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Where To Buy British Food In America

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By ryankett



I was inspired to write this hub following a year that my girlfriend spent in the USA on a university placement, with several other British students. They loved American food, of course us Brits can get American food on almost any corner anyway, and put on a fair bit of weight as a result of the more than fair portion sizes and a penchant for fast food. But they all had one thing in common, they missed certain everyday British food. Although this hub is called 'Where To Buy British Food In America' it is effectively an list of British foods that I could find on Amazon - where the biggest and subsequently cheapest importers seem to trade. If anybody has a request for other British foods that they would love to get their hands on, then please feel free to leave me a comment and I will seek it out.


Heinz Baked Beans 415g 12 Pack (England) Heinz Baked Beans 415g 12 Pack (England)
Price: $22.99
List Price: $27.99

Heinz Baked Beans (British Import)

Although Heinz is an American company, and these beans were originally imported into the UK from America, nobody in America understands the British relationship with Heinz Beans. In fact, they are very hard to find in the USA, and when you do find them..... they just are not the same quality as the UK equivalent. This 12 pack of beans has been imported from the UK (in the larger 415g can) and will taste delicious as one half of beans on toast, with your full English breakfast, or however they take your fancy! Delivered throughout the USA.


Cadbury's Chocolate (English Version)

Cadbury's Chocolate is available in the USA, but again, it does not taste anything near as good as the original English version. The good news is that genuine imported Cadbury's chocolate is available from Amazon.com. Its not as cheap as it would have been in your local shop at home in the UK, but its Cadbury's nonetheless! My experience of Cadbury Chocolate USA has always been disappointed, so if you are a Cadbury addict and planning on moving out then I suggest taking as much as you can! Otherwise you will be paying a premium for the product. Feel free to bookmark this hub, add me as a fan, or subscribe to my RSS feed - as I will be updating this list should current British Food Imports develop.

I am sure that there are a few of you out there who will be very reassured in the safe knowledge that you can buy Diary Milk in America and can buy a Flake in America too! If you are one of those that enjoy all Cadbury products, the current best deal out of the products displayed on the left is for the 6 pack of Crunchie bars.


Other British Chocolate

Cadbury's may be the king of the British Chocolate world, but there are of course other bars that just cannot be left off of this list. The Mars bar is another great British institution, and the good news is that you can get these too. The Kit-Kat fingered bar is normally the biggest selling chocolate bar each year in the UK, but I could only find the Kit Kat Chunky bar for sale in America. How could I forget Maltesers? Im not really sure how many maltesers you get in a 100gram bag, but I cant imagine it is too many. I realise that I am not being the greatest salesman on earth, but the simple fact of the matter is that all of the products on this page have been shopped thousands of miles to cater for a very small niche. I am keeping an eye out for other popular British chocolate bars to be stocked once more at Amazon.com, as soon as they become available I will list them on this page.


English Tea

Perhaps the most commonly craved product by British ex-pats in the USA is English tea, and this is probably the most justified - with tea being one of those things that the British are incredibly famous for worldwide. The good news is, that it is readily available, the bad news is..... that it doesn't come cheap! If you are thinking about moving to the USA, then take a couple of boxes with you, and if you have just moved to the USA..... you will need to cut your consumption from 10 cups a day to 1 or 2! In England you can get teabags for asĀ little as a penny a bag, you can see on the left that importation drives this price up significantly, but that's what high demand does to a consumer good! Still, at least you can get the good stuff.

For more traditional English teas, check out my hub about English Earl Grey Teas and my various other tea hubs which link to this.


Other British Confectionary

It is no coincidence that this hub is focused a lot on confectionery such as chocolate and sweets, along with condiments and dry goods. As much as I would love to be able to ship you your Nans beef stew or fish and chips from Scarborough, this just isn't going to happen. Instead you are stuck with choosing from lots of things that will rot or stain your teeth if you don't give them a proper brush! I suspect that Bassett's Licorice Allsorts will be a very popular and well missed product amongst ex-pats, as will Manyards wine gums. Although, once more, you can see that these foods are available to purchase in America at a premium. Im not so sure about Polo's, but how could I not include Polo's? You really can't get much more British!


British Biscuits

For those of you that are looking to buy British biscuits, you are spoilt for choice, all of the most popular brands are available - as you can see to the left. For those of you addicted to Milk Chocolate Hobnobs or McVities Plain Chocolate Digestives - unfortunately you are going to be paying a high premium! On the other hand, you can pick up a packet of McVities Rich Tea for quite a reasonable price considering whats involved in getting those to the market. I also suspect that imported Walkers Shortbread sells pretty well, along with Ginger Nuts!

For any Americans that have stumbled upon this article looking to buy authentic English tea, I would fully recommend trying out some popular British biscuits with your cuppa! If Britain is famous for its tea, then it should be equally famous for its penchant for an occasional biscuit to dunk! If you are one of those people, the general rule is that Hob Nobs hold the most tea, whilst Rich Tea are pretty much only ever eaten with a cup of tea.

The Other British Groceries

Below you can see all of the other well known British Groceries that can be easily obtained via Amazon.com in the USA. Marmite Lovers will be delighted to know that you can buy marmite in America (and at a very good price!), I suspect that anybody wanting to make a traditional British Sunday roast will be tempted by Bisto Gravy Granules - at least if you are too busy to make your own. Colman's Mustard has to be one of Britains most famous exports, and again at a very good price. As a Norwich lad myself (where Colmans Mustard is made), it is great to know that Norwich is know for something other than having an awful football team run by a drunken chef. For those that enjoy a cheese and pickle sandwich, get yourself a jar of Branston Pickle for the equivalent of a few quid - I suppose that the challenge is then to find a cheese that resembles Mature Cheddar! Anyway, have a gander at the other British foods available below. And anybody that asks me for Heinz Tomato Ketchup will be ignored! This is also the biggest selling ketchup in the USA!


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KCC Big Country profile image

KCC Big Country  says:
3 months ago

My English husband has been here in Texas for 2 1/2 yrs now and he has experienced the cravings of some of his British favorites. Luckily his parents send over a few care packages a couple of times a year. We did finally find a British Emporium in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area but that's over an hour's drive for us. We went just before Christmas last year to get his Christmas pudding, bangers, and some of the various candy bars they had. I may have to look into some of the prices on Amazon.

ryankett profile image

ryankett  says:
3 months ago

Hi KCC, next time you go to the 'British Emporium' it would be great if you could compare a couple of the prices for me. I suspect that the Amazon price (when postage is considered) would be higher than the shop price - but I suppose many expats don't have that option. Not that there is anything wrong with American food, Im sure that many Americas come over here and look for Hershey's :D

mattd365 profile image

mattd365  says:
3 months ago

Thank Ryan, Now I'm hungry for those Crunchie Milk Chocolate with Honeycomb Center LOL! Man, now I'm going to have to go to the store. Great Hub, thanks for sharing..

Matthew

badcompany99  says:
3 months ago

Deff loves my beans, side effects though lol, enjoy yer weekend mate !

ralwus profile image

ralwus  says:
3 months ago

Well I love the deep fried Twinkie too. Come up with my own flavor too. I only use loose tea and I can get good scones and your biscuits fresh made also. We call them cookies and I suspect you know that.

SimeyC profile image

SimeyC  says:
2 months ago

I'm lucky in a way, I have a British Store only an hour away - also my local 'food' store is now stocking a lot of English favorites! This is a good hub though for the 'stuff' I cannot find! Thanks

ryankett profile image

ryankett  says:
5 weeks ago

Cheer for the comments guys :)

Blogging Erika profile image

Blogging Erika  says:
4 weeks ago

Awesome article, thanks! I understand that Heinz vegetarian baked beans are the closest thing to real British beans that we can find here in the States. Cost Plus Imports has a pretty good selection of British food, but I have yet to find "real beans" there, even though people say they carry it!

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