British Grocery Shopping

Janet was shocked at how much less money it was to purchase food from grocery stores and even little green grocers  in the U.K. 

British meat cuts are quite a bit different from ours, so they were never able to wrap their heads around purchasing too much in the beef department.  They tried some pre-made meatballs from Costco that were dreadful.  They later purchased some ground beef mince and made their own meatballs, which were also dreadful.  British ground beef is nearly fat free, so not quite what they are used to.

Janet took some store photos and for the convenience of our readers, has done the heavy lifting with the help of a calculator to multiple the prices x 2 to give you the Canadian dollar version!  Yes, Janet is indeed the mathematician whiz you assumed her to be!

Veggies:

Shallots - $2.66 for an entire bag!  In Victoria, they are about $4.00/lb

Broccoli that apparently is free as there isn't any pricing that was photographed.

They have many, many varieties of potatoes.  These ones - $2.00

Bag of onions - $1.10.  Note how most of the vegetables note they are British.  Interesting that the veggies have best before dates.  Here, with the exception of packaged salad greens and similar, most are buyer beware.

$1.19.  It's not obvious, but this was also a British product.

How about $1.00 for a round loaf of crusty bread?

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream for $4.32.  Janet doesn't purchase ice cream at home, but thinks it's in the $7.00 - $8.00 range for the same brand.

Chicken - $6.00 for a huge tray of drumsticks.

In the past, they have purchased pre-made food from M & S Food Hall and it has been really good.  M & S wasn't available whenever they went to purchase groceries, so they tried Tesco pre-made.

Sadly, this was the upscale version and it was awful.

Janet stir fried some chicken breast and vegetables and they tried this, which was quite delicious!

On sale for $2.00!!

Quite often, they passed these shops called Cook, where complete dinners were made in advance and in their freezers.  They were NOT inexpensive.

Inside the freezers:

Lasagne, $28.00, Beef Strogonoff $36.00

Roasted Pepper and Goat's Cheese Quiche $36.00

No price tags in the window, but we think it's pretty safe to say they weren't inexpensive!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  Cauliflower and potatoes, $4.00 each.

Janet And Phil Pack Up And Head Home!

The heavy duty dining, while staying at pubs starts first thing in the day.  Breakfast is always included and it has never been a bad breakfast.  Here are the "starters" before they move onto Smoked Salmon and Eggs or Full English.

There last three nights in the pub were excellent.  Not once, but twice, they had dinner at The Crooked Billet.  The Brits turn their clocks back one week earlier than North America, so by around 5PM it's pretty dark.

Check out the interior!  Janet thinks it very eclectic and British and the Chef, Paul is something of a local celebrity.

They ate and ate and ate some more.

They can't remember what this was, but doesn't it look delicious?

Pork Belly

Stone Bass with Day Scallops and Polenta

Monkfish

Aubergine, Tomato and Zucchini Courgette with Cheese

And just for good measure, how about some Sticky Toffee Pudding with Clotted Cream?

Yummy!

It was all dark and foggy and spooky outside.  There are also not any street lights making it almost impossible to see.  The good roads are barely wide enough for two cars to drive by each other.  Did we mention there aren't any shoulders so you have to jump up onto the verge?  The other roads are the same except there isn't room for two cars.  Phil insisted the walk would be good for them, but Janet fell into a pothole and hurt her knee.  Turns out, it was probably the only pothole on the road, but she managed to find it.

 As per their custom, they met relly's Julia and Joe for lunch.  They are always fun to get together with.

Cool gloves whilst purchasing petrol so one's hands will not soil.

Super news - it was a car scrape free vacation!  No CDW hassles!

Congratulations All Blacks!

Bye, bye UK!  Hope the GPB (and we do mean Great!) is better next year!

Janet and Phil Are On The Move!

They loved Hebden Bridge.  They spent the last day walking to a pub along the canal.

Janet can't stand people who put frosted glass on the windows to their home.  How is she supposed to see inside?

On the last night, they bought some salmon from this really cute, old fashioned store.

Janet baked it in the oven with some potatoes, onions and green beans and said it was one of their best cottage dinners.

All gone!  Janet says it's hard making cottage dinners with limited cooking equipment (and you never know what you are going to get) and limited ingredients.

They spent the last evening chatting with Heather, Cottage Owning Lady.  She was lovely and very interesting.  She met her husband while they both worked for Greenpeace - he being a photographer.  He was also, for many years, a news photographer, covering war zones.  She brought her doggie Rufus for the visit.  He was the perfect house guest.  Heather also has a horse, who declined the invite.

After Hebden Bridge, they packed up and went to Stoke Row, via Burghley House.  Prior to the House, they stopped in Stamford which is a really old, really touristy town.  They had lunch at a pub that was in a really old building.  Check out the Ladies Room!

How many washrooms have a fireplace!

Janet thought this plaque was appropriate.

Janet was not for visiting this house for several reasons:  1 - not included in the National Trust which means they have to pay to go in.  12GBP each.   2 - no stamp in her National Trust passport.  Janet covets this stupid passport.  One stamp for each National Trust property you attend and she refuses to go to an unmanned property that won't have a stamp.  And, 3 - added another hour onto the already too long car trip.

It was however, pretty decadent and one of the existing family members runs a horse ranch in B.C.

Old fashioned service bells.

Updated version.

This was her favourite part - the heavy bedding drapery.

After another harrowing two hours on the roads, they arrived at Stoke Row to stay at The Cherry Tree Inn.  This is a pub in a very small village where they have stayed twice before.  Their absolute favourite is Dundas Arms in Kintbury, but those are the breaks when you alter your plans!

It's Halloween!

Dinner reservation is ready and waiting.

Sunday dining out appears to be a huge family tradition that Janet and Phil think looks like super fun.  Here is a table all set for Sunday roasts.  Most pubs have roast beef, roast pork and roast chicken on Sundays complete with Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, gravy and fresh veggies.

It would also appear that dining out for Christmas is a very popular tradition.  This is the Christmas Day Menu where Phil and Janet are staying.  65GBP each person = $130CAD!  At a previous pub, the Christmas Menu was 82GBP each person!!

This Handicapped washroom sign is all over the U.K.  Janet, who perhaps is a bit on the morbid side thinks it looks like the wheelchair person fleeing the scene after having driven over the baby on the changing table.

Can you believe this - 01 November and it was so beautiful outside they could sit in the sun without any outerwear.  Spectacular day - until the fog set in around 2PM and it was freezing cold!