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Welcome to Aussie & NZ Mumsnetters - discuss all aspects of parenting life in Australia and New Zealand, including relocating, schools and local areas.

Original poster

Australia / Melbourne supermarket shopping tips

127 replies

squishee · 09/08/2023 03:32

Recently arrived from the UK by way of Europe. Will be staying long-term but temporarily. So I want to make the most of it!
As the subject is so vast (and I'll keep restaurants for a separate thread), I'll start with supermarket fare. So far, as a child of 70s UK I have enjoyed:

Proper bacon!
Pies
Gammon steaks (which seem to be called loin steaks here?)
Crumpets
Soft white rolls
Coleslaw
ALLLL the Asian ingredients.
Affordable avocados that are perfect (not brown or black) inside!
Clementines

What else should I look out for?

TIA.

OP posts:
Fraaahnces · 11/08/2023 14:08

@squishee one of the best things about living in Melbourne is finding out! Most people end up with a “local” cafe as well as a pub. I made myself very homesick. If you like wine, there are fabulous vineyard tours to do in towns everywhere. You mustn’t leave without exploring the Yarra Valley vineyards with their lovely Pinot Noir.
Australian cities do get less and less European in flavour the further North you go, (and West. Mustn’t forget Adelaide and Perth - or Hobart and Launceston in the South!). Like every country each city is unique, but I think because of the distances between each one and the very different climates, it is much more obvious here. Enjoy Melbourne, but try and see as much of the rest as you can. I’ve travelled a lot. (Used to be a flight attendant). If you ever want ideas, feel free to PM me. I have spent time in every major city here.

Fraaahnces · 11/08/2023 14:11

@TerrorAustralis That dip, Meredith Farm Marinated Goat’s Feta and Mersey Valley Cheddar were the three foods my DH and I missed most when we lived in the Netherlands. (Ironic that two of them were cheeses…) Gotta admit that I didn’t miss paying a bajillion dollars for them like we do here, though!

TerrorAustralis · 12/08/2023 02:35

Fraaahnces · 11/08/2023 14:11

@TerrorAustralis That dip, Meredith Farm Marinated Goat’s Feta and Mersey Valley Cheddar were the three foods my DH and I missed most when we lived in the Netherlands. (Ironic that two of them were cheeses…) Gotta admit that I didn’t miss paying a bajillion dollars for them like we do here, though!

I bloody love Mersey Valley Cheddar!

Morestrangerthings1 · 12/08/2023 06:42

TerrorAustralis · 12/08/2023 02:35

I bloody love Mersey Valley Cheddar!

Show quote history

It’s great cheese, crumbly but not dry. I love it on toast.

echt · 12/08/2023 09:26

Meredith Goat's Cheese - as fabulous as the Meredith Music Festival!!

Fraaahnces · 12/08/2023 09:30

Mersey Valley Cheddar makes toasted cheese sandwiches that you would kill for.
1/2 - 1 cube of the Meredith Goat’s Cheese mixed through either a mushroom or beetroot risotto. OMG.

TerrorAustralis · 12/08/2023 10:11

echt · 12/08/2023 09:26

Meredith Goat's Cheese - as fabulous as the Meredith Music Festival!!

If it wasn’t so expensive I would always have some in the fridge.

Fraaahnces · 12/08/2023 15:45

You can buy an industrial-sized Meredith Goat’s Cheese at Costco. Pretty sure I have justified my membership more than once buying it there.

TerrorAustralis · 13/08/2023 11:41

Fraaahnces · 12/08/2023 15:45

You can buy an industrial-sized Meredith Goat’s Cheese at Costco. Pretty sure I have justified my membership more than once buying it there.

OMG, I’d been holding out, but I might have to join now.

GADDay · 13/08/2023 11:52

Not a supermarket staple but proper coffee from an independent coffee shop - we spent 8 weeks in the UK last year and I missed this the most.

Original poster
squishee · 13/08/2023 13:15

Right, my next shopping list just got longer (and very specific) Smile

OP posts:
Fraaahnces · 14/08/2023 10:27

Sorry for derailing your thread with talk of cheese @squishee

Ozgirl75 · 14/08/2023 11:21

Mersey Valley cheese is amazing!

Original poster
squishee · 15/08/2023 02:45

No worries, cheese is not a derail here!

Something I have been craving and not yet seen here is CHEESY fish pie (the potato-topped kind). Any pointers? Or do I have to knuckle down and learn how to make it?

OP posts:
Morestrangerthings1 · 15/08/2023 07:03

I used to see fish pie in my local fish/seafood shop. But haven’t seen it in a while. Perhaps try the fish shops? ( I don’t know how ‘cheesy’ it was though.)

Fraaahnces · 15/08/2023 07:05

Sorry @squishee This is where I jump ship. I’m not the right person to ask at all. Despite the bakery recommendations above, I have coeliac disease, so that rules out pies. In my mind all fish is cat food unless it’s sashimi and has no smell.

TerrorAustralis · 15/08/2023 08:35

To me, fish pie seems to be a very UK thing. I've rarely seen it in the wild here.

Original poster
squishee · 15/08/2023 08:52

Oh well, I'll get stuck in and try to make fish pie (love cooking, but usually quite simple things). At least we have fab fish and potatoes to work with here!

Am eating Haigh's chocolate as I write (OMG so good) and I have that Red Rock dip in the fridge. Next up, Mersey Cheddar. I see there is a pickled onion one!

Funny how some things here are just like in the UK (pies), others made to a different recipe (Ritz crackers) and some not a thing at all (fish pie, tinned curries, tinned green beans).

OP posts:
IsGoodIsDon · 15/08/2023 08:58

KFC chips so much better than in the U.K. They have a great chicken salt/seasoning on them. I always have it at least once when I head home

TerrorAustralis · 15/08/2023 09:10

squishee · 15/08/2023 08:52

Oh well, I'll get stuck in and try to make fish pie (love cooking, but usually quite simple things). At least we have fab fish and potatoes to work with here!

Am eating Haigh's chocolate as I write (OMG so good) and I have that Red Rock dip in the fridge. Next up, Mersey Cheddar. I see there is a pickled onion one!

Funny how some things here are just like in the UK (pies), others made to a different recipe (Ritz crackers) and some not a thing at all (fish pie, tinned curries, tinned green beans).

Mersey Valley pickled onion IS SO GOOD. (sorry for shouting)

I'm not really a fish eater, but I have seen a Jools Oliver fish pie recipe that looks pretty easy.

TerrorAustralis · 15/08/2023 09:11

@IsGoodIsDon did you NC for this thread? 😁

PeanutButterOnToad · 15/08/2023 09:38

Just remember to buy seasonal. DH will never live down the fact that he paid $30 for six tomatoes the week we arrived and the banana shortage a few years back gave everyone in our house a ration of two a week 😂

BritInAus · 15/08/2023 10:28

Oh yeah - the pickled onion Mersey Valley cheese is GOOD! Also recommend Maggie Beer pate. The duck and orange one is delish.
And yes - KFC chips are insanely good here!

Ozgirl75 · 15/08/2023 10:28

My son was 1 and banana mad back in 2011 when the cyclone went through Queensland. I was paying about $4 for a banana and I would go in and buy one and give him a third every day!
My aunt and uncle live in FNQ and had a banana tree that wasn’t knocked down and they would display their bananas proudly to their friends as if it was a pineapple in Victorian times 😁

windmill26 · 15/08/2023 12:11

Ozgirl75 · 15/08/2023 10:28

My son was 1 and banana mad back in 2011 when the cyclone went through Queensland. I was paying about $4 for a banana and I would go in and buy one and give him a third every day!
My aunt and uncle live in FNQ and had a banana tree that wasn’t knocked down and they would display their bananas proudly to their friends as if it was a pineapple in Victorian times 😁

We were living in Sydney at the time and I remember the cashier telling me "you must be rich" when I was buying a bunch of bananas at the local supermarket 😆