahini" or "Kalamata Olives" scare people, they like their Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Even in downtown Tampa, it's very hard to find Indian food, though there are a few places. We're aiming to get the hell out of here ASAP, we need a place where you don't have to troll phone books endlessly to find a store that stocks Naans and cardamoms, hehe.