SUPERMARKETS

The first thing that I noticed that’s different about grocery shopping in London? You are expected to bag your own groceries! It doesn’t matter if it’s a cheap or an expensive store.  (I always equated bagging your own groceries with the huge Food-for-Less-type discounters in the US.) So, when you’re at the check out, don’t stand there waiting for the cashier or bagger to come ’round to bag your food: it’s your new job!

Following is a list of the supermarkets you should easily be able to find within Zones 1 and 2. There are more further out in the suburban areas, such as Morrison’s, Asda, Budgens and others. The idea with this list below is to just give you an idea of what to expect from a few and decide which one might fit your needs.

• Waitrose One of the pricier places on this list. Nice selection of organic/free-range foods as well as prepared food for picnics, etc. You can often find really nice housewares here, but maybe a little too pricey to outfit your entire kitchen. Sainsbury’s has better priced essentials for that.
• Sainsbury’s Well-priced and clean, with a lot of affordable organic/free range options. The location on Cromwell Road is huge! They also rent DVDs and have a large housewares section that is great for basics for your home.
• Tesco Low prices, high convenience factor. You’ll often find the smaller Tesco Express and Tesco Metro throughout the city center. Tesco isn’t my favourite place for quality ingredients, but it’s a lifesaver when all you need is a pint of milk or loaf of bread. There are large Tesco’s further out that sell a large range of housewares, electronics, clothes, etc. If anyone remembers Gemco, these large supermarkets are similar to that concept. If you have access to a car, this could be a great place to get pretty much everything you need for your new digs.
• Marks and Spencer Sometimes also called “Simply Food” or “Food Hall” if part of the larger department store. M&S food is fantastic for picnics or quick lunches on-the-go and they often have a nice selection of fresh fruit, meat and desserts. They also make an awesome bottled “Peach Bellini” and their Cava (with the green label) is fab. I love M&S for food but I don’t do my bulk shopping here.
• Whole Foods I only mention this because a lot of Americans are curious about it. The large store on High Street Kensington is nice, as you would expect, and full of Americans enjoying the familiar scent of home. Besides the lovely bakery, cheese room and wine selection, they have a food court with an oyster bar, sushi, hot food and juices. Don’t go in there expecting it to be like the Whole Foods you know back home. While it’s still just as expensive, they probably won’t have your favourite tortilla chips or Pirate’s Booty. When I lived in the area, I used to spend a lot of time browsing the olive oils, meat counter and cool little housewares section. The candy/sweets section is pretty but the few things I tried weren’t mind-blowing. They bag your groceries here. You may also stumble across a couple mini-Whole Foods in Soho and Camden.
• Partridges More of a deli/specialty shop than typical grocery store. Take note that Partridges, in addition to stocking a decent range of European and some Asian ingredients, often have a decent selection of American dry goods, sweets and sauces. Nothing healthy, but if you have an absolute hankering for Aunt Jemima Pancake mix or Fruit Roll-Ups and are willing to pay a minimum of 6 pounds for it, Partridges is the place to go. I used to pick up bottles of A1 here until I realised Ocado sells it.

ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING

Here in the UK, they do a much better job with online grocery shopping/delivery than we ever did in the states (though that may have changed in the past few years). The quality of the food picked for you is superb and the service is amazing. I use Ocado for my weekly bulk grocery shopping. It’s not cheap but I don’t have a car so the biggest benefit is the delivery. Ocado is fab because the deliverymen come right to your door and place your groceries wherever you like. That, and they are often very friendly gentlemen! Ocado’s groceries are supplied through Waitrose. Waitrose also has their own delivery service called Waitrose Direct and I wonder if it is a matter of time before they combine their fleets. I’m very happy with Ocado so I haven’t sampled Waitrose’s system and cannot comment on the experience.

FOOD-ON-THE-GO / LUNCHES

The grocery stores do a great job of providing affordable prepared foods such as sandwiches, salads and fruit that area actually really tasty. However, I head toward sandwich shops like Pret, Eat and even the department store food halls for those one-off cupcakes or other speciality. Buying food-on-the-go here isn’t like settling for a dry, stomach pain-inducing 7-11 ham sandwich. You will actually enjoy eating a ready-made sandwich in the UK (90% of the time, at least)! These are the chains I frequent during lunch breaks:

• Pret Good coffees, tasty sandwiches (you select what you want from the pre-made options then bring it to the register), good pre-made salads. The brownies are better than the chocolate cake (in case you’re of that persuasion). I highly–highly–recommend the mozzarella and tomato (say: tomahto) croissant. That and a “strong (2-shots), skinny (non-fat) cappuccino” is my breakfast du jour. There are locations almost everywhere.
• Eat. The good soups here are the ones you order from behind the counter; the chicken pot pie soup is a classic. You will wish they put more pie crust in it. (I avoid the giant soups in the fridge that you pick up and they fill with broth at the register. Bland.) Sandwiches are pretty good, but they put butter in a lot of them (something my grandmother used to do, but not a common practice in the US).
• Itsu A friend of mine likes the hot dumpling soups (again, you pick up the container in the fridge and they fill the broth behind the counter when you pay). I’m partial to the pre-made sushi boxes, simple and fresh.
• Abokado Sushi, noodle soups and wraps. The sushi here is tasty and the soups (same broth-behind-the-counter system) are good.
• Wasabi On a scale of 1-10 for take-out sushi only, Wasabi is an 9.25, sometimes a 7 when you get there after the lunch and dinner crowds and find little is left. Each piece is individually wrapped so you take a little paper tray and pick and choose whatever you like. Bring it to the register where they count it all up and you invariably end up paying more than you expected. Wasabi also serves hot food served over rice. I’m not a fan but they often have a queue for the hot stuff, so…
• Marks and Spencer This place is super busy at lunch and after work. I’ve already spoken about it above, but M&S food is really good. For lunches they have prepared sandwiches (huge selection), weird sushi for 1 pound (I don’t buy it because it’s not really sushi but my colleagues swear by it on those budget days), salads and just a ton of other stuff.  They also sell little packs of chocolate covered toffee popcorn by the check out. Fantastic stuff.

The following little list, experiences I cannot vouch for, is a budget-concious approach to lunchtime eating/takeway food that my young English colleagues often go by. If you only have a couple pounds, literally, check these options out:

• The 1 pound sushi at M&S (It’s tiny! They also have a larger one for around 3 pounds) M&S also sells 1 pound sandwiches that are really basic and nice (i.e. just bread, ham and mustard).
• The meal deal at Boot’s. Yes, there is edible, fresh food in this drug store (say: chemist). I would never buy lunch at Long’s or CVS so I can’t bring myself to do it but people do it all the time, especially the younger, student-age people I’ve met. You can even get clever and select a 2-for-1 drink and try to get that into the meal deal. There are Boot’s all over London but not all locations sell food.
• Tesco! See above for other mentions of Tesco.

COFFEE AND TEA

Yes, there are an abundant amount of Starbuck’s here and there is the same sort of conversation going around about people who find it either lamentable or ignorable. Whatever. There are just a few points I want to make about buying coffee and tea to-go here, in case you’re not already familiar.

• The concept of iced tea (fresh, not the bottled kind) doesn’t exist here, or if it does, I haven’t found it. Don’t bother asking for an iced tea unless you want the bottled, sweetened drink.
• Same goes for iced coffee, or simple coffee over ice. Starbuck’s does have Frappucinos and Iced Mochas/Lattes here, though.
• More people drink tea than coffee here, and there is often an agreed/expected tea break at about 3pm.
• Tea with milk is good so you need to try it before you knock it. You will also find you can’t eat a cookie or piece of cake without someone offering to go get some teas and asking if you would like one. Trust me, you do and you want it with milk (sometimes the default option). Milky, slightly sweet tea with cake/a cookie is something you’ll be bringing back to the states.
• If you’re asked whether you want your coffee black or white, it means with or without milk.
• Low-fat milk is called “semi-skimmed” and non-fat is called “skimmed” or “skinny”. When you order your non-fat drink, you’ll want to ask for “skinny”. I.e., my 2 shot, non-fat mocha at Pret is a “strong, skinny mocha”.

Some cafes are:

• Caffè Nero Italian chain; I go here when I’m feeling like a harsh espresso is the way to go. All drinks are doubles.
• Costa Coffee I don’t love Costa but they are often found in train stations and are thus convineient.
• Coffee Republic Many of these have closed down throughout London but they still exist. I haven’t tried it but they often seem to have large spaces for reading/working.
• Pret I once walked into a Pret with my Caffè Nero cup looking to buy a mozzarella tomato croissant. The manager asked me what I was drinking (cappucino) and he asked me if I’ve ever tried theirs and offered a free one next time I was in. Another time the man who was served me noticed my Starbuck’s cup and jokingly dismissed me by saying: I see you’re all sorted on coffee! It worked: I more or less buy my coffee at Pret now. They make them nice and potent.
• Starbuck’s Do I need to offer any tips about this? Besides the non-fat/skinny thing, and the lack of iced tea I mentioned earlier, I think you can figure this place out.

COOKING

Read some tips I have about cooking in the UK in EAT > Cooking.