Expat stores sell food, drinks, snacks and candy from you’re own country!
Where ever you came from, traveling the world can sometimes overwhelm you with a feeling of homesickness. A smell, taste, or certain song or tune can give you that home feeling, making you feel good again. By smelling a certain smell or the taste of a delicious dish, you go back in time and imagine that you are back in the place where you came from, experiencing that home feeling. You can also experience that home feeling on your travels, for example through a snack, bite, or drink from your home country. But where to buy groceries from your home country? In Expat stores, Ethnic supermarkets, Oriental food stores and Chinese toko’s.
What to do with that longing for a taste of home?
As a temporary foreigner in the Netherlands, you can have this longing for something fancy something tasty from your own home country. So if you are looking for Creme Eggs, Pop-Tarts, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Lemon Curt, Guiness, Twinkies, Creme Eggs, Budweiser, Marmite or that Skippy Peanut Butter most likely you find it in an Expat store. Luckaly there are several expat shops in the Netherlands that sell a wide range of foreign products and probably also products from your own home country.
As a traveler, you have to get used to the drinking and eating habits of the country you are visiting. The Netherlands also has its own eating and drinking habits. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to get used to a different culture. The possiblility to eat and drink a product from your own country can be a welcome change.
What products and brands to find in an expat store in the Netherlands?
Some expat stores have a wide range of groceries from different countries like England, Australia, India, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, South Africa, etc. In the expat stores, you can buy essential ingredients that you can use to prepare a festive meal. For example, to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner or to celebrate Christmas Day with homemade Yorkshire Pudding.
Well-known foreign brands:
British brands: Kelloggs, Heinz, Cadbury, Nestle, Warburtons, Kelloggs, Branston, Heinz, McVitie’s and Ribena
American brands: Budweiser, Kraft, Nerds, Cheetos & Cheerios, Campbells and America’s Finest.
Online expat stores in the Netherlands
âž” Britisch Corner Shop
âž” Plumule Rotterdam
âž” British Store Amsterdam
âž” Oriental Food Store
âž” Asian Food Lovers
âž” Die Spens South Africa
âž” International Food Store South America
Where to find expat stores in the Netherlands
A great United Kingdom lover started years a go a blog about Britain named Britblog. The blogger of Britblog collected a large number of addresses of expat stores in the Netherlands. Britblog gives a good and updated overview of British stores in the Netherlands. âž” Britblog
Another option for Dutch grocery shopping is ethnic supermarkets. There are plenty of these stores across the Netherlands, particularly in larger towns and cities where there are more ethnically diverse populations. Many are Turkish supermarkets, but Moroccan, Chinese, Indonesian, and Japanese grocery stores can also be found in larger cities.
These shops are often popular with expats as they tend to stock a greater variety of international foods. This is especially the case when it comes to herbs and spices that are often not available in Dutch supermarket chains. These products are generally cheaper in ethnic grocery stores, although you may find a cheaper and more varied selection of everyday items at chain supermarkets.
