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LONDON---Food, kitchen, cosmetic items to bring back to US????

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LONDON---Food, kitchen, cosmetic items to bring back to US????

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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 05:51 AM
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LONDON---Food, kitchen, cosmetic items to bring back to US????

We've done this kind of thread for Spain and Italy, and France, so I will start one for London.
Please post ideas for things to bring home that are either much less expensive, or unavailable, in the US...thanks!!
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 06:30 AM
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Great thread topic - I look forward to reading everyone else's ideas! I personally plan to stock up on my next trip on dark chocolate digestives. I have a friend who on one trip bought two or three big containers of Marks & Spencer's Extremely Chocolatey Minibites. Another friend gets Penguins. (Apparently my friends and I are all addicted to chocolate...)

I also always stop at Lush for hair and body products, because I don't have one near me here. Plus they have several items that are cheaper in the UK (my conditioner is about $10 less in the UK with the current exchange rate).

I knit, so on this trip I'm also planning to stop by a yarn store and see what sort of unique things I can find!
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 07:30 AM
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Orange/chocolate CLUB biscuits - although they are harder and harder to find now.

M&S teabags, dirt cheap
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 07:42 AM
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We've found a greater variety of jams and jellies than are available in the US. My dad is a big jam fan so for Christmas we got him every different kind we could find: Lime & Ginger, Hedgerow, Blackcurrent, Pink Grapefruit and every different kind of marmalade possible!
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 08:00 AM
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I always bring back some Marmite as a joke Christmas or birthday gift for friends.

and i always bring back some Codeine-Aspirin bottles or Codeine-Acetiphenemon - buying regular aspirin bottles and changing the ingredients or just mixing them with my vitamins.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 10:15 AM
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Great thread, I bring back various different food items, tea bags, battenburg, bakewell tarts, Fry's Turkish, Picnic, Fox's Glacier mints, Jacob's Club (orange and mint), fruit gums, etc.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 10:20 AM
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Second the Lush Products (no longer available in Singapore and so terribly expensive in Dubai)
and Harrods vinyl bags (I love them), they are available in so many more designs here than the teeny corner in Takashimaya Singapore!!

oops... is this solely meant for US residents?
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 10:25 AM
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Chocolate, Marmite, Bovril, Lemon Curd, crisps (we have some wild flavours), beer, speciality gins, biscuits.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 10:34 AM
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Teas and more teas of all flavors. I think teas are fresher there because of the turnover.

For gift, Taylors of Herrogate has tea bags in great looking wooden boxes. Actually lots of brands have great packaging.

Tea sets and teapot cozies amd matching napkins.

Don't get the tea leaves holder on a chain even they look really cute. They are useless.

Had the best cream tea and the richest scones in the south near stonehenge. They sell scone mixes there. Sure you can get it from London.

Not a supermarket-biscuit person but like Mcvites digestive biscuits. They are good to eat on the go.

For skin care and cosmetics, go to boots.

Bought Essential oil among others stuff on Portobello road ten years ago.

Did bring back jam at that time. But these days green market has good jams and chutneys.

Go to Harrods for lunch and shop afterwards.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 01:04 PM
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3sica: No, its for everyone!f Including you!!

Good ideas so far!

I imagine cheeses are a good thing, too--

The farmhouse types from Neal's Yard Dairy get lots of attention in the US..
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 01:07 PM
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I got the best blood orange marmalade at Fortnum & Mason. It was so good I almost cried when I finished it...LOL. The downside, the jar is fairly heavy.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 01:10 PM
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Pal, opiates not legal to possess in US if not in a bottle with Rx in your name. They have ways of figuring it out at traffic stops and so forth. So don't get caught. And if you do, don't try to eat them all at once.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 02:11 PM
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I always get plenty of Cadbury bars. The chocolate is so much richer than what we get in the U.S., which is made by Hershey's. I also love chocolates from Carbonnel et Walker on Old Bond Street just across from Fortnum & Mason. You see the trend here.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 02:30 PM
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On our current wish list are chocolate Easter eggs, milk chocolate digestives, crunchie bars, Birds custard powder and crisps.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 03:26 PM
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I usually get some biscuits or tea from Fortnum and Mason, mainly for the tins they are packaged in. The biscuits are usually gone in fairly short order - the tins are great for storing odd and ends.

The OP does mention things that are unavailable in the US so that's probably why 3sica (and I) weren't sure about contributing.

We have Bird's custard powder in Canada; I like to buy a box or two of the ready made stuff. Supermarkets have a whole section of it - amazing.

We also have Cadbury's chocolate here, but not quite the variety so I usually grab some bars we don't have.

Crisps are always on my list... and (hate to admit it) Hula Hoops.

And I always drop by Liberty to snag a few big bars of their Grapefruit soap.
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Old Mar 20th, 2009, 03:53 PM
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I always buy (or beg friends traveling to London to do so for me) Mint SAUCE....fabulous, especially on grilled lamb chops! This is NOT that bright green, sickenly sweet mint jelly. Marks & Spencer has a good one; am sure you can also find at Selfrige's or Fortnum & Mason? (Last year someone brought me a mint sauce concetrate to mix with vinegar -- ok, but not great.)
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