North American Supermarkets are horrific

[DaddyCool]

We've been complaining about the supermarkets around here (Canada) for months. I'm sick of buying sandwich meat and produce and it being rotten two days later. I was looking carrots last night but couldn't bring myself to buying them. I was able to bend them a full 180 degrees.

so anyway, we were watching old reruns of "Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" last night on BBC Canada. There was a scene of the in Tescos and we were drooling at the mouth.

I mean, Tesco's is considered crap in the UK but its superior to these pits.

the selection of meat, cheese, real dairy products, organic, alcohol....

expat, we went to MN on a temp contract in 1979 and on our first night there, practically, we were taken out to a surf 'n' turf restaurant where we all ordered steak (T-bone IIRC) - well the first one came, flopping over the edges of the plate, so we started dividing it up between the 4 of us, and then they brought 3 more

Never quite recovered from that experience!

re the rusk in sausage, by the way, if you buy eg Sainsburys Taste the Difference they are c 95% meat and hardly any rusk.

We didn't like US sausages at all but that was then, they may have changed.

I'm glad I don't have to shop in Kroger any more

sourdough bread - we tried that, one of many breads we tried when we were in California last year and the year before. I think we tried every bread on the shelf and still didn't ifnd one we liked. Either too sweet or, in the case of the sourdough, just too sour!

We found one ace supermarket in Santa Barbara but I can't remember what it was called. And we never made it to Trader Joe's but it was recommended. The others which were local to where we stayed were lousy, with little in the way of fresh ingredients although the fruit & vegetable selection was fantastic.

WendyWeber...thanks for the Sainsbury's sausage recommendation. we'll give it a try, and totally agree with you on the steak experience. It's always best to ask what the portion sizes are when ordering in the states, and most places let you share, but some backwards places and states don't let you share and this is insane. CA is great with this and even have senior portions at some places..good to get because they're smaller..not because you're old or anything...also can order child portions at some places. I still remember a steak house in San Angelo, TX...was just passing by...believe it was called the Western Skies or something and the portions were huge and they didn't let you share..I'm American and this was disguting..they kept saying, "Well just take the rest home with you....like we lived nearby or something..the steak was good but we still feel bad about all the waste.