Okay, so I'm down visiting my husband. I go home in February. But it should be okay because I SHOULD get a March interview, so I'm trying not to think about those weeks between me going home and him coming up for the interview, cuz if I do I'll be sad.

Sooo...as part of my "trying not to think about the fact that I have to leave soon" plan, I'm keeping busy while he's at work. So today, I decided to make him a cake as a surprise. Wanted a healthy-sort of cake, since we're both trying to eat right as part of New Years Resolutions.

So I found a recipe for a low fat cake with a nice, light, low-cal, creamery frosting. It called for "Dream Whip". The whipped topping mix that comes dry in little envelopes. Commen stuff, right? I get it all the time at home. Well, after spending about an hour (seriously!) searching the local Stop n' Shop, I caved and asked one of the people who worked there. She stared blankly at me. So I described it. She said she had never heard of it and that as a stock girl, she'd know if they carried it. Figuring she was just on crack, I went to another grocery store. Same result.

So apparently even SIMPLE "commen" things are different. I'm now kinda scared it's gonna be more of a culture shock then I thought when I move down here. I know for sure I'll be having to bring down loads of Timmy's coffee and tea when I move, but I figured that things like baking goods would be the same here as they are in Canada.

*sigh*

Don't get me wrong, I can't WAIT to move, and wish I didn't even have to go home in a few weeks, but it just sucks that I won't be able to use some of my recipes since products which are commen in Canada apparently don't exist down here.

I completely understand! At Christmas time I went looking for ordinary simple sugar sprinkles to put on shortbread cookies and couldn't find any!! As a matter of fact I couldn't find any kind of sprinkles in the grocery store we shop at. It really made me miss Safeway. Grocery shopping here is a different experience.

Mmmm...dream whip is yummy.

I thinking that the only dream whip ive seen is in the container like the cool whip in the refrigerated section. The only thing so far hubby cant seem to find is cheese curds. And friends sent us some Passion Flakies I just got thru eating one

Found this for you..... http://www.foodservicedirect.com/index.cfm.../Dream_Whip.htm

Unsweetened coconut, mint chocolate chips, Magic baking powder and anything of UK origin that we get in Canada. All unfound here.

Oh, and Shreddies are non-existant here too.

Stock up before you leave! I'm having my care package brought down in the spring.

(Oh, we have dream whip here. Cool Whip is also a substitute if you can find it.)

edit: Also be prepared for a difference in using flour. Apparently Canadian flour is harder milled than US...meaning if you make something like bread, you have to use bread flour in the US (whereas in Canada you can get away with just using all-purpose).

Nothing I've baked here from scratch has turned out since I got here last July. I use mixes for most things now.

The bigger markets might have it... I just checked Albertsons and they carry it

https://www.albertsons.com/brand_default.asp you can see if you have a Albertson's nearby

Just smear some Cool Whip on it and stop whining.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,186,157170-243205,00.html

QUICK COOL WHIP FROSTING

1 med. pkg. Cool Whip
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 c. low fat milk

Combine pudding and milk by whipping together. Fold in Cool Whip and beat until fluffy. Frosting is great on chocolate cakes or cupcakes. Must refrigerate when cake is frosted!

dream whip is a little different then cool whip..... personally I like the taste of dream whip better then cool whip but Cool whip is okay if you have to mix it in something....

I dont know where in the US you are, but most of what is available in Canada is available where I live though sometimes there is a different name ... such as Kraft Dinner is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese etc... maybe its proximity to Canada as I am not all that far away.

I find there is lots of stuff I cant find here either, that we sell at home.

I can not find summer savory anywhere's down here(i might have spelled that wrong)

I can not find white potatoes here. They are either buttered, or russet, or sweet potatoes.

I miss gravestein apples. Cant find them here.

I did find the flour here to be different. I have tried making bisquits and cookies and they just dont turn out.

I can not find the honey garlic sauce in the bottle here, that you would put on ribs.

I find even the cheese whiz bottles look different then at home. It tastes different too.

Ok I better stop now.........

The flour is different? That's why my muffins are weird. I don't make cakes so hadn't put the 2 together.

The differences are subtle but annoying.

Dare I say Ketchup chips?

Anyone know where I can find some Yoplait "Source" yogurt. It's the only yogurt I like. I am not in the States yet, but can't seem to find it when I go down.

First of all, I wasn't "whining", but merely looking for some fellow Canadians going through the same thing. Second of all, as other people have mentioned, there are differences between cool whip and dream whip. If there were no differences, there wouldn't be a problem. I'm not really sure why you felt the need to be rude here...*shrugs*.

Thanks everyone for the links and suggestions of where to look. I'll see if we have an Albertson's nearby.

I remember my childhood, we had dream whip then! I can't imagine that it isn't here somewhere!

When I was in Morocco I wanted to bake my husband an pineapple upside down cake. They have no idea what brown sugar is! Its strange how we take our little comfort foods for granted until we can't have it anymore...lol

Good luck on your interview!

Cheese Curds are illegal in the US by health code because all cheese must be pasteurized and you can't get cheese curds if the milk has been pasteurized..

I have seen dream whip all over the place in the US (while living in different parts of New England and in northern CA) Good luck finding a source near you...or have someone send you some in the post...it is light enough!

I have had so many problems like this while living in the UK. On one hand it is no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but when you're missing home etc. it becomes overwhelming at times!

Try finding Vegetarian Suet! Then ask for "swede" in the vegetable section of any supermarket and they look at you as if you are mad!
Where on earth did the name Rutabega (probably spelled wrong) come from??? lol

I'm sorry -- I don't know where to find any of the other things you mentioned. For unsweetened coconut, if you have a health food type store with a decent bulk selection in your area, you might try there. I saw some at my store last night.

yeah, the flour is weird here -- my aunt (who spends part of the winter in Florida every year) warned of that one already.

I was sad that I can't seem to find the pizza mixes in a box by Kraft (I think) -- you know, the dough mix, sauce, and in the deluxe package there's parmesan cheese and herbs.

And I have craved ketchup chips for the past year and a half. oye!

Pink roses, you can tell you and I are Nova Scotia girls, I MISS MISS MISS Gravenstein apples too

Oh, and don't get me started about no fat yoghurt that has corn syrup in it LOL


One last thing -- where is the Alphagetti when you need it?!?!?!?!

You will have to give up cough syrup with codeine, non-prescription tylenol with codeine, and Timmy's (YIKES.... do I miss those Ice Capps) and the Lipton chicken noodle soup, Special K cereal, and Kraft dinner are totally different down here in the US.

But I sure am not complaining about the lower food prices down here compared to Canada. Whenever we go back to our trailer at the Lake up in B.C., we choke on the food prices we have to pay up there.

For flour, bran and other bread making ingredients, I go to Whole Foods which is a little pricey....but worth it in order to have normal bread...i.e. no sugar and doesn't last forever!!.

For other bits..Weetabix, salad cream, beans, Cadbury's chocolate and a few other bits, I go to the World Market here. They don't stock any specifically Irish food...rashers, taytos etc, but are good for UK food.

I also check out the International Aisle in Giant Eagle, most stores prob have these too? Can't help with the Canadian food I'm afraid...sorry!

i am pretty sure I have seen those pizza mixes at my grocery store.... and you can get ketchup chips at Walmart. Yeah, They tend to sweeten a lot of stuff with corn syrup down here .... I hate the Heinz Ketchup down here... I buy Del Monte ketchup it tastes a little better



I found the Chicken noodle soup to be ok down here.... and I also found to make the KRaft dinner taste better, I add in some real grated cheese


I found a pizza kit by Chef Boyardee at Vons

but I seem to recall seeing the Kraft one at one of the grocery stores around here

Well...as an american...I find I miss Donair sauce the most....and Rappie Pie...no one makes it like Ted D'eon....Tim Horton's...poutine should be easy enough to duplicate...sigh, I really am CANADIAN....

I miss Kraft peanut butter, Billy Bee creamed honey, and President's Choice fig bars.

However, Peter Pan PB is a decent substitute and I get my mom to bring the others when she visits me. One adapts.

And I picked up a large supply of Reactine (allergy pills) and Blistex lip balm in the little white tubs last time I was in Canada. Reactine is something else here, by prescription only and very expensive.

Fortunately there are many fine things here that you can't get in Canada so it evens out.

Donairs...........Yummy. I want one of those so bad. I went into pizza hut here and asked if they sold them. They looked at me like I had three heads. They didnt know what I was talkin about.

Cassie........Do you have a Piggly Wiggly where you live. I have seen those pizza mixes here that you are talking about at Piggly Wiggly.


I miss ketchup chips too. I havent seen those at our Walmart here.

I have made my husband promise to bring me to Canada for groceries every month or two... Flour... that is the biggest thing because I make my own bread. The other thing is brown sugar is a little different and I have yet to figure out how to change my dessert recipes to adapt. So, I bring down 10kg bags of flour and brown sugar among other things! I've also stocked up on Timmy's coffee, peanut butter...

Oh, how about Gravol? My husband has never heard of it but we use it alot (was part of his Christmas stocking the last couple of years!!!)

You have to buy "alphabet-shaped" Spaghettios!! Trust me, I have a 10 year old haha I went in a store asking where the Alphaghetti was and got the proverbial "HUH?"


Do you mean the stuff to prevent nausea and motion sickness? If so you can get Dramamine here....same stuff.

Yeah, except Gravol is much better. My wife keep it in the medicine cabinet at all times as well as Buckley's and NeoCitran

Casey is addicted to Buckleys after I sent it to him. He took pictures of his kids taking it lol.
We found you can order it online to the US though.

We gave his kids ketchup and dill pickle chips here at Christmas. They did not care for them, but my kids will miss them.

My son is going to miss pizza pops. Pizza pockets just are not the same.

We found perogies in AZ but they have jalapenos....wtf?? lol

There are so many things I did not realize I won't be able to have anymore. Very sad.

Hot Pockets/Lean Pockest are really good and I think their is a brand called Tony's that has something similar to pizza pockets.... ... they are really good to

My husband gets really good perogies from a store called "Trader Joes". Don't know if they're national or not, but they're almost as good as the President's Choice kind I get at home.

Reading this thread, I'm making a list of all the stuff I'm going to bring when I move. The border guards are gonna laugh at me -- I'll have luggage, a bit of furniture, cds, dvds....and boxes and boxes of food.

My fiancé visited me every weekend while we were waiting...he drove stuff back every weekend. I won't even tell you how much chocolate and "real" Coca Cola (made with sugar, not corn syrup) he cumulatively brought down.

Let's just say that I've been here since July and there's still stores of it.

yeah, there is some stuff that you can't find here that you can find in Canada but there is a lot of great stuff in the States that you can't find in Canada... did that make sense?

Oh, definitely! I love that they have all kinds of Weight Watchers products in the US. My Mum and I started the "Points" system a few years ago. I'm thinking of going back on it (didn't gain back what I lost, but I stopped before reaching my "goal"). This will make it soooo much easier! They even have desserts! Cheesecakes! Chocolate cake! Ice cream! All already packaged with the point values printed on the package!

There are definitely things in the US I'll be glad to have access to. Will just miss my "comforts of home". Like Timmy's. Cuz no matter what, I cannot convince myself that Dunkin Donuts is as good.

I went though this last year. It was tough at first. However, I have replaced almost everything with stuff that is better in most cases than I could get in Canada. Bread was a big issue but I found that finally. The only thing I cant get that I would like are Smarties.. But now we have Hersheys Mini Candy Coated Kisses which I feel are better than Smarties. Just keep trying different stuff. A lot will be disappointing but a lot will be better.

There is NO substitute down here for KD. And some of the subs are pricey.. Beef here is at least double what it is in Canada and don't get me started on Milk. Good quality milk is 7.00 USD a gallon here at Stop And Shop.

On the perogies front, I dont think the Trader Joes are as good as Mrs T's.. they sell them at Stop And shop.

One of our local outlet stores gets Cheemo's perogies (made in Canada). I have to keep explaining that it's CH like CHeese, not CH like K (aka chemo/chemotherapy).

I can also find my Canola Harvest margarine here.

As for the rest there's so many more things I like in US brands I'm not hurting at all. I do wish I could figure out the flour though, I hate always using a mix.

I figure that will come in time.

I can not find Oatmeal Brownbread or Onion Bagels

7 dollars a gallon for milk??? what kind of milk are you buying?? I pay 2 to 3 bucks for a gallon of milk and it tastes just fine

I have had no problems with the flour down here..... My problem is with the stupid gas stove

for the KD down here I find adding a handful or two of real grated cheese to the mix makes it taste way better

As a USC that was living in Ontario for a year and currently engaged to a fine young Canadian gal(David and Karen), I'm surprised none of you have mentioned Dare's Maple cookies.... I miss those things...It's funny, I found some at one of the local grocery stores here in Missouri and didn't pick any up thinking I would grab them all on my next trip, sadly I haven't seen them since
And as far as your milk is concerned, what the hey is up with those screwy plastic bags anyway? I'll take a big old plastic jug I can screw the lid off of and gulp it down anyday of the year!!!

As in a convenience store?
If so, that is why it is so expensive. Almost everything is more at those type of stores.


I agree at a regular grocery store, not a corner convenience store.

I find meats in general to be a bit cheaper down here then in Canada but if you are doing your shopping a convenience type store of course things are going to be more exspenive

I wish i could find a sour head of cabbage here to make cabbage rolls, they have no idea what i am talking about. So now i am stuck making my own and if you have ever done that, it stinks like crazy. But nothing beats sour cabbage rolls...

Well, contrary to what some believe, not all Canadians like maple. I'm one of them. So I'm not missing maple cookies at all.



I won't beat the dead horse on the Stop and Shop prices. However I will say that the most I've paid for milk here is for the Horizon Organic brand (which is heavenly and I now cannot drink anything else...I swear they drug it! ) $3.49 for the 2 litre size (cannot get pints/quarts/gallons into my head for the life of me) at Safeway.

It's worth it in my opinion, and one of the few things we won't skimp on.

MEAT
====

The lamb is at least double here and most of it is not even lamb, it is mutton.

And the Beef, well, if you are used to beef from western canada you wouldn't notice the difference but the beef here in Connecticut is a substandard grade for the most part just like the Alberta stuff.

If you want regular aged beef that is the standard in Ontario it is called Premium beef here and only available in specialty shops at outrageous prices.

Pork is a lot cheaper here so I eat a lot of tenderloin and pork chops now.

MILK
===

In Canada, we had that "True Filtered" stuff that when processed was stamped with an expiry date out two months. The regular milk from time to time had one month expiry dates on it. Here it goes bad in a week. That tells me that the milk here is full of bacteria. No thanks.. Im not drinking milk that wont last a week in the fridge so I buy this Organic ultra pasteurized stuff. It is 3.50 to 3.99 for a half gallon. Two half gallons are still 220 ml short of a 4 litre bag.

The Horizon Organic lasts a VERY long time. When we buy it the 'best before' stamp is at least 2 months out. I guess that's what it takes (the organic side) to have it be 'quality'.

Of course, it doesn't last anything close to that long in the house, but the taste/quality is superior, IMO. My Hubby used to drive me up cartons of it weekly. (It was quite the joke at the POE with him and Cdn. customs.)

maybe it's me, but I find butter tastes different here, it's got a weird tang to it or something.

and whoever made the comment about KD -- SO TRUE hehe

and whoever puts the lean and extra lean labels on their ground beef at our grocery store are lyin' I drain off so much fat it makes me wanna hurl.

oh, has anyone found Crispers in their grocery store yet??? I miss those

As far as the pizza mixes in a box are concerned, I meant the mix in the yellow boxes by Kraft, the deluxe ones. I'll have to do some searching.

I was looking back over these posts and was thinking about Smarties..Here in the States, Smarties are what you call Rockets in Canada, and I find it interesting that the Smarties sold in the States, that you know as Rockets, are actually made in Canada....

I find the milk expire date is short too.

I have seen some milk down here that would currdle your stomach.

We looked yesterday which was the 1st. The exire date was for the 7th........this was on all the milk in the store. I aint buying milk that expires in 6 days.

For those looking for Dream Whip. I work for the company which produces the Dream Whip packaging for both Kraft and Kraft Canada. Believe me when I tell you, we are producing millions of bags of that product for both countries. It's readily available here in the States.....

Really? I guess maybe Stop and Shop just sucks. I've been to two of them, and neither carried it, and at both, the stock person I spoke to insisted it didn't exist in the USA. Hmm....maybe if I can find another store that carries it I can still make my husband that cake before I head back to the Great Not-So-White-this-winter-North.

Thanks for the info!

you prolly need to look in some of the bigger chain stores.... Albertsons, Vons, Ralphs etc...