Are these Food Products Available in Cairo?

MLB4861 wrote:

Im from Louisiana USA and  moving to Cairo soon from Abu Dhabi.  I was wondering if the following products are available in Cairo:

1. Corn meal
2. Pecans
3. Hellman's Mayonnaise
4. Philidelphia Cream Cheese
5. Liquid Vanilla Flavoring
6. Western fresh beef
7. Velveeta Cheese
8. Cake flour
9. Hillshire farms sausage

Thanks

Hey Exciting moving to Cairo, although I'm sure coming from Abu Dhabi it won't be too much of a change.

If you are planning on living in Maadi, there are two supermarkets there that bring in imported food, Kimo market on Medan Digla, and Masaouds on Road 9. I've seen velveeta cheese in both, but it is expensive! Phili cheese is pretty much everywhere, and pecans and cake flour are not a problem. You'd be able to find those in pretty much any supermarket. As for corn meal, I'm not sure, I've never looked for it. Corn flour is not a problem though.

Hillshire farms you won't find here, as there are no pork products in the supermarkets here. On a rare occasion you will find restaurants that import pork, you can order them delivery. There's one in Maadi called the German Bakery, they import their pork products from Germany. And their breakfast menu is lovely.

Liquid vannila essence you will not find here, as there is alcohol in it. However, if you are looking to use it for baking, I use powder vanilla and it works just fine. Maybe a tad bit sweeter than the essence, but otherwise it's good to go.

Hellman's mayonnaise is the same thing as Velveeta cheese, you can find it in supermarkets that import, but expect to pay extra for it. The Heinz mayonnaise here is quite good too But i'm not really a mayo fan, so don't take my word on that! :p

It seems that you will be using a lot of these ingredients for baking, there are a few things that are difficult to find here, that I would recommend you bring from outside. Baking soda is nigh on IMPOSSIBLE to find here, baking powder however is everywhere. So baking soda is definitely one thing I would consider bringing.

If you use a lot of food colourings, fortunately there are more on the market here now. But it's still difficult to find decent food colouring here, so that may also be something that you should look into bringing with you.

Good luck with your move!

paddyincairo wrote:

If anyone knows where to get hellman's mayonaise I'd kill to find out.  It's one of the few things I've been unable to find and my girlfriend loves it.

Very difficult to find any kind of pork so I doubt you'll find those sausages.

All of the beef here is killed halal style and not allowed to hang so it's not the same as western beef.  You will get it in some of the "boutique" foodstores but you'll pay a lot for it.

You'll find most things here, Mark, but maybe not by the brand names you recognise so it takes a bit of trial and error but you'll get used to it.

Check Kimo market and Massaouds in Road 9. I've seen it in Seoudi on rare occasions. Problem is that it's sporadically around, so there's no guarantee that you will find it on the day that you look for it anyway :S

Shorouk wrote:

If your a card carrying retired or active duty personnel being assigned to a dod contract in Egypt, it may have duty free privileges and our commissary allowances.

i also buy my baking soda from the local pharmacy just ask for bicarbonate of soda any of the larger ones will have it on hand.

!!! you can find baking soda in pharmacy's here? thanks for that tip, i've been looking for it everywhere!

Shorouk wrote:

Good luck finding flour to use we went five places today all where out of flour!They say its due to a shortage of imports of grain.

That may be due to Russia having to stop wheat imports due to the forest fires they had there.

MLB Pecans will probably be most readily available at nut shops or stands in supermarkets, I've seen them at Al Mouwfak nuts and dried fruit stands at my local supermarket (in Heliopolis).

whimvsreason wrote:

sorry to hijack your post- does anyone know if dolphin-friendly tuna or free range eggs exist here? starting to get a guilty conscience at all this delicious, cheap food!

Hi whimvsreason!

Cheap? Really? You must tell us where you shop! I find if I want to buy quality food then it is quite pricey, local produce is of course much cheaper but very often substandard.

Yes, I know most Egyptians don't buy imported stuff because of this, but then again why would you move here and endure a lower standard/quality of life?

Anyhow, Egyptian friend of mine owns a farm here and he says that most of the "organic" food you see in the shops is not really organic, but there is very little government regulation in terms of how things are made and what goes on the labels, so basically they can claim whatever they want:(