Oats-so-pointless...?

[scottg]

Nutella is best eaten straight from the jar with a spoon, or if no spoon is available, fingers. Goes well in porridge or rice pudding though if you have to dilute the Nutella goodness

A real cyclist doesn't use a spoon for their nutella(tm), they use a Campag crank wrench
or Herse crank wrench, in the States they're called peanut butter wrenches.
A bit of boat grease helps the digestion.

[Graham]

My "try-living-in-france" experiment, in 2010, came to a halt with the realisation that various life essentials of life were unobtainable, or rather so hideously expensive when found that I just could not bear it.

Muesli : Occasionally found in a supermarket or a "Bio", but several times more expensive than UK
Fortunately Lidl & Aldi solved this one with reasonably good muesli at a tolerable price. Phew.

Porridge Oats :"Scotts" sometimes found in a supermarket, on the English shelf, at an excruciating price. Or at a "Bio" @ outrageous price.
I had to get my 5Kg bags brought over, from UK, by the owners of the farmhouse.

Bread flour : Horribly overpriced in the few places that I found it. ( The boulangers seems to have the flour for bread supplies stitched up.)
Again Aldi & Lidl provided the workaround with breadmixes that I could dilute with non-bread baking flour.

My rural french dream shattered.

[Manc33]

Pick up any bottle of gunk that involves cleaning your body from a bathroom cupboard and read the first ingredient, then ask yourself why they are calling it that. Because they can't just be selling you 98% water, right... so they call water "aqua" all the time.

One of the biggest rip offs in this country is PC World. They charge more for a 2M ethernet cable than for 5 times more of it at other places. I'm not singling them out, they are the worst I know of for vast gulfs in prices on things. They are like a computer shop version of a service station, relying on you not having anywhere else to go. Try Aria or Novatech.

[Mick F]

Nutella is best eaten straight from the jar with a spoon, or if no spoon is available, fingers. Goes well in porridge or rice pudding though if you have to dilute the Nutella goodness

Nutella is best thrown away.

Better still, is not to buy it in the first place.

[francovendee]

My "try-living-in-france" experiment, in 2010, came to a halt with the realisation that various life essentials of life were unobtainable, or rather so hideously expensive when found that I just could not bear it.

Muesli : Occasionally found in a supermarket or a "Bio", but several times more expensive than UK
Fortunately Lidl & Aldi solved this one with reasonably good muesli at a tolerable price. Phew.

Porridge Oats :"Scotts" sometimes found in a supermarket, on the English shelf, at an excruciating price. Or at a "Bio" @ outrageous price.
I had to get my 5Kg bags brought over, from UK, by the owners of the farmhouse.

Bread flour : Horribly overpriced in the few places that I found it. ( The boulangers seems to have the flour for bread supplies stitched up.)
Again Aldi & Lidl provided the workaround with breadmixes that I could dilute with non-bread baking flour.

My rural french dream shattered.

Interestingly all the things you mention are readily available in my part of France and not much different to UK prices. When I moved here 12 years ago we had to get a lot of foodstuffs brought over from the UK.
The only thing we buy from the UK now are cereals, the French ones are way too sweet and they have a chocolate fixation, a huge percentage have chocolate in them. We can buy Wheetabix, Rice Crispies and Cornflakes but I don't like them so I stick to porridge.

[Vorpal]

Bread flour : Horribly overpriced in the few places that I found it. ( The boulangers seems to have the flour for bread supplies stitched up.)
Again Aldi & Lidl provided the workaround with breadmixes that I could dilute with non-bread baking flour.

Outside of the UK, bread is baked with almost any flour. No need to buy strong flour, though you may need to use a little more yeast to develop the gluten.

The reason that there is special flour in the UK for bread making is that the climate naturally produces wheat that is relatively low in gluten. So, when the UK was self-sufficient in grains, at least in years when hard wheats didn't grow well, it was normal to add gluten to flour. Without it, the wheat gluten and yeast don't consistently develop the gluten network well. So, British mills have for centuries, increased the amount of gluten in flours to make it easier to bake bread with it. This is 'strong' flour.

Dove's farm have a partial explanation on their page. They import hard wheats instead of adding gluten. https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/about/types-of-flour/

As for pre-packed porridge... I've bought it a few times. It's been common in the US for years; since I was a child, at least. When I was young, that was sometimes our breakfast. I think that my mum trusted me with a kettle and boiling water before she trusted me to cook porridge So, I made instant oats for me and my brother before school. I liked the apple and cinnamon flavour, but none of the ones with powdered milk in them. As an adult, I've used them camping and/or touring a few times. They can be made with hot water from any place that has it for tea, such as a petrol station, or a hotel room kettle. So one can have hot porridge without any cooking gear

p.s. the local dairy-free chocolate hazelnut spread is a staple in our house.

[Graham]

Thanks Francovendee & Vorpal for your information.

Perhaps I can, once again, put on my rose-tinted spectacles and head over to France for another protracted french experience.

[Manc33]

Don't get the Peanut Butter in Aldi, its pale and sugary. Their own mayonnaise is equally as bad. Most other stuff is OK IMO. Oh, except beef... I don't know what standards they have in Germany when it comes to beef but anything beef from there is awful, even stuff that says its the "best" or whatever. Well, they do sausages don't they. Get a tray of half decent mince from Morrison's and there's a massive difference. Then again Morrison's milk smells like its got bleach in and no one else's does. No one shop has it all covered.

[RickH]

Don't get the Peanut Butter in Aldi, its pale and sugary. Their own mayonnaise is equally as bad. Most other stuff is OK IMO. Oh, except beef... I don't know what standards they have in Germany when it comes to beef but anything beef from there is awful, even stuff that says its the "best" or whatever.

AFAIK Aldi UK only sells unprocessed meat (raw chicken, pork, beef, etc.) that is UK sourced (link). If you don't like it, don't blame the Germans (or at least not totally).

Rick.

[al_yrpal]

Aldis Specially selected steaks are all great, especially the fillet steaks for a fiver. Mince is great with various levels of fat, braising steak etc all good and all red tractor UK farm scourced. What beef isnt good - joints? Chicken, turkey, pork lamb is ok too? Havent tried their porridge oats, the Mrs buys hers from the Coop.

Al

[Ross K]

Almost back on topic, I get my porridge from Aldi, their "everyday" lower end label: dead cheap and good quality, like almost all of their food.

Including their meat. All our Aldis sell locally sourced Scottish beef and lots of other Scottish products too.

The real genius in their business model is their fast checkout operators = better for the customer = better for Aldi as they need fewer staff = lower overheads, lower prices.

[MikeF]

The real genius in their business model is their fast checkout operators = better for the customer = better for Aldi as they need fewer staff = lower overheads, lower prices.

Er what are they?? Not at our local Aldi - not even a quick self service checkout like Sainsbury's. Long queues for few items and they won't take credit cards = poor business model.

[RickH]

...not even a quick self service checkout like Sainsbury's.

Personally, I hate those self service tills. I know some places where they've taken them out.

Our local Sainsburys doesn't have them either!

...they won't take credit cards = poor business model.

They've been taking credit cards since 2014.

Rick.

[Graham]

Personally, I hate those self service tills. I know some places where they've taken them out.

I love the self-service tills in Tesco.
Sadly they have removed the highly amusing "Unexpected item in the bagging area" announcement.

Also gone is the nagging & repetitive "Please remove your items." ( or whatever it was ).

More self-service tills please ! . . . . ..

Oh yes, they have one in the Post Office now. I was thrilled to get some stamps from that rather than wait in the queue-of-death for counter service.

[Flite]

Like Mick - the main reason I don't use the local Aldi much is the long wait at checkout - just never enough staff.
Porridge - proper stuff made with organic jumbo oats - yummy, I like it with raisins and a drop of milk,for breakfast alternate mornings.
But I often carry one of the instant pots if I'm hostelling or staying at B&B for an emergency quick hot snack which only needs hot water.