British Imports

Try Lerøy Mat.  There's one of these in Bergen, and while it doesn't have everything you'd expect from a British supermarket, the selection is a that bit more familiar.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give that place a look!

Just to clarify, I'm not looking to find a Tesco Metro (it's like Kiwi or Joker) full of English stuff, I just want to get the occasional item from home.

Cadbury's chocolate for example!

I don't know about Cadbury's, but Campbell's soup is my little luxury from Lerøy Mat.  Whoever thought you could miss tinned soup?

By the way, if you've just moved to Norway (which is what I've gathered from your questions about permits and the like) then I recommend you try to get familiar with Norwegian foods.  It sounds trivial, but it goes a long way in helping you integrate with Norwegian society (kvikklunsj is an institution), and expats who integrate tend to do better than those who don't (those who don't integrate tend to have a terrible experience and go home around the six month mark).

You don't have to like every Norwegian food, and you don't have to abandon those things you like from the UK, but it makes sense to dive in to the new tastes of a new country!

I found a little store in Røa that sells PG Tips - my favorite English tipple (tea).

Whoo!

sctld wrote:

I don't know about Cadbury's, but Campbell's soup is my little luxury from Lerøy Mat.  Whoever thought you could miss tinned soup?

By the way, if you've just moved to Norway (which is what I've gathered from your questions about permits and the like) then I recommend you try to get familiar with Norwegian foods.  It sounds trivial, but it goes a long way in helping you integrate with Norwegian society (kvikklunsj is an institution), and expats who integrate tend to do better than those who don't (those who don't integrate tend to have a terrible experience and go home around the six month mark).

You don't have to like every Norwegian food, and you don't have to abandon those things you like from the UK, but it makes sense to dive in to the new tastes of a new country!

Yeah, I've been trying stuff slowly. I haven't had the guts to try Sild yet.. lungemose is right out.

I work at a small company and we all eat lunch together (on the company - flott!) so I'm getting used to eating how they do.

I also tried eating a Swedish crackerbread thing. Never again. It was like chewing broken glass!

godsavetheking wrote:

Yeah, I've been trying stuff slowly. I haven't had the guts to try Sild yet.. lungemose is right out.

I work at a small company and we all eat lunch together (on the company - flott!) so I'm getting used to eating how they do.

I also tried eating a Swedish crackerbread thing. Never again. It was like chewing broken glass!

Will you be taking part in your company's julebord?  That's a great opportunity to try a wide number of Norwegian Christmas delicacies.  Pinnekjøtt...mmm....deilig!

Knäckebröd is pretty good, imho.  I don't like the Norwegian idea of eating the same exact thing for both breakfast and lunch, but a bit of knekkebrød med sennepssild is pretty close to heaven, if you ask me!

Have you really had such a trouble getting PG tips?  Whenever I go round to friends/grilfriend's family, they always ask if I want PG Tips.  It's as if it's the only brand they know of.  I'm a Tetleys man myself.  Pretty overjoyed when I visited my girlfriend's brother in Paris and found that that was they had bought (although they apologised for it not being PG, I declined the apology).

sctld wrote:

Will you be taking part in your company's julebord?  That's a great opportunity to try a wide number of Norwegian Christmas delicacies.

Yeah we did that back in November. Wasn't terribly Norwegian except we did eat Moose for the main. Was pretty darn tasty!

sctld wrote:

Have you really had such a trouble getting PG tips?

I've been checking the stores (Meny, Kiwi, ICA, Joker) for it and they never have it. I am glad I can get McVities Digestives though

I used to commute past the bakery where they're made every day for years and it brings back some good memories.

sctld wrote:

Campbell's soup is my little luxury from Lerøy Mat.

Sure you can't get that in a supermarket? Meny (a supermarket) stock that in Oslo.

godsavetheking wrote:

sctld wrote:

Campbell's soup is my little luxury from Lerøy Mat.

Sure you can't get that in a supermarket? Meny (a supermarket) stock that in Oslo.

Meny here in Bergen doesn't stock it.  The choice is generally a lot more limited, i find, especially Rimi/Rema/ICA.

I'm getting used to dry packets of soup, though.
Pakke suppe, matfløyte, mjølk, kvitlauksbrød.  That's the way you spell delicious lunch.

sctld wrote:

I'm getting used to dry packets of soup, though.
Pakke suppe, matfløyte, mjølk, kvitlauksbrød.  That's the way you spell delicious lunch.

Hot food.

*whimper*

There's something to be said for eating a good warm meal for lunch when it's -7. Hottest lunch I get is a boiled egg :s

godsavetheking wrote:

Hot food.

*whimper*

There's something to be said for eating a good warm meal for lunch when it's -7. Hottest lunch I get is a boiled egg :s

No microwave or hotplate at work?  Sounds like an appropriate use of any missing Christmas bonus.

I heard Meny have Irn Bru, but I haven't seen it in any of there stores. Not that I suppose that's something you're after.

dmcart13 wrote:

I heard Meny have Irn Bru, but I haven't seen it in any of there stores. Not that I suppose that's something you're after.

Irn Bru was all over the place when I moved first, but it's been harder to get it more recently.  Perhaps the Norwegian palette isn't quite sophisticated enough yet.

Get the brown jul brus. It tastes exactly the same as Irn Bru to me.

godsavetheking wrote:

Get the brown jul brus. It tastes exactly the same as Irn Bru to me.

Which brand is the brown one?

Eventyrbrus (which of course becomes Julebrus this time of year) tastes distinctly like Tizer.

Hamar and Lillehammer Bryggeri

Thanks for the tip. The stupid thing is, I don't even drink Irn Bru when I'm in Scotland but when I know I can't have it I decide I want it. I'll keep an eye out for Julebrus.

I found Ulta had loads of American and British foods.

sctld wrote:

I'm getting used to dry packets of soup, though.
Pakke suppe, matfløyte, mjølk, kvitlauksbrød.  That's the way you spell delicious lunch.

DO they speak Nynorsk over there?

Just curious

flipper78 wrote:

sctld wrote:

I'm getting used to dry packets of soup, though.
Pakke suppe, matfløyte, mjølk, kvitlauksbrød.  That's the way you spell delicious lunch.

DO they speak Nynorsk over there?

Just curious

No-one speaks nynorsk, but a lot of people på vestlandet have nynorsk as their main written form of Norwegian.  Bergen is mostly bokmål, but at my work I would say around half the employees write in nynorsk.

Ah yes, my bad.

What I meant to write was "DO they use Nynorsk over there"
..and you've given me the answer already

I get headache whenever I read something in nynorsk. Luckily I live in Østlandet where everything is in Bokmål. Piece a cake!

We found that the Centra in Majorstuen have a lot of imported foods, including Vegemite from Australia, which was a saviour for us :-)

We often find ingredients there that have been imported, including quite of lot of british foods.

I was just about to post to see if anyone could tell where I could find Marmite. I'm all out! ((panic))

Samkroon - You might just have saved me there. I've always been lead to believe that Vegemite was basically the same thing as Marmite? I shall head straight to Majorstuen after work in search it.

If that fails, I'll try to smuggle some in my hand luggage after the next UK trip. It's worth the risk.

Hi All,

Just found this web site last night.
I have been in Norway for the last 9 years.
I see some of you are looking for A few home favourites from the UK.
I found the following site a few months ago but have yet to travel up to make a purchase, abritofhome co.uk

In my experience it is possible to buy english tea in local Asian stores and I have found a few home favs in Meny & Ultra.
Ica Maxi sell some English Cheese's ( If like me you like a strong tasting cheese)
Of coarse its important to try out the local foods but after nine years being here it is hard to forget some of our home favs:)
If Possible take a shopping trip to Stromstad in Sweden, Have found a few more items there too, British Style Bacon for starters:)))

heh. Look like somebody beat me to setting up a shop just like that.

Oh well - a little competition can't hurt

18 kroner for a pot noodle, you know you're in Norway now! That's one thing I surely don't miss from home.

I was thinking of setting up a business here importing Norwegian food to England. Not alot of Norwegians in Manchester, as far as I can tell. But maybe it's not such a great idea after all, having read your views on Norwegian cuisine. You should listen to a song called 'traditional food' by Black Debbath, it explains it all. Or just read the lyrics.

There are quite a few in Manchester - the Christmas party organised by the consulate was pretty busy as I recall.

I was thinking of setting up a similar thing - bought a domain name etc but the government red tape bought things to a halt very quickly.

It's not a consulate in Manchester, it's a mere 'trade commission' these days. Anyway, I went to vote a couple of years ago for the local elections in Norway, and they had to go through all the electoral stuff there and then as I was the only person who had dropped by to vote. The only other Norwegians I have spotted are middle aged men who come to see Manchester United and drink 'great beer' (see:Foster/Carling) in 'traditional pubs' like Wetherspoons. >lol<

Guess for it to be worth it, you need to import quite large quantities really.

I'm planning on moving to Norway soon (within the next couple of months), I've spent a few summers and christmas' in Norway, from my experience there was very little British foods (But I was mainly looking in Rema1000).  Good to see it's possible to get a few home grown foods

britishcornershop.co.uk/shop.asp
bit expensive but if you really need english food they will find stuff for you too if its not on there list
hope this helps
Sue

Just out of interest..I went to the royal mails website (parcel force worldwide) and had a little play. Sending a parcel from the UK to Norway, weight 10kg gave a price of approx. £60 for a 6 day delivery schedule. So get your friends back home to ship it to you..Though not sure about the greedy Norwegian customs taxation on that, because the Norwegian gov't as you all know, has not got enough cash in the bank..

Though I am quite certain they would feel too guilty charging any tax on Marmite, as it obviously can't be considered fit for consumption anyway.

Hi All,

Just jumped on this page to check out what the craic is in Norway. I've got some friends over there (all natives) and I'm thinking of coming over next summer for a few months. Been a regular on the Saudi boards over the last few months. That's where I am at the minute.

How do most Brits find living and working in Norway? I'm a language teacher and football coach and was wondering how hard it is to find work. I'll be coming over with plenty of money to support myself for a month or two.

Any advice?

Welcome to Expat-blog, mailman13

To have a realistic portray of living and working conditions for Brits in Oslo, you could simply be in touch with your country fellow men and ask them about their perceptions. You could view the British expatriates network in Oslo.

Regards,
Sheetul

I live By REMA 1000 in Skærer in Lørenskog, There you can buy PG Tips and other things-

I can't survive without my cereal in the morning, but I found that Norwegian cereal tastes much different than the ones found in the UK (Even if they are the same type/brand).  The only ones I found were the same were co-co pops, not my favourite in the world but it's nice to have a taste you recognise.  My local Rema 1000 doesn't sell them but the Co-Op does!

this is halarius,icant moov for pg tips and earlgray tea, the plase is jamed with it. and evryone gives pg to me for chrismas and my berthday, but my most reasent find was at stapls in hougesund, thay han cup-a-soup by the box.

ive been in norway for five years and love it.

I just get people from home to send me stuff over but will definitely checking out that place that has vegemite not quite the same as marmite but will definitely do if its not too overpriced, Its funny tho I hardly ever ate salt and vinegar crisps at home but when I saw them over here I went through packets of them!!!

hi folks, well i read this thread about 9 months ago or so when i first moved to Norway, and found myself back here today after the third day of my new job, when i decided enough is enough, i need cheddar cheese and marmite sandwiches for lunch to help me get through hard days on site,,
wasnt so bothered about too much english food as i past the last fifteen yrs or so in south of France, was quite concerned about the price of wine though.....
anyways i thought i would join and let u all know that via marmite international, which i first googled, i got an official marmite distributer in oslo,
Norway - Oluf Lorentzen
Jerikovn 10 1067 Oslo,
Postboks 24,
Lindeberg Gard.
1007 Oslo
Telephone: +47 23 14 25 00
Fax: +47 23 14 25 10

havent checked it out yet, but the website shows lots of nice cheese and cured ham,, etc..
welll just phoned and it closes at 4, will try again tomorrow..

enjoy