What's on your shopping lists for summer trips home

[habibihabibi]

Mine so far.....
Tampax by the ton
Cream of tartar
Citric acid
Make up
Perfume
Kids underpants
Kids shoes and socks
Lego
Books for me (hoping for lots of great reads passed on by friends)
Work shoes and clothes
New work bag
Silicon baking stuff
Green and Blacks chocs
Naice candles
Christmas stocking tat
Big Primark raid

Bloody hell, you lot!
Where the hell do you all live?!

I live in China and can get pretty much everything ( at a price!) here. My list is:
Decent black school shoes
Chocolate
Oxo
Underwear
Good food magazine
Suet
Birthday cards
Shoes for me - nobody in China except me seems to have wide feet!
Cake decorations
Over the counter medicine

I'm fascinated reading this!
Im in a relatively remote bit of northern Canada. It's quite a multicultural place so we have a nations supermarket that gets random stuff in like jelly tots and chewits.

When I return to the UK, you will find me stuffing myself senseless on pork pies and scotch eggs. I'd bring back Branston, Jaffa Cakes and a suitcase full of the toilet cleaning blocks you drop in the loo to fizz overnight.

We Live in Germany and drive over quite often.

We try to book a midday train and go to the large Tescos in Ashford. I have the address presaved in my gps.

We buy bags of ice there (around Gbp 1 a bag) and then pack these around fresh food.

We love buying fresh lamb,
Black pudding,
Sausages,
Dips.

On the dry food / other stuff side

=

Antihistamines
Marmite
Peanut butter
Lemon curd
Bisto luxury stock granules
Biscuits
Ginger beer
Birthday cards
Kitchen utensils.
Socks.
Books
Home decoration magazines (we are renovating and I love looking at different ideas from different countries).
Hot cross buns
Pickle
Mint sauce
Hp sauce
Horseradish sauce
Some spices and herbs (generally mixed spice, all spice and ones for Indian cooking).
Naan bread.

We usually do a pre Christmas shop too and this includes

Christmas Crackers
Cheese biscuits
Stilton
Mince pies
Mine meat
Christmas pudding
Christmas cake ingredients
Stocking fillers
Advent calendars (with pictures not chocolate).

Im here for a week unexpectedly p before coming back next month for 3 weeks. Its great fun trying to work you where fellow posters are, the Middle East based one are very easy to suss and not just because of their users names. I arrived here on Friday and my 'other' suitcase already contains -

Red Oxo's
Yellow Oxo'
Smoked Paprika
Assorted baking ingredients just for the fun of being able to go along the aisle and getting everything I need in one fell swoop.
Magazines
Books
Lynx Out if Africa Deo for my son
Scotch Mince Pies - being delivered on Friday
White Puddings - being delivered on Friday.
Bras, for me
Comics and activity magazines for my grandchildren to keep occupied with till the end of Ramadan.

And today will be spent at home enjoying whats going to be a very stormy day whilst waiting for one delivery after another of T&L clothes for my son who's severely disabled and piling on weight due to his new medication. Its the reason for my unplanned, I just couldn't stand to see him going around not looking as smart as he usually does any longer.

MooseBeTimeForSnow I forgot about Branston. I'm in Brazil, we used to be in Rio De Janeiro where the British women's institute ladies made pickle, piccalilli , lime pickle and mango chutney. But now we're miles from Rio and if I don't attempt to make my own I have no access to these things. We can get pretty much everything and more than decent wine and coffee. Cheese is a good but limited. So my list is mostly junk food .

@WelshMoth what are you so horrified about? Some of the items, or the amount? We bring an empty suitcase to the UK to fill with stuff.
On the other hand, I've bought 2 pairs of Capri trousers since I last was in the UK in August. So it's basically a years worth of clothes shopping for me, plus other things that are hard to get in Saudi.
That is, if course, if I can actually use my plane tickets, since we are supposed to be flying Saudi-Doha-uk and they have just closed all the boarders.....

Bloody hell, you lot!
Where the hell do you all live?

In places where it means we like to come to the UK and buy the things on these lists for 101 different reasons.

flying Saudi-Doha-uk

This will be very interesting to watch unfold from one of the countries who've not yet broken off diplomatic ties with Qatar and to be honest I can see that they will. Oh and I also have Qatar Airways tickets this year. Im actually meeting my sister on board the aircraft, she'll have boarded in NZ and its the first time well have seen each other for 14 years. Im not going to worry about it all, Something will sort itself out.

I'm supposed to be flying QA Doha-Dubai next week and Doha-London next month....... Hopefully things will calm down soon and minimal disruption to travel plans with so many people due to travel over next few weeks

I'm about to move to the ME and am watching this thread with interest. I did think about filling one of our moving boxes with foodstuff, but had assumed (perhaps incorrectly?!) that I could get spices and flours etc at the markets. I like to do a lot of cooking and baking, so should I be sending things in advance?

I was also going to stock up on medicines, sports bras and have packed the Christmas tree and decorations. Anything else that you think would be easy enough to send out if we had the space and I'll be surprised that I can't get in the ME - like birthday cards, baby products etc?

Although it sounds like things could get even more difficult if the borders stay closed for a while, a friend told me that the shops in Doha are VERY busy today!

You can get spices, loads of them and they're very fresh but for e.g. I find it impossible to get smoked paprika where I am but there's plenty of paprika or sweet paprika. You can also get flour including Duchy Organics where I am and its not flour I buy when back in the UK. Its things like glycerine that tends to be seasonal where I am, also different kinds of 100 and 1000s for my grandchildren ice cream. But thats said it can just be nice to group the bakery aisle and do a kind of sweep. There's always someone who'll say oh Im looking for such and such and its nice to say - oh I have some.

Christmas tree's and decorations - generally plenty to be found as long as you're not going to Saudi.

Birthday Cards, any kind of cards, I always stock up on because a simple birthday card can cost 7 or 8 pounds where I am. Even a bog standard one from Markies can be about 4 pounds.

Baby products - my girls don't seem to have any problems sourcing all they need.

Tena lady - rarer than a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

General rule of thumb for us (Jordan) is that you can get most things, but not from one place, not all the time and where it is available, the cost is massively inflated. So much easier to do an Amazon/Ocado shop in one go and know you have it stockpiled.

Thanks Mrs PeelyWaly!

Where are you moving to expatlife? If you are in Dubai you will be able to get most things but the shopping isn't as varied in Saudi / Bahrain etc.

You won't be able to pack foodstuffs into your moving boxes - the shipping companies won't take them.

I just had 3 welshcakes I found in the back of my freezer that a lovely colleague brought me back. I think I may have couple of hot cross buns too - you can buy them locally in Spinneys and Lulu but they're not the same as Waitrose ones. Ditto mince pies at Christmas. Luckily I work in a school so lots of people go back for the main holidays (and sometimes half term) so there's a happy goods exchange going on. And you send all your birthday/Christmas cards back too to be lobbed in a postbox in the UK.

@JoandMax, and anyone else in Qatar.
How are you? Looked like a bit of stock piling was going on yesterday. Hope it's panic, and not necessary.
We've cancelled our Qatar tickets. Flying through UAE next week.
@MrsPeelyWaly hope you get to meet your Sister as planned. That's going to be some reunion.

Thanks RedSand, everyone in Qatar seems to be very stoical and just getting in with it to be honest! There was a bit of craziness at the supermarkets yesterday but it's been pretty hectic since Ramadan started anyway........ I went to shops after I dropped the kids at school this morning and there is a lack of milk, eggs and chicken but hopefully that'll not last long and be sorted soon.

Think my Dubai trip next week will definitely be cancelled, I could go via Muscat and back in but it would add ages to our journey for just a couple of days so not worth it really. UK flights are unaffected so that's good at least!

MrsPeelyWaly - really hope your plans don't get messed up with all this x

Joan and Red, thank you

I live in one of the countries who haven't joined in with this and I would be extremely surprised if they did. I have a feeling the rest of the GCC will want one of their member countries to maintain ties and It really would only ever be us because of long term policy. Whilst typing this I had a look at our local news and its seem our FM visited Qatar yesterday so Im going to continue to think we wont be joining in. If however it did happen I'll just get another flight and meet my sister in the UK. Anyway, Im thinking it was a bid daft of me to suggest 'oh I'll just get on the same plane as you in Doha' and Im now hoping Im hoping we laugh when we see each other instead of crying. Fourteen years - stupid family falling outs!

The supermarket fiasco in Qatar was weird. People were tweeting empty shelves in the big supermarkets but I came off shift at about 10pm and bought everything I needed in a local Al Meera.
We have also had to cancel flights and rebook direct instead of the much cheaper DXB stopover.
I messaged my Mum "just to let you know we are ok but will have to change plans slightly will keep you posted" and she replied "Oh that is nice ,we have just landed in Hawaii" !!!!!!!!
Even though she has been here she tells people we live in Kuwait.

Hope the shelves stay stacked.
Not thought about all the Emirates flights becoming available as Qatar residents couldn't change them. Bizarre that it's cheeper for us to come through DOH, and cheeper for you to go through DXB!

Even though she has been here she tells people we live in Kuwait

Thats funny becuase today I was in a shop here in Scotland and the assistant was confused between Kuwait and Qatar and she said to me oh I was reading about the trouble in Kuwtar.

Kuwtar

Twinned with Utah but with Muslims rather than Mormons.

Properly fitted shoes for the children.

They also want monster munch and "proper" chocolate.

DH and I are looking forward to some willing (free) babysitters!

We're in Thailand and can buy most food things here. We're not going home for the first time this summer but on my list there is always:
Germoline (sp?)
Sudacream
Chocolate
Crisps
Clarks shoes for the kids
Kids trainers
Birthday cards
Tampax
Night Nurse
Cold and flu medicine
Calpol
Chinese curry powder
Work clothes for me
Bras!!!
Kids pants and pyjamas
Massive Primark shop for me and the kids too
My husband likes to have a Guinness and cheese platter every night he's home!