Guide to a life in UK: Part 3: Shops and costs

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What's this post about:

In my previous posts I had written about home maintenance tips for Indians/Asians in UK and must do list. In this post I will be discussing about shops and shopping. I will share with you my shopping lists and my shop preferences for various things in United Kingdom. This will make you understand what to carry and what to avoid

POUND LAND this is a wonderful shop that I frequent. Pound land sells almost everything right from cosmetics to baking trays. First thing first, I avoid getting food items like sandwiches, milk and cosmetics here. I get everything else from this shop.

           You get spoons, containers, baking items including trays, mops, sweeping sticks and even knifes and lunch boxes here. Any product you pick will be one pound and that's why it's called pound land. But the cosmetics and ready to eat are of very poor quality do it's better you avoid getting the. But you can avoid carrying ever silver spoons, lunch boxes, baking sets from your hometown. This might help you reduce weight. If your house is going to have a fire burner then bring the Indian utensils else if it is an electric burner you can bring the induction utensils. Kadais, chapathi pans and stuffs like that are costly here so it's better you bring them. Spoons, mugs, knifes, rolling pin, tiffin boxes, containers can be avoided to save the weight you can carry.

          Also, don't carry shampoos, soaps and conditioners as you get them at almost the same rate as in India here. You get 2 dove bars for a pound, 2 big Pantene shampoos for £4. They also put up a lot of offers now and then. I get bathing stuffs from super drug or boots.

          There are shops like sainsbury, lidl, tesco and marks and Spencer's where you even get Indian pickles, sweets and snacks, including aloo bujya and samosas. These shops put up a reduced shelves for eatables which are really good but are nearing expiry date. Those are not something you should avoid, they are of good quality but you need to finish it off within the same day or date mentioned. We get lovely jam doughnuts 5 for a pound and chocolate doughnuts 4 for 60p at times from these shelves.

Remember most shops are closed around 5 in the evening.

Please bring your mixers if you are planning to make dosa batter and stuffs like that. The ones that you get here are good just for juices and not to break hard rice and spices. Do this should be your priority when you plan your weights.

          Argos is the shop where we get electrical items. Argos has a wide range of products. You can check them online and see what you can skip bringing from India. One tip when I talk about Argos, I got a lovely toastie maker for £4. It serves us well for breakfast with breads and any vegetable stuffed in.

          Iceland is where we get frozen items like frozen samosa, potato wedges, French fries and stuffs like that. We even get milk from Iceland. We use green capped bottles which are semi skimmed. The blue ones are whole milk. You get 4 pints for  £1, if you are eager to know the cost. And most of the frozen items including ice creams and chocolates are available at £1 a packet. If you are a wine person you get them here and even in marks and Spencer's.

M and S sells vegetables, fruits and every possible food item along with clothing and accessories. But the vegetables that you get here are a bit costlier than Iceland and open markets. There will be open markets and Indian shops around your area where you can buy vegetables.

          If you curious to know the cost of vegetables - onion can be got in bag for £1/4kg bag. Carrots you get 20 for £1. Potatoes small ones almost 40 for a pound or big ones 2 kg for a pound. All of these are like a pound a bag or a pound a bowl. There are some vegetables that are costly like the ladies finger, snake guard and the other Indian vegetables. Fruits are very very cheap compared to vegetables. You get 20big bananas for a pound, 20 apples, 3 pineapples, a lot of strawberries, three bags of grapes and stuffs like that for a pound. So you don't have to worry too much about the cost of vegetables and fruits, they are very much affordable.

          Then comes the topic about rice, dals and spices. Spices are way too costlier if you convert and check against Indian rupee but remember you are earning in pound. Rice you get 10. Kg for £14. Wheat 10 kg for £10.

          One tip here, the rice that you get from the supermarkets are not as good as the one you get from Indian shops for using in a pressure cooker. First buy one kg from the super market and check if it suits you before buying a lot of kgs.

Clothing:

If you are here for a short time and not interested in clothes that lasts for ever then buy them at Primark. They have a good collection for a very nominal cost but they have compromised on quality. You can use those for hardly 6 months if you are rough using it and washing in a machine. If you want quality clothing then I think H&M, BHS and Select are very affordable. For shoes sports direct is very much affordable. Sports direct even sells night pants and tee shirts which are not any specific designed or fashion ones but are good enough  and worth the money. 

On December 26th you will have a boxers day sale when you can try out NEXT. They give a lot of good quality stuff at half price, otherwise this is a bit expensive compared to BHS and H&M.

          There are a lot of other things I would like to share with you but I will stop this post here. Hope this was helpful. If you have any doubt please let me know in the comments below. Like my page for more such updates.

Next post will be about the places to visit in London, Northern Ireland and the rest of United Kingdom.