Expats On A Budget: Your List Of Luxury Food/drink Items

[daoyai]

But when you average in the cheap cost of the mushrooms, garlic, onions, tomatoes etc. from the talat, no complaints.

[johna]

good bread

cheese

coffee

[JSixpack]

Some luxuries--or so they are to me--are definitely recurring. Notably,

Decent Cabernet--a daily glass or two a must

Pint or two o' Guinness or a good ale

Starbucks

Meal at upscale restaurant every few months

[edited to remove non-food/drink items]

Edited February 21, 2009 by JSixpack

[bendejo]

When in Bangkok and Pattaya:

good bread

smoked salmon and cream cheese (good baguette substitutes for bagels)

Other places (things that can travel):

green olives

olive oil

corn flakes

good coffee (why is Thung Who so hard to find, even in Bangkok? Foodland and Friendship are the only places I know that have it)

milk (thank goodness every 7-11 in the country has fresh Meiji milk and yoghurt)

occasionally:

tortilla chips and salsa

Whopper

[Raesum]

good bread

cheese

coffee

Good bread,cheese and wine.

Thank goodness Tesco now selling wine by the 5 litre cask.From South Africa-but it gets better the more glasses you have!

Have built our own BBQ here and invested in a 2000 baht machine and now make our own sausages.

Bought 2kg of cheap cheese the other day from makro-780 baht.The normal stuff eg Anchor brand was a massive 1450+ baht!!!! The cheap stuff though is pretty rubbery.More wine me thinks...

[lazygourmet]

Right you are. I forgot about olive oil. A must have. Its funny that a home pasta meal in the west is a very cheap meal. In Thailand, not so cheap.

Carrefour brand olive oil (first cold pressure) costs less than 400 bahts for one liter.

Most other brands available in supermarket are second pressure and double price.

[Jingthing]

It is interesting to see a good bit of overlap in the must haves considering we come from different countries.

[PoorSucker]

Salty licorice and reindeer meat.

[Lost in LOS]

real jewish deli sandwiches

lean pastrami, swiss cheese, and cole slaw with "russian dressing" etc.

can find some here that are ok but not the real thing. each yearly trip to America starts off with pastrami sandwich for lunch and a real steak for dinner

[tartempion]

Decent coffee and decent bread. The coffee is easy to find in Esahn but the bread is another thing. When I occasionally go to Korat there is a place in The Mall that sells decent bread but as I only go there about once a month its a luxury item.

Why don't you bake your own bread?

I brought a baking machine and decent whole wheat is easy to find.

I particularly like raisin bread, easy to make.

[Maigo6]

Not all thai food is spicy,and why cant you have a bbq here in Thailand???

I didnt read the op well enough,it said luxory food and i put a sausage sarnie pmsl.

I meant any type of food not luxury food.

Mate,everything my wife brings home is spicy....And where the hel_l do i get a BBQ in Sawan???And let us not forget the small matter of sausages... I don't live in BKK or Pattaya,so it is a lot harder to find some items.

Try these people, they will put your order on a Bus in dry ice and you pick it up at your nearest bus stop, I have a friend of mine who picks his food up in Phu Kradung off the bus and he swears by them, and if something wasn't right he's the type of guy to tell you so.

Apparently you don't pay any money till you recieve your order then you go to the bank and pay into the account.

Dunno if this website address is allowed but if not, look up Bunters Foods Bangkok on google, you'll find the site anyway.

http://buntersfoodsbkk.com/index.htm

Edited February 21, 2009 by Maigo6

[jtp]

Not all thai food is spicy,and why cant you have a bbq here in Thailand???

I didnt read the op well enough,it said luxory food and i put a sausage sarnie pmsl.

I meant any type of food not luxury food.

Mate,everything my wife brings home is spicy....And where the hel_l do i get a BBQ in Sawan???And let us not forget the small matter of sausages... I don't live in BKK or Pattaya,so it is a lot harder to find some items.

Try these people, they will put your order on a Bus in dry ice and you pick it up at your nearest bus stop, I have a friend of mine who picks his food up in Phu Kradung off the bus and he swears by them, and if something wasn't right he's the type of guy to tell you so.

Apparently you don't pay any money till you recieve your order then you go to the bank and pay into the account.

Dunno if this website address is allowed but if not, look up Bunters Foods Bangkok on google, you'll find the site anyway.

http://buntersfoodsbkk.com/index.htm

Mmmmmmmm,i like the look of that site,i think i will give them a go.

[Maigo6]

Mmmmmmmm,i like the look of that site,i think i will give them a go.

Yep, they're meant to be very good, well, all I can say is that the guy who told me about them, and showed me his stocked freezer, is certainly not adverse to calling a spade a spade, in fact some would call him a miserable old fart, (Sorry Les ), but he ain't, its just the way he comes across.

Anyway, if he says they're OK, then they're OK for sure.

[desertrat]

Marmite

[BygonKeaw]

After being in Thailand for over 5 years there are no things i cannot live without,as i am very very lucky to eat mainly thai food.My mates back home would love to do the same for ever but cannot,so we should enrich what we have.

this list is the odd farang food i have for a little change.

English breakfast

steak

pie/chips/gravy

indian curry

sausage sarnie or bacon sarnie with cheese on.

thats it realy and thats about once a month.

i enjoy the odd pint of beer or cider too.

Hang on, i thought you were leaving Thaivisa?????

OP

I can live without everything as i eat thai food same as the guy above but i crave many things

like

Goan fish curry and rice lol

pint on ice cold carling

home made sandwich (my style)

and a im sure a few others i cant think of.

Edited February 21, 2009 by BygonKeaw

[BygonKeaw]

Not all thai food is spicy,and why cant you have a bbq here in Thailand???

I didnt read the op well enough,it said luxory food and i put a sausage sarnie pmsl.

I meant any type of food not luxury food.

If its not spicey its mai aroy/sep

Ive never known my missus or any thai to eat anything that is not spicey or r u talking about that thai food that is modified for westerners?? yuck

[BygonKeaw]

The funny thing is , the food I crave the most is very basic but almost impossible to find in Asia : raw beef and raw vegetable. Meat is always overcooked and it's almost impossible to order a green salad in Asia.

<deleted>? cant u buy raw beef and raw vegtables in asia??????????????

[patklang]

BYGON

Somebody told me you had exploded in a million pieces so i came back

[BygonKeaw]

u can buy local buffalo mozeralla at central chitlom for 49 baht/100 grams and ricotta is now widely available for 270 baht for a small tub.

Expensive though.

[Birdman]

Nothing.

NEVER missed anything culinary here.

[BygonKeaw]

BYGON

Somebody told me you had exploded in a million pieces so i came back

Obviously your not a man of your word then.

[patklang]

As you are the only one complaining you are not worth listening to anyway.your threads arent readable mainly too.

[mahtin]

Beer Lao.

... and someone already said Marmite.

[F1fanatic]

It never occurred to me before I came here, but I miss decent bread. I know there is good German bread about, but I prefer a bog standard wholewheat loaf!

Fish and chips. As a previous poster said, you can get it here - but it's nothing like the real thing.

Guinness! So expensive here, can't afford to drink it! Somebody told me yesterday that you can buy it on Koh Samui for 140 baht a pint, so why is it twice as expensive here??

Portabello mushrooms - I love them and Thai mushrooms are revolting.

I could go on, but I'm getting too hungry thinking about it!

[Jingthing]

I use fresh shitake mushrooms here for just about everything and they are massively health promoting and also cheap here (expensive in the west). If you haven't tried using fresh shitakes in western dishes, you may be in for a surprise.

Edited February 21, 2009 by Jingthing

[waza]

Lamb chops.............yum

[tango]

...decent bread. ...but the bread is another thing. When I occasionally go to Korat there is a place in The Mall that sells decent bread but as I only go there about once a month its a luxury item.

Why not try this. On your monthly trip buy as much bread as will fit in the freezer part of your refrigerator: NOT the normal part of your fridge (doing so, the fridge will suck out all the moisture leaving you with stale bread; a common household experience). Be sure to enclose each loaf in 2 air tight plastic bags, then freeze them as solid as ice. Once needed, stick the frozen slices directly into your toaster. Or, allow the slices to warm up gradually on a plate (butter them while frozen). Bread tastes fresh and homemade. If you are doubtful, buy only a couple of loaves at first. Been doing this for decades. Really.

[torrenova]

I'll make 2 distinctions, those things that I miss and those things which I can get in the big cities but not out in the boonies, I include things which I can get but which will just not pay for, whether I can afford it or not.

Miss

English newspaper - too late and too expensive

Good quality meat available everywhere

Farmers markets on a Sunday morning

Red tomatoes

Decent priced and not bashed fruit like cherries, strawberries, peaches, pears etc.

Absolute variety of restaurants - many good of each variety

Decent milk - I have found none in Asia worth drinking

Variety of beer and wine

Have to have

English Thai newspaper

The best bread I can find

Half decent coffee

Wine sometimes - can be expensive though

Miss in the boonies

Half decent steak

Decent bread

Cheese - often not available

NO fast food burger stuff like McD or BK

Good value stuff

Chicken

Vegetables

Pork

Everyday foods quite cheap but suspect quality t times

Overall I find I rationalise purchases here far more than I did say back in the UK (or elsewhere). For instance, I will not pay Bt4000 for a bog standard bottle of champagne. I make mental calculations that it is just so overpriced that I cannot justify the waste. Heinz beans at around Bt150 are an example.

[Chaimai]

I'll make 2 distinctions, those things that I miss and those things which I can get in the big cities but not out in the boonies, I include things which I can get but which will just not pay for, whether I can afford it or not.

A good way to differentiate.

It made me think about how I have adapted my ways (and tastes) to what is available. I also spend most of my time in the boonies.

There is nothing that I can't say I miss with a passion.

Mustard - I will bring Colmans, but can live with yellow mustard.

Marmalade - I used to bring out UK brands but now I find Best Foods to be perfectly adequate.

Sausages - I stock up with Cumberland sausages from Makro for my 3 English breakfasts per week.

Bacon - as above, Wiltshire back bacon.

Newspaper - I have long stopped buying English newspapers. I get all the news I need from the Internet and also get the Bangkok post regularly. Will get the nation occasionally for a change.

Cheese - decent full fat cheese is very expensive and not available locally. I can live without.

Butter - crap, need an imported brand.

Burgers/fast food - can do without them (and should do!) - occasional treat at KFC, Big C on visits to Buriram followed by a 10 baht Dairy Queen ice cream . The 7/11 chicken burgers at about 22 Baht will get you through.

Milk - rarely been a milk drinker but I do like the flavoured milk in Thailand with the green, orange, blue tops.

Desserts - I am not a great sweet eater which is just as well because I have found many Thai desserts to be bland.

Things I think are better in Thailand:-

Fruit and vegetables - there is a huge variety and, generally, a better consistent quality.

Beer - I haven't drunk bitter for several years so I find Chang (6.4%!), Leo and Singha preferable to most beers I get in the UK. Fosters, for example, is cat's p!ss compared to the above.

Seafood - again, a huge variety at sensible prices. Prawns especially are awsome. I can eat squid here but would not touch it in the UK.

Thai food - I really enjoy a wide range of Thai dishes. I find the noodle soups delicious and khao pad or pad krapow are stock favourites. The taste is not 'dumbed down' as in the UK. I also enjoy 'eating with the family' - as long as something is cooked I will generally give it a go. I won't now touch Bplaa Rah (but enjoy somtam) or uncooked beef.

Motorbikes - never driven one in the UK but would not be without mine in Thailand.

Transport - not tried rail but the buses (I opt for VIP) are exceptional value. The roads (apart from the boonies) are generally excellent and the Thais obviously taught the Romans a thing or two.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Chaimai

[tartempion]

Fish and chips. As a previous poster said, you can get it here - but it's nothing like the real thing.

When in Bangkok try Oh My Cod, excellent and real cod.

http://www.fishandchipsbangkok.com/