My cunning plan to solve the German food issue

Well I am always looking for solutions to problems. In the past I looked into getting a refrigerated courier van delivery from the UK but it is VERY VERY expensive (like hundreds of pounds).

However was just chatting to one of my customers who happens to run a specialist company in Surrey that supplies dry ice and disposable boxes. So this is really designed for "freezing" goods but could also of course be used for refrigerating stuff, just don't need as much dry ice.

He can supply to my UK office a 40cm x 40cm x 30cm box with around 10% dry ice. This should keep stuff cold for 3-4 days and be shippable with our normal company UPS courier service.

My UK office just happens to be bang opposite a Marks & Spencers, so in theory I just need to get 1 of the guys to pop over with a shopping list when the box arrives (weekly or every 2 weeks), and then send it with UPS over to Germany.

I know that most of you will think I am bonkers, but if anyone else thinks this is *interesting* let me know. Costwise this solution is not prohibitive so I shall probably give it a spin and let you know!!

Trickiest part is actually working out what items to add on my "emergency package" every 2 weeks.

Would you also arrange delivery within Germany? I noticed that you don't live in a city; can't imagine that many expats live in Landsberg. Or would you travel into Munich? what are the potential costs on that end of the delivery, do you think?

i dont think M&S sells Irn Bru, therefore your idea is shite mate

You can buy Bru in Pomeroy & Winterbottom on Reichenbachstrasse anyway!

Sorry - I wasn't really punting this as a commercial venture. It is for ME ME ME.

As it happens I have a UPS next day contract for Germany at cheap rates, so I could easily take my goodies out on arrival, and then ship the balance overnight to someone else in Germany.

I'm sure the guys at that office will love this idea.

Get real and learn how to cook and you won't need any overpriced M&S grub.

By that you mean learn to cook pork, right?

I actually considered this for stuff from the US. There are many companies that do it to deliver food around the US already (Chicago Style Pizza, Portillos, etc). I tried ordering from one of them but they won't do it overseas because they can't guarantee freshness. So my brother offered to go buy the stuff and do exactly what you're saying, and the cost really isn't that bad if you do a bulk order. Never did it but often tempted.

Bloody ridiculour ideas you all have. Plenty of fresh meat and veg here. Cook your own and don't be so lazy.

Jeremy, so where can you get real sausage meat to make sausage rolls & pork pies, and do you make your own extra mature cheddar??

I do cook myself but it would be nice to have a decent selection of stuff to cook.

I would be mega interested in this, god the idea of M&S food instead of your local Tengy shite is mouthwatering

Real sausage meat? No problem. IÄd just head for my nearest market (thousands of them across Munich) and befriend a good butcher. Mine in fact does have a stand in places in Munich on different days of the week. The American lady told me she could organise it for me with a prior phone call.Â
 

Cheddar cheese is available in many supermarkets such as Rewe. As a previous Cheddar man I instead choose Emmentaler here.

I've never found cheddar at Rewe or any of the regular chains near me (HIT, Aldi, etc.), but you can get it at the cheese counter in the Galeria Kaufhof Feinschmeckerparadies at Marienplatz. It's a bit dear but worth it.

I am like BD, mega interested in this :-) and didn´t see this topic last week.

Frau Georgia, in my local Rewe -or it might have been Mini Mal, I could ask for Cheddar and get it no trouble. However if I couldn't get it it wouldnt annoy me. Plenty of Südtirol cheeses here as well as Italian stuff to try. When in Rome do as the romans do. Or rather when in Germany do as the Italians do!

you can get packaged chedder (cathedral city - mid range stuff) in karstadt at münchner freiheit and is ok prices - cheaper than in galeria kaufhof

Totally agree.

Ohhhh...it's starting again...

(But I better keep my mouth shut, because I'm German and not allowed on this forum and not allowed an opinion...)

The point is this jeremy, you have time to go and visit various markets and cherry pick different foods from different places, most of us simply don't have that time or the inclination to run about here and there.

M&S is quality gear and any way to get your hands on it would be appreciated by many i think.

Herr Jeremy, cheddar cheese is necessary to certain dishes, such as my mother's squash casserole recipe which I like to make from time to time. I never said I don't like or buy or try other cheeses.

And wanting a better/different selection of food does not necessarily equate with not cooking your own food or being lazy. But good grief, this is going to go around and around like these German grocery store topics always do, with the usual suspects making the same tired arguments.

And to be fair to everyone concerned, I like the HIT at Rosenheimer Platz, which is where I do all my shopping these days. Everything I need is there.

Edit: yes Lassie, except cheddar. You were too quick for me.

Edit 2: but you know what? Not sure if I've checked for it at the HIT recently. Will have to check again. Another TTer has just informed me that he can buy it at the HIT near his place.

Edit 3: I just remembered, I couldn't get rucola on Monday. Not a bag in the store. That was annoying.

Cheddar is available in Germany by the way.

except cheddar.

Johnny English for GOD!

we're lucky...our local REWE stocks Cathedral (in a zip lock bag too!) regulare and extra mature too, not the normal one! (it had a black/blue label, not a red one) 3€ for a big chunk quite cheap. oo and they do Naan bread too!

Kaufland sell Irish cheddar. I shall be there tonight, buying some! Kaufland is good and the closest to a British supermarket I've ever seen here. I really can get almost everything I miss from England, except Cumberland sausages. That would be expecting a bit much though, I think. Doesn't stop me dreaming though!

Has anyone been to the one in Perlach? I presume it's in the PEP Centre?

Can the clueless agitators on this topic just back off and start what would be the equivalent of this thread for their ilk?

TT Mango Mondays:
Join us as we conveniently go pick mangoes on a plantation in Ghana ourselves. As you cut out those satanic big chains, you show how easy it is to find fresh fruit in Germany.

Right. So we will give this a crack once I can get my arse in gear. The handy thing is that even though I live in bumsville Landsberg, I have a VERY cheap UPS service (cheaper than post) for next day to anywhere in Germany. So I can grab my own stuff, and send the package straight back out the door for AM delivery into Munich. Like I say - this ain't commercial at all - but could be a fun test, and as it happens the people that have shown interest are on my "jolly nice people" list anyway so happy to help.

Trickiest issue I think is that M&S do not appear to have an online list of their food stuffs. They seem to have the seasonal and party food things, but I cannot find a list of the regular stuff. So will be tricky to actually choose items. Ideally I would get one of the UK guys to wear a pit helmet with live built-in camera and mobile phone - so we could send him round the shop picking stuff up. But that might be the "upgraded" version to the plan. My plan was to fly to the UK and pick out the stuff I like and make a list. We are talking about the "Tolworth" branch of M&S so it's a pretty good one.

For those wittering about me being lazy, learning to cook etc - please feel free to start your own "We love German food, don't mind a bit of rotting stuff, and we are all fabulous cooks" thread to pat yourselves on the back.

p.s The box size I mentioned at the start just happens to be the smallest. We can scale this baby up if we need to, although I dont actually wanna be organising a zillion deliveries every week. But a test run could be fun.

But Jules! You can get oranges in Germany! I know I saw them once!

Brilliant. It would be worth it just to join in on that.

In fact it's an excellent plan even if that doesn't work out straight off.

Hey lets not knock mr JE s plan here.

Yes I can get most of the stuff I need, yes I can cook well and do often to relieve my eternal cravings for alternative foodstyles, fish and chips and now newly added scones and pies. But you can not get decent chedder here. Its weak in taste, horribly expensive and rubbish.

Can you get me some stilton and cumberland sausages JE? I'd actualy drive to pick up ;-)

Exactly. As JE and Jules said, bugger off somewhere else with the whingeing.

And I was also thinking that I'd be happy to drive out to JE-land myself too, and probably in the process bring back to Munich not just my order but others for distribution.

No need. UPS can do next day to Central Munich from my place - no drama at all. We would just need 1 central delivery point in Munich. And the box is a disposable version (made in the USA as it happens) so we don't need to worry about getting it back later. This is turning into a plan.

My house? I'm right in the centralest part of central Munich. And I promise not to eat everything before people arrive for pickup.

God, i'm actually drooling with excitement at this idea.

Can't find any online shopping for M&S either, except for hampers and party food.

Maybe the easiest way is to use something like the Tesco online site and just ask for equivalents?

http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/mar55246.htm


Marvellous. So Dublin, Delhi and Dali will be getting M&S before us in Deutschland.

Not if I have anything to do with it...

It is indeed Mr BD. It's as good as any M&S (they failed here in Germany) and we get everything. Yes, everything.

Tesco have opened in the US...!

yes but not EXTRA MATURE cheddar. The stuff they sell as out local supermarkets in mild Irish cheddar. One step up is the Cathedral cheddar but it really doesn't compare in taste to a good extra mature cheddar.

Bloody brilliant idea.

I can cook better than fucking any of you, and I'd still be more than interested to get myself an occasional M&S goodybag. Getting cheddar in Germany?!? OK, if you compare the bright orange crap sold here with some low-fat ultra-mild cheddar, you might have an almost valid point, but decent, mature cheddar cannot be bought here. Fact. As to switching to Emmental, HELLOOOOOOOO. That is like a whisky drinker switching to some strawberry & kiwi alcopop. Seriously.

Wrong.

They never failed anywhere abroad. They just got the willies and pulled out of all of their non-domestic operations in a blind sheep profits are down lets reduce to core activities thing. The current CEO has noted that that was one of the worse knee-jerk descisions ever made by the company. They also had the problem of never really being able to find suitable store space in Germany - for the then store concept - in the right locations, I remember in the early nineties the rumours of their frustration of that. Wait and see what happens though. Tescos is hitting the states and M&S is revitalised and looking to correct its mistake.

Sorry I'm an ex Baker Street M&S Head office bunny. I get very protective.

Hmmmmmm...alright. I shall back down. I've changed my mind. I thought we were talking about processed foods here. I'll admit the cheese situation isnt perfect here too.

I am actually intrigued by the idea and how it might work.Certain foods are not available from our barbarian hosts. How much would a jar of Branston cost?

Good luck with it.

Bottom line Bunny is that M&S is not in Germany. That's what peeps are talking about.

Are you talking about Kaufland? I went there last week. Bluedave, trust me, you will NOT feel like you are in an English supermarket, regardless of what I've read on TT of late. It is good by krout standards, but comparing it to an M&S foodcourt is like comparing putting a blindfold on and shagging Angelina Jolie, with putting on a blinfold and shagging Roy Chubby Brown. "It's all just skin" after all. Mad comparison.

Am very jealous, wish I was in Munich to join in all the M&S fun <drools at the thought of yummy M&S food>
Would be interested to hear who it goes though, maybe could set up something similar in Berlin...

(Daughter sat on knee)

"why did you laugh Daddy?"

the Cathedral City extra mature cheddar we got at REWE last night is pretty yummy. it passed the cheese on toast test this morning.

Yep!

It is kind of amazing how your standards change, isn't it? Once upon a time I would have looked upon the HIT at Rosenheimer Platz as worthless, but once I'd had a taste of the Penny Markt and Tenglemanns it started to look pretty damn good.

No the bottom line is they left Germany, not failed. Get yee facts right.

And they're not here and would in my estimation have a horrible time of it if people think the cheddar they get here is worthy of being broadcast across the interweb as a taste explosion.

The top line is, JE old chap, has a wizard plan to get spiffing cheese and jolly good sausages flown in under cover of darkness and without jerry being none the wiser. Tuesday in London, Wednesday on my plate.