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If you've seen our article on photographer Gregg Segal's series Daily Bread: What Kids Eat Around the World, you know that our menu can vary a lot depending on the place we live in. Who knows, maybe you've even been on a culinary holiday. Point is, our tastebuds can get pretty intrigued about trying out different stuff. But sometimes, satisfying their cravings is pretty difficult. So when you get the opportunity, you have to use it.

Earlier this month, Reddit user u/pogmoshron made a post on r/Cooking, saying: "What are some kitchen 'must haves' that I can pick up when I'm in the States that can't be purchased in Europe?" Immediately, cooks began making suggestions, and the comment section ultimately became a pretty vivid illustration of American eating habits. Continue scrolling to check out their replies.

#1

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas When I lived in the US, I would bring back Lipton's Onion Soup Mix and make onion dip. My Indian friends loved it so much, they would fight over who got to lick the bowl.

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#2

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Old Bay Seasoning. I haven't been able to find it in Europe. I'm from Maryland, and I miss it so much that I make my own from a copycat recipe and always have it on hand in my kitchen.

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Jo Choto
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I lived in Maryland for a long time. Only Marylanders actually like Old Bay seasoning. Everyone else rightly realizes it's a mistake.

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#3

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas All peanut butter products. I'm an American living in Scotland, and good peanut butter exists here but only in tiny expensive jars. I miss things like peanut butter cookies, Reese's Puffs, and peanut-butter-filled pretzels.

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RoseTheMad
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in the UK.. you can get Peanut Butter cookies, fudge, puffs (though they're animport) cups, pretzels, etc etc...

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#4

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas My friend just moved to Dublin from the states. They brought a ridiculous amount of ranch dressing and ranch dressing powder. When we go to visit them we are instructed to bring more. I guess Europe does not have a ranch market.

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Guy MacGregor
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No. And the first time I heard about it was here on Bored Panda. It was out of context and I did not understand why OP was speaking about "farmer clothing" (ranch... dressing...).

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#5

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning. Salty, but so very good in all kinds of foods.

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Michael Sanders
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Staple. They have all kinds of other products too. Mixes, Bloody Mary mix, etc. Living in NOLA I make most of their mixes from scratch, but in a pinch their gumbo and jambalaya mixes are quite good. Zing Zang is much better bloody mix though.

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#6

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas There's a brand of Cajun seasoning called 'Slap ya Mama'. I've never actually tried it myself, but as a brit living in the UK, I have seen it as an ingredient in SO MANY recipes that I can only assume it's popular.

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Michael Sanders
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I put on nearly everything I want spice. That and Tony Chachere which is listed in….

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#7

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Celery Seed

Personally I haven't been able to find it here in Finland and I don't know how common it is in other countries. Celery seed really gives coleslaw and a few other dishes that true American flavor.

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#8

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Cottage cheese. In Japan, it's virtually impossible to find, and really I miss cottage cheese!

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Mad Dragon
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cottage cheese is easy to make yourself from whole milk, salt, and some sort of acid (I use vinegar or lemon juice). Heat the milk slowly, add the acid, stir gently and let rest for a few minutes, strain through cheesecloth, add salt. I add a bit of cream to make it smoother, but that is optional.

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#9

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Maple syrup is so hard to find outside of North America! I'm in Brazil right now and I've been here several times before and I remember once a few years back when a couple friends had to tell me that there was roughly zero chance I was going to find maple syrup here (I was planning a Super American Breakfast For Dinner kind of fun meal).

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RoseTheMad
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I literally just bought maple syrup the other day. From Sainsbury's. xP It's available in Europe, but Brazil isn't Europe. (this article needs a new title jfc)

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#10

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Canned chipotle Chiles in adobo sauce!!

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#11

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas My [expat] sister always says how hard it is to find canned pumpkin overseas so i always bring some when I visit. I'd load up there!

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#12

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Corn bread. It’s rare to find in the UK. The only place I’ve seen it was at Whole Foods, and even there it was cold, subpar, and not as comforting as the US version.

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#13

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas American measuring cups. Makes making recipes online much easier as you don’t have to try and convert anything.

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The Scout
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course you could circumvent this problem by switching to metric like the rest of the world, instead of having to carry a measuring cup if you go abroad...

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#14

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas When I was in the USA I bought a cast iron pan for 20-30 dollars I think. It’s at least 3 times cheaper than the same kind of pan where I live.

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#15

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Stone-ground corn grits. At least in England, they're nearly impossible to find. You can get your hands on Quaker Oats corn grits, but that's about it.

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#16

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Chipotle powder. I get it at a Mexican market. Chipotles are smoked jalapeños. I use it as a rub on chicken or pork before grilling.

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#17

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Franks red is key. I used to bring back Buffalo sauce when I would go to the States, but then I realized how easy and tasty it is to make from scratch, so now I just bring back some Franks

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#18

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas I'm an American expat living in Germany, and when I make trips back to the US I return with:

BTB

TJs EBTB seasoning

Annie's Mac and Cheese (I make m&c from scratch, but my kids love the s**t in the blue box)

Rainbow sprinkles

Frontera Mexican sauce packets

Pink Starbursts

Reese's Pieces

Bourbon

Cream of Tartar

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Omi bub
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find it funny how many of these posts are just synthetic flavours or ultra-processed stuff

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#19

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Bourbon! Whenever I go to the US, I bring home as much bourbon as I'm allowed. Abroad, there are very few types of Bourbon sold, and they are incredibly expensive.

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Marcellus II
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Meh. Why drink Bourbon if there's something better locally available? Say, whisky.

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#20

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Internet teached me what pop tarts are. Never seen them in Europe. Also we don't have good brown sugar. Maybe that's a continental thing.

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Rick
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wonder where the person is in Europe that they’ve never seen a Pop Tart before? I’m in the UK and used to eat these as a child.

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Michał Osiecki
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Excuse me, where do you live that you cannot get a good brown sugar? Im from a 3rd world european country and can choose between really weird types of brown sugar, of which I love muscovado the most

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Jiminy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First world European country here, you can get 4 to 10 different kinds or brown sugar in every supermarket...

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Omi bub
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Brown sugar is everywhere in Europe! In fact I would say it is unusual to use white sugar in coffee in some countries. Every supermarket in UK now has pop tarts (hence why childhood obesity rocketing)

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RoseTheMad
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are everywhere in the UK... they're disgusting though. Just pure sugar and sooo damn dry.

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EEF🤓
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They're in Europe though were more of a fad in the 90s. Can still buy them tho

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Jef Bateman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably it's hard for pop tarts to compete in countries with actual food on the shelves. Kellogg's apparently spent millions in advertising to trick people in the UK into eating these in 1990s.

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Pezor Zass
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

you can also make your own brown sugar with white sugar and molasses. Not exactly the same, but works well enough in recipes

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Janet C
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pop Tarts are a flat, square mess of chemicals and artificial c**p.

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Chris
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in the Netherlands. The store that I work at sells Takis, Hot Cheetos, Reese's, Pop Tarts, Nerds, Warheads, and Sour Patch Kids. Yes, they are expensive 😂.

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Renita Fox
Community Member
2 years ago

It’s taught…..

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Jasmine
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can get them in every supermarket in the amercian food aisle but nobody buys them except of expats

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Al Connor
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

ah I am in Ireland and you can get them everywhere, where you you living?

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Lovin' Life
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an American, I will say these are not my favorite. I prefer the Toaster Strudels. Much better flavor and not nearly as dry.

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jmdirks
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First, you can make good brown sugar. All it is is white sugar and molasses. Second and even more important. What the heck is "teached"???????

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Nightshade1972
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in the UK, and my local Tesco has Poptarts--but only two flavors, instead of a whole shelf full like you'd see in the US.

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Viau Anna
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I get that those atrocious pop-tarts could be hard to find, but "good" brown sugar??? Seriously?

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Alex Olinger
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are so many better pastries that are actually real pastries in Europe. I don’t know why anyone would want our junky pop tarts.

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Pamela Blue
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you've never seen or heard of a pop tart before, consider yourself fortunate. Those things are just processed sugar in different forms to rot your insides out.

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Baleygr
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pop Tarts are easy to find in a lot of shops. Good, brown sugar too.

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Leslie Crittenden
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Commercial brown sugar is just white sugar mixed with molasses, I'm sure you could find a recipe somewhere. Though brown sugar used to be sugar that was milled differently, it's just the white sugar/molasses stuff now.

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Rebecca Bourgeois
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

American brown sugar is beet sugar, dark or light. It is commonly sold in France, which produces sugar beets in the north, under the name of Vergeoise. Blonde = light, brunette = dark.

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jevais
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looked pop tarts on Wikipedia, they're awful, full of synthetic ingredients.

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Freya Zander
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm in New Zealand and I've heard of pop tarts and one day found a site thay imports a lot of American food and so I tried a lot of stuff and pop tarts were so good. And cheetos, we have cheetos here now but they arent the same as the USA ones. Also just learned about the jet puffed marshmallow creme stuff and ohh so good.

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Erika K
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They're available in Sweden... both the poptarts and brown sugar...

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Laurie Greene
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mostly only kids here in America eat these dry flavorless, overly sweet things called pop tarts. You guys aren't missing anything at all.

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anika marzik
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Excuse me, but what ARE pop tarts? Looks a bit like Lebkuchen to me (in Germany)

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Miranda Marques
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do you know what a Nutri-Grain bar is? Sort of an unhealthy version of that, a breakfast pastry with some flavored “jam“ like stuff inside & sugary frosting on the outside. Kids love it

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Steven Windfeld
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are a few stores in Denmark where you can buy pop tarts. But it is imported, and as such, fairly expensive. And they do not even taste very good. Btw. it think that you can easily find good quality brown sugar just about everywhere.

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Sanchez Vasile
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All history of sugar (including the variations) is connected to Europe - the plantations were basically founded for it. Wait, are you from Macedonia? Maybe that's why.

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Wang Zhuang
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Very happy that I can get Pop Tarts here, though I have to order them online

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Rumple Schleppskin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Taught.. You don't want poptarts in Europe.. . It feels like every corner store in Europe has great morning pastries baked fresh.

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Pamela Blue
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the first food item I'd puke with no matter where I was from or was going. Those things are disgusting! They're not even food.

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Lady of the Mountains
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

you dont have brown suger? what did you put in your oatmeal? white suger? thats expensive lol

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Redwood Rebelgirl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are not missing anything, with Popt-Tarts, in my opinion. Good brown sugar is a real loss, though!

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Kimberly Wiltshire
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pop tarts exist in Sweden and so does brown sugar also known as muscvado sugar.

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Rens
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always bought brown/Demerara sugar in the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands

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AustrianGirl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn't even know they exist until I was 20 - only way to find them in Austria are American Shops or international sweets stores.

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Ezalibeth
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard about pop tarts before and try to look after them here. This year I saw them for the first time in Lidl. I have put a butter on them, like Peter suggested - wasn't disappointed:)

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Memere
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pop Tarts are awful. I prefer the ones made at a small, local bakery.

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F. H.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But we have Schnitzel (surrogate) you can put into the toaster. It's vile, but better than pop tarts.

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FikaQueen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have them in Sweden...? And we have many types of brown sugar...

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ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kitchen items??? WTF would you EVER use this for, as an ingredient ? Don't you mean "garbage that is the cause of my country's ridiculous obesity problem"?

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David Woollands
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pop tarts - the horrendous sugar thingy that is a hot as lava inside

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#21

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Anything Mexican related and some less common hot sauces.

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#22

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas If you have the space in your luggage, kosher salt is a lot cheaper in the US than the European equivalents

If you like Mexican food, it’s worth stocking up on dried chilis in the US since they’re again way more abundant and much cheaper

I personally prefer the sponges you get in the US, so I always bring back some of the yellow and green Scotch Brite kind.

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Debbie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can buy iodine free salt in Europe when/if I want. But why would I.

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#23

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Dr. Pepper. Whenever we travel abroad, my husband almost loses his mind going a week or two without it.

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#24

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Hidden Valley fiesta ranch mix is god tier. Mix with sour cream and its perfect with all flavors of potato chips

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#25

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Tajin seasoning. It elevates just about every kind of fruit, and it's so hard to find outside of the States.

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#26

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Trader Joes spices - Everything but the Bagel is phenomenal

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#27

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Peanut butter, graham crackers & marshmallows keep well and I know a lot of countries don't have them.

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#28

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Dried chiles. If you like cooking Mexican food, it's worth stocking up on them in the US. You can find them abroad, but they're way more expensive and less common.

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ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

wow this is such a laugh, we have these things growing in our garden. weirdos.

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#29

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas Canned diced green chilis. Decent salsa (but sure if it might break), Goya beans and salsas, boxed Mac n cheese. My German friend from college demands that last one in all her care packages lol.

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#30

30 "American" Kitchen Essentials People Wish They Could Find Overseas The umami seasoning is phenomenal. I use it in almost everything to add depth of flavor.

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