British food week at Lidl (from Thursday 5.Jun.08)

Why is it an embarrasement to our nation, we don't make the bloody stuff.

But it does conjure up fond memories of camping in the pouring rain as a nipper and eating it out of the can (with Branston Pickle)...

yum or corn-beef hash (corn beef mixed with mash spud then grilled) with tinned plum tomatoes.
oo or corn-beef hash fritters.

The only thing corned beef does for me is bring back childhood memories of a Typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen traced to contaminated tinned corned beef, don't think I've eaten it since!

Hmm I tried to look up the history but all I seem to find are references to St Patricks day, so we should just blame the Irish (though I suspect it's probably more of an American thing)

Isnt corned beef basicly a pre-refridgeration thing? I know it's definately a war thing, that and dried egg. I actualy love it mixed with baked beans and worcester sauce when camping.

Don't mention Spam.

Hmmmm.. spam fritters...

ahhhh, small town kids are jealous

Corned beef sandwiches with branston pickle. mmmmmmmmm

Eh

and some wonder why I left the country...

Roast tatties are ok and as good as any frozen brand you can buy in the UK.

I havn't had a chnace to try the steak pie or the crisps yet, but that will happen this evening

well, tried the yellow gunk in jar last night - looks like gunk, tastes like gunk, hmm even smells like...gunk! also bought and taste-tested the brownish pickle mix in jar...again, overwhelmed by feelings of disappointment. the corned beef? my boyfriend bought it, ate it (from the tin no less), loved it (he's german too), but it stank like cat food so i kept an exaggerated distance. the pickles are certainly nothing like we get in oz

They're not supposed to be. Next.

We bought cheddar (excellent), salt and vinegar sticks (very vinegary but yumm), steak pie (saving it for Sunday) and apple pie (dessert tonight with German neighbours).

I'm Irish and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed/enjoy your tinned embarrassment.
Crusoe doesn't seem to like the embarrassment. Then again, she's English.

Corned beef = childhood in my case.Glad that i have not had to bring my kids up on it at all.

I had a look at the apple sauce and to me, apple sauce should not look like it would glow in the dark.

The corned beef I decided not to buy, I only used to have it in toasties with cheese and beans and as fate would have it...

I can buy all the ingredients but dont have a sodding toasie making thing

Who's after buying the entire lot of cheddar cheese at Lidl Unterschleissheim??? There wasn't a crumb left when I went there an hour ago...

lots of chedder left over at Lidl near MediaMarkt in Solln. Lots of the frozen stuff there too.

I have the same question for Neuaubing. None left about two hours ago. Humph. I had to settle for the pickly cheese. I mean, what the hell is that, I can mix my own pickles with my cheese thank you. But then again, any port in a storm. I shall enjoy it despite the whingeing.

Plenty left here in Ludwigsburg. I bought 4 more today.

Is that what a 'luxury caramel shortbread' would taste like in the UK? I thought i'd lucked out getting the last two packs and then I came home and tried one.

It was quite gross and sweet...waaaaaaaaaay too much caramel and not enough shortbread. And I generally love all things caramel or butterscotchy.

Edit: shortcake..oops. Maybe that's where my American thinking went wrong..

I don't know about too much caramel, but there is too much sugar most of which needs to be caramelised.
And yes, there is not enough shortrcake and what there is is too soft and fine.
I'm still gonna scoff it though.

So, got 6 packs of the salt and vinegar chipsticks. Finished a whole one already on my own. REALLY nice and vinegary - lovely.
Also got beans, blackcurrant juice, shortbread, piccalilli and the maple syrup oats, but not tried any of that yet.
Wanted to get cheddar and potato waffles, but had to go somewhere in the car straight after lidl so couldn't get any fridge/freezer stuff.
Will have to go back I think, and get even more s&v chipsticks. Yum yum!

I bought the Steal pie,nice, though reduce the heat a bit in the oven and cover with tin foil to start(my home made knocks spots off it though)
I thought the Piccalili and sweet pickle were good.The apple pies took me back to all those junior school trips when I was a lad(I always took a box).The caramel shortcake was a sweettooths heaven !! Salt and vinigar sticks-very good.I´ve also bought the fish in batter(yet to try it).Potatoe waffles are waiting for a fry up to acompany them.
I didn´t buy any of the ready made frozen meals because I´m quite capable of cooking my own meat,yorkshire pud,roast taters and veggies.
I´m just glad we´ve got a brit shop near us(I live in Bielefeld) in Herford and Sennelager for everything else I miss and need.

I fourth that. Otherwise the pie turns out white underneath and black on top.

I've just had a heads-up from the ever reliable Carm that REWE at Rosenkavalierplatz (Arabellapark) is now stocking various products from Branston, including the squeezable small chunk Branston pickle. Perfick for Cheddar cheese sarnies. mmmmmmmm

big display too! I hope there is not a huge rush now of all the Brits in the neighbourhood to buy it, I hope there is at least one jar left for me, when I get off work at 2.

I loved the Caramel shortcake. You need to put it in the fridge first or it is too sickly.

I could only get the cheddar with pickle in it. I was suprised at how good it was. Much better than that plastic tasting Irish land shit.

Couldn't get the steak pies or apple pies either, but did luck out on the last potato waffles. I used to live on them when I was a student.

totally agree. it rocks when chilled.

The Scampi is really nice. I may pop back in a minute and get some more.

I had the cod fillets with chips last night and a side helping of the scampi and it was picture me rollin' all the way! The caramel shortcakes are artery busters but the potato waffles and the salt and vinegar sticks are top. Lidl has gone up in my estimation!

Being brought up with considerable anti-Brit prejudices, I was curious to see if any of this stuff was edible.
results: the steak pie is a cholesterol bomb, the heavy crust is just fat held together with some flour, the contents were low-grade offal suspended in some brown-colored flour-lard sauce (gravy?) with the consistency of clotted blood, predominant flavoring was salt.
the cheddar cheese is a tasteless gob of fat that has been salt-cured, some unidentifiable green objects mixed in which the packaging identifies as pickle-based, perhaps in a former incarnation. The salt-vinegar sticks are exactly as described: crunchy sticks flavored with salt and vinegar, a good way to numb your palate before tasting the other stuff.
The shortbread should be OK, being a simple mix of butter (lard?), sugar, salt and flour; but I have been unable to review them due to a prior appointment with the clinic where they are trying to unclog my arteries.
When and if I am allowed to eat solids again, I vow to stick to my Mediterranean diet.

sorry, did I just hear a baby whining?

Coke. Nose. Keyboard. Arghh! An excellent summary!

I think I'll have some more...

hardly anything left at the Lidl on belgradstr!!! did not get cheddar! shit!

I served two of my German friends the steak pie last night and they thought it delicious. Needed a bit of salt but I followed the tin foil advice (and brushed the top with beaten egg) and it wasn't bad at all. The cheese is fine too but there were only three left.

Re Villager. American in no taste/unable to cook shocker. You wanna supersize that dude?

What?!?! Oh POOP!

re post 435. Why did you bother since you clearly intended to hate it? And Spanish/American food is ???less stodgy??? Ok so we are not talking gourmet here, but some foodstuff that reminds us of home. Rather disappointed that they didn't have pork pies - to go with the pickle of course. Went to Pocking and managed to get only two packs of plain cheddar cheese - clearly some people around here who eat it. Wasn't sure about the pickled cheddar - it did seem an unnecessary thing to produce.

yeah I guess I will have to wake up early on monday morning and try to get some cheese. DDBug shall I take something for you in the case I manage to get there ?

We just went down to Lidl in Allach and some greedy fat B$%&d really has eaten all the Pies!!!

I wanted an apple pie - but I never found them there.
Oh well, I suppose If I wait I can put my extra cheese and steak pies on sale here ...

I just went to the Lidl in Freising and all the cheddar was gone! Saw a lot of the locals buying the other things as well.

Well now I am off to Lidl again to get some stuff for friends(maybe more for me too) seems the cheddar has sold out in Heidelberg too, hope they still have it here. Maybe we should ask lidl to put a sign up by the Brit food saying British passport holders only

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA LOL

Have we all gone mad? It's a bit of home from home, OK. But people are talking about it as if it were manna from heaven.I was behind a girl in Lidl who got a dozen or so of the s & v sticks. That's neither food nor nourishment - simply a cocktail of E's, flavour enhancers and preservatives.

I bought a coiuple caramel slices, which admittedly did remind me of rainy sunday afternoon tea in Blightey. But you have to be pretty hungry to enjoy them.

Anyone tried the fish n' chips?

I went to Lidl.

I still think anyone buying "oven ready" roast potatoes should stab themselves in the eye with a fork for being such a lazy arse, but having said that, I just bought a shitload of scampi to save me from having to dip things in breadcrumbs and deep fry them, so it would be a bit of pot and kettle for me to chastise somebody for being bone idle. Must say, the scampi were very much pub-grub standard, and Lidl flogs cress too, to fully complete your crappy side garnish, a la pubgrub styley. Awesome.

Salt n vinegar chip sticks are super vinegary, clog up your teeth with soggy crap, and are therefore fucking awesome. Not tried the cheddar, I'm sure it'll be fine based on comments here, and I got a jar of that sweet pickle to try, but the picallilllili looked shithouse, so skipped on that one.

I looked with disgust and disdain at the turkey and beef roast dinners though man. Utterly sick. Why would you disrespect the awesomeness of roast beef by buying or eating that tripe. You gotta be nuts. Go to Kaufhof food court thingy at Marienplatz, go to the meat bit, get a massive bit of the seriously awesome charolais beef, all rolled and nice, with bones sticking out of it, pay the 27 odd euros a kilo it'll cost you, and then call me - I'll cook your sunday dinner for you rather than see you buy some god-awful looking microwave ready meal nightmare. Yuk, yuk, yuk. This must be how a thai chef feels when he comes to Germany and sees some fucking "china-thai-gemuse-pfanne" shite in the freezer section.

You take a whole page to realise, but you got it: People are essentially lazy. Just like they're not buying oranges any more (take too long to peel), they'rebuying ready-to-roast whatevers because you just slam them in the oven and that's it.

If you can cook, Don, all the better.