My Wish List (Groceries)

My wish too. I don't think all are available here

Bananas???????

Off the top of my head, My top 10 are:

Malt Vinager - (Managed to find once in two years)
Steak and Kidney Pies
Branston Pickle
A choice of Cheeses
Real Cream
Custard
Real Cake Icing
Lamb
Whole Grain Mustard
Pickled Beetroot

BassMan_720 wrote:

Bananas???????

Off the top of my head, My top 10 are:

Malt Vinager - (Managed to find once in two years)

Before moving to the Philippines we sent many, many boxes, in those boxes I sent two bottles 34 oz each of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (Members Mark from Sam's Club).

Some additional thoughts on my original wish list:

Paul Newman's Lemonade
Paul Newman's Thin Crust Frozen Pizza
DiGiorno Rising Crust Supreme Frozen Pizza
Rainier Cherries
Trader Joe's Cocktail Sauce
The New York Bagels mention should be New York Style "Rye Bagels"
Mike's Hard Strawberry Lemonade
Fresh or Frozen Cod Fillets
Sam's Club five pound Rotisserie Chicken ($4.99)

Malt vinigar is a British thing. We put it on our fish & chips.

BassMan_720 wrote:

Malt vinigar is a British thing. We put it on our fish & chips.

Yes, many many years ago Arthur Treachers fish & chips used malt & vinegar but they went out of business. Later Long John Silvers had malt vinegar.

I use the Balsamic Vinegar when we have fish and chips at home. I often use it on my fries when ordering home delivery of burgers.

oh man, you just reminded me of boars head ham, how I miss that so much. Not the pre slice, pre packaged, those taste funny, the one you get from the deli and it's a huge block. All other ham I tried doesn't really come close, the closest I think was hormel natural choice when I was back in HK

Some ham, swiss, good pickles and mayo on rye bread. 

Can't say I miss any of the other stuff, maybe Ben & Jerry's but they have other brands that can satisfy my palate

uh I'm hungry now....

frankanderson wrote:

oh man, you just reminded me of boars head ham, how I miss that so much. Not the pre slice, pre packaged, those taste funny, the one you get from the deli and it's a huge block. All other ham I tried doesn't really come close, the closest I think was hormel natural choice when I was back in HK

Some ham, swiss, good pickles and mayo on rye bread. 

Can't say I miss any of the other stuff, maybe Ben & Jerry's but they have other brands that can satisfy my palate

uh I'm hungry now....

Yup you can't beat Boar Heads cold cuts from the deli. Vons who is owned by Albertsons carries Karkus Ham ham in their deli. Karkus hams are imported from Poland and very good.

Don't forget Corned Beef for Ruben Sandwiches, I guess I should also place Pastrami from the deli on my list.

Filipinos think Spam is King . . . Hahahahahaha

SM have been selling  Heinz Malt Vinegar for a while now, also Branston Pickle.

Some of the items I would add to my wish list are:

Real Beef Sausages - thin and thick
Anzac Biscuits
Arnotts Mint Slice
Home Made Meat Pies
Pub Made Chicken Parmigiana
Pavlova
Barramundi Fillets
Lamingtons
Corned Silverside with White Sauce
Potato Scallops

These are but a few of my favourite things...

A Filipino American couple could make a good side business out of shopping , packing then sending Balikbayan boxes from the American West Coast to the Philippines.

Yes. There are things I miss too. Lamb. Sausages. Dairy products, especially Cheese. (PH must be the worst country in the World for Cheese).
But as I am retired, I have the time to produce some of my own stuff. I have a smoking Oven and make my own Ham, actually German Kassler. Pig Meat here is very good. although one has to discard some of the Fat.
I make my own Chutney. There are a lot of different fruits, and veg here so I can experiment. I also make Jam, which is remarkably easy, as we have Cane Sugar here, not the Turnip Sugar we had in Europe.
I sour my own Cream and use it to make Tzatziki.

We chose to live here so we just have to adapt and accept what is available.

But I do miss Lamb with Mint Sauce. Stilton Cheese and Good Red Wine.

The thing I miss most here in Philippines is UK style (cured not smoked) short back bacon. I can't understand why in a country where so many pigs are slaughtered you can't get a decent slice of bacon anywhere, just the horrible fatty stuff made with belly pork.

FindlayMacD wrote:

The thing I miss most here in Philippines is UK style (cured not smoked) short back bacon. I can't understand why in a country where so many pigs are slaughtered you can't get a decent slice of bacon anywhere, just the horrible fatty stuff made with belly pork.

I'm not familiar with the description of the UK style of bacon. At S&R I can buy a popular brand of bacon from the states, but pay through the nose. At the time being new to the Fil I wasn't really good converting Pesos to Dollars, but when I learned I now buy the S&R house brand of bacon.

Also with so many pigs being slaughtered, I can't find anyone who has baby back ribs. My wife orders from web sites offering baby back ribs at a good price, then gets a reply, they they don't have any.

When I was a Boy in the UK, my parents used to buy or were given "Home Fed" Bacon. this was virtually all fat and very salty. Tastes change and now I suppose all Bacon is commercially produced.
Pigs also. Fed to produce Lean Meat. Many Pigs here (Especially in the Provinces) are raised in peoples' Back Yard without computer-controlled feeding regimes. Resulting in a much fattier Pork.
I think Uk style Bacon would not be sweet enough for the Filippino taste, so that type of Bacon isn't produced here.

At one time I used to get bacon in the UK from a farmer I met in a little village pub on a Sunday lunchtime, he used to supply a lot of the local villagers with bacon and sausages. I was complaining about the amount of added water in supermarket bought bacon and he told me the only water in his bacon was how much the bacon soaked up when it was naturally cured in a vat of brine and when I bought some it was fantastic.

Hi,
I am not in the Philippines yet but am considering retiring over there with my girlfriend. I have read the comments on this post with interest and two of you mention missing lamb. I know from my four visits to the Philippines that this must be hard to come by but once I stayed in the XYZ hotel in Tacloban and they do have on their menu, Lamb Chops with mint sauce and it was delicious.

Lamb is available at S&R and at Rustans but the quality is not good.