Sherlock finally does the shopping.
Jul. 10th, 2012 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impulsereader“So you’ve got the list?”
Sherlock groaned, because this was the third time he’d asked since they’d left the track. “Yes, John. I’ve got the list,” he replied as patiently as he possibly could (which was not very). He even retrieved the piece of paper from his pocket and waved it in the air to prove the veracity of his statement.
“And you’re going to stick to the list.”
He refused to dignify this with a response, instead exchanging the infuriating list for his phone and tapping out a text to Lestrade.
“Sherlock?”
He ignored him, looking up the weather in Fez for no reason.
John sighed. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that this could all go so horribly, horribly wrong.
----------------------
OK, Brits, I need some Brand Name assistance. For Christmas, Sherlock gives John the gift of One Shopping Excursion. Circumstances force John to send him alone, with a list. Non-Brits, feel free to suggest generic items and I will try to match them up to something which might actually be in the shop near the flat. Suggestions already made on the ‘Come out and play’ thread (Thanks to all of you, by the way, I’m still getting replies and enjoying them immensely!!! There might just be a treasure map in that bottle…) will also be incorporated, you can repeat or not as you like here.
So what I need is:
The shopping list John gives Sherlock. (It is epic, because John knows he may never get this chance again and Baker Street’s cupboards are bare.) Yes, I know John is unlikely to specify a specific brand for each item here, and obviously milk is on the list. :-)
The things Sherlock actually buys.
Things Sherlock encounters in the shop but decides not to buy.
What sorts of specials might be on? Thanks to 221b_hound I’m now picturing Sherlock getting madly excited when he realizes he can get things on sale.
If any of you has a moment to just sit down and type out a list of brand name items the shop would have on its shelves, that would be epic. It can be completely random, I’m just looking for a listing of things to mention in passing as he shops.
Needless to say, the boys will be texting back and forth during this excursion. ;-)
Sherlock groaned, because this was the third time he’d asked since they’d left the track. “Yes, John. I’ve got the list,” he replied as patiently as he possibly could (which was not very). He even retrieved the piece of paper from his pocket and waved it in the air to prove the veracity of his statement.
“And you’re going to stick to the list.”
He refused to dignify this with a response, instead exchanging the infuriating list for his phone and tapping out a text to Lestrade.
“Sherlock?”
He ignored him, looking up the weather in Fez for no reason.
John sighed. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that this could all go so horribly, horribly wrong.
----------------------
OK, Brits, I need some Brand Name assistance. For Christmas, Sherlock gives John the gift of One Shopping Excursion. Circumstances force John to send him alone, with a list. Non-Brits, feel free to suggest generic items and I will try to match them up to something which might actually be in the shop near the flat. Suggestions already made on the ‘Come out and play’ thread (Thanks to all of you, by the way, I’m still getting replies and enjoying them immensely!!! There might just be a treasure map in that bottle…) will also be incorporated, you can repeat or not as you like here.
So what I need is:
The shopping list John gives Sherlock. (It is epic, because John knows he may never get this chance again and Baker Street’s cupboards are bare.) Yes, I know John is unlikely to specify a specific brand for each item here, and obviously milk is on the list. :-)
The things Sherlock actually buys.
Things Sherlock encounters in the shop but decides not to buy.
What sorts of specials might be on? Thanks to 221b_hound I’m now picturing Sherlock getting madly excited when he realizes he can get things on sale.
If any of you has a moment to just sit down and type out a list of brand name items the shop would have on its shelves, that would be epic. It can be completely random, I’m just looking for a listing of things to mention in passing as he shops.
Needless to say, the boys will be texting back and forth during this excursion. ;-)
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 05:49 pm (UTC)Would Sherlock *go* to the supermarket or would he go to Harrods or Fortnum & Mason's because that's where Mummy shops?
Brands used in the kitchens of the Royal Palaces carry the Royal Crest and the words "By Appointment to HM The Queen purveyors/suppliers/etc of...[whatever the generic goods are]". Sherlock is *bound* to notice. ;)
There are two basic "Special Offers" in UK supermarkets - BOGOF (buy one get one free) and "3 for 2"... They often have them on fresh (by pre=packaged) fruit/veg, too, so I can see Sherlock bringing home 3 bags of potatoes (say) because they were 3 for 2. Do you *really* want a list of brands?
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 12:06 am (UTC)Hm. Well, I was imagining that for the sake of convenience Sherlock would go to the shop nearest the flat - but - he's in a cab and dropping John somewhere on the way, so he could technically go anywhere. He would, of course, take a cab home with all the groceries as well.
I - kind of think that he'd avoid the brands that are branded as used by Royalty - don't you think? Isn't that funny, too? He takes it as a challenge to not buy any of them while still getting the stuff on the list? (I mean, he totally ends up designating the list firmly 'just suggestions' but he's not an idiot, and it's his present to John so he'll at least make an effort to bring home the desired items.)
Oh, that's lovely, enforced multiples is comedy gold. :-)
Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-10 06:31 pm (UTC)Cupboard under the sink: Domestos Bleach; Harpic Antilimescale Toilet Cleaner; Flash One-for-All (used for washing floors); Dettol Antibacterial Surface Cleaner; Mr Muscle Kitchen Cleaner; Mr Muscle Bathroom Cleaner; Fairy liquid (dishsoap); Bold 2-in-1 liquid detergent.
Fridge: Country Life Butter; Stork margerine (for baking); vegetables, fruit and fruitjuice (from concentrate) are all supermarket own brand.
Buxton Spring Water (English Spring Water tastes better to me; also Thames (ie London tap) Water is "hard" (high in limescale) so tastes crap. I have a filter built into my kettle to deal with it for hot drinks etc but never drink the stuff "neat".)
Mug Cupboard (above the worksurface): Twinings (By Royal Appointment, hereafter indicated by "RA") Tea: Lady Grey; Earl Grey; English Breakfast; and Classic Green. Twinings Infusions - Lemon & Ginger and Pure Camomile.
Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar - made in England (teh factory is actually in the town where I live, Bury St Edmunds) from sugar beet, it has a lower carbon cost than cane sugar.
Douwe Egberts Coffee: Instant (we drink a lot more instant than you guys because good coffee producers make instant versions) in Pure Gold; Pure Smooth; and Pure Indulgence (my Mum and I like different coffees so I buy her type as well as my own); and "Real" Medium Roast for filters and cafetieres.
Cupboard below the worksurface: Don Mario Olive Oil; Kikkoman Soy Sauce; Lea & Perrins' Worchestershire (pronounced "Wooster", honest!) Sauce "RA"; HP Sauce "RA" (brown sauce, which I prefer to tomato ketchup); Colmans' "RA" - English Mustard, Horseradish Sauce and Tartare Sauce; Baxters' tinned soups (various - please note "tinned" not canned); Dolmio Pasta Sauce for Bolognese; various Schwartz "RA" dried herbs, spices, curry powders etc; Saxa Table Salt; Maldon Sea Salt (produced in Essex, on the London borders); Sarson's Malt Vinegar; Hartleys' jam (various - both "no bits" and Extra fruit); McIlhenny Co Tabasco Sauce; Knorr Stock cubes (dried) and "Stock Pots"; Ovaltine (Malt drink made with hot milk, supposed to be relaxing at bedtime); Homepride flour (plain and self-raising); Kelloggs "RA" Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
Supermarket brand rice; pasta; tinned low salt & sugar baked beans; tinned kidney, harricot, flageolet, and bortolli beans, tinned chick peas, tinned lentils (but I'm vegetarian!); tinned tomatoes.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-11 06:24 am (UTC)I would add to your excellent list that Heinz is the go to brand for a lot of tinned products like Baked beans and soups also Tomato Ketchup (the mortal enemy of brown sauce). And our milk is pasteurised (hence the old joke: what's the fastest thing in the world? Milk. because it's pasteurised before you see it. Boom! Boom!) and comes in three main varieties: skimmed, semi-skimmed and whole - this might confuse Sherlock as he's not sure which John likes. They are colour coded by lid too - blue - whole, green - semi-skimmed and red - skimmed.
And because they are in a hard water area Sherlock could be tempted by Yorkshire Tea teabags for Hard Water.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-11 12:01 pm (UTC)Huh. You call it "whole" milk? Funny, in my family it has always been "full fat". Or in the days when Dairy Crest used to deliver to the doorstep, Red Top (aka Homogonised) or Silver Top - oh GOD, do you remember those third-pint bottles of silver top in morning break at Junior School? Always made me feel *so* sick - and Gold Top (Jersey) for my Nan and Aunty Kathleen.
Ah, the Silver Top bottles when the blue tits pecked at the foil lids to get at the cream before you could get the milk off the step. And hot summer days when the milk had already gone off by the time you got up and cold winter days when it froze on the doorstep and there would be a stalagmite of milk punched up through the neck of the bottle, or the bottle was shattered and the milk frozen solid. Grief, delivery wasted a lot of milk. :D
As I said, I'm a Sainsbury's beans gal and Baxter's soups. But yes, oh yes. Heinz 57 Varieties. All those "Cream of" soups... mushroom, celery, chicken, tomato... Very healthy ;)
Aged *two* even in blind tastings (people tried) my little brother (John!) could always identify (and prefer) Heinz tomato ketchup.
Remember Daddies Sauce? Haven't seen that around for ages.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-14 07:13 pm (UTC)Ew! Those mini bottles of milk were gross! Warm and icky. But you HAD to drink them! Maybe it wasn't so bad when they were snatched away!
There is ONLY Heinz tomato ketchup!
And, now you mention it, I haven't seen Daddies either. It's always HP now.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-14 07:22 pm (UTC)Yes! WHY did no school ever refridgerate the stuff???!!! But you weren't allowed to go out to play until you'd slurped up warm, icky, on-the-turn milk with one of those little blue straws. Oh well. It clearly was good for something as dispite being spectatularly clumsy the only bone I've ever broken was my coccyx. (And one front tooth, when my younger brother decided to hit the bottom of the Britvic Orange bottle I was drinking out of...)
BRITVIC! And Appletise! (which is now Appletiser and they also have Peartiser) the drinks you always had in Beer Gardens or Family Rooms while your parents were in the pub. :D And cans of pre-prepared Shandy in the corner shop, long, long before Alco-Pop made an appearance.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-11 12:16 pm (UTC)History, Suffolk, Sherlock, Shakespeare, London (I moved from London to BSE when I lost my job), Doctor Who... We seem to Have Interests In Common.
Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-11 03:12 pm (UTC)Re: Brands in My Kitchen Cupboards and What's Own Brand
Date: 2012-07-11 03:56 pm (UTC)Other things Sherlock may see/buy
Date: 2012-07-13 11:48 am (UTC)However HP do a variety of sauces that are *all* brown in colour (Fruity, BBQ Traditional Woodsmoke etc etc). Room for confusion?
Some baked beans have sausages in the tin, too. All brand IIRC. (As I said, I don't eat meat any longer.)
We do have Campbell's soup, but as mentioned above, Heinz is the big brand for tinned food. They even have the slogan "Beanz Meanz Heinz" (which as kids we used to parlay as "Beanz Meanz Fartz").
Hmm what else? Eggs (and chicken) are available in normal, free-range (hens get to run about), organic; and free-range & organic. Free-range organic cost a LOT but are obviously better for bird and country. Deciding how ethically you can afford to source your food is a constant dilemma.
Oh! Biscuits, eggs and various other things may be branded "Duchy Originals" which means they (or their ingredients) are grown on the Prince of Wales's co-operative in Cornwall.
Knorr who make stock-cubes also make packet soups (dehydrated, add to cold water in a sauce-pan, stir and simmer) and Batchelor's Cup-a-Soups are a well known brand (add the powder to a mug, pour on boiling water from the kettle and stir like crazy).
BREAD! Big Brands are Hovis ("As good today as it's always been!"), Warburton ("We care because our name's on it!"), Kingsmill and Allinson ("Bread wi' nowt taken out!"). Dozens of varieties within each brand. Thick cut and Medium cut. Wholemeal, Danish, White, Milk Roll, Granary (a Hovis brandname for bread with bits in it), Best of Both, 50/50, Farmhouse, Toastie... John had better remind Sherlock to check the best before date (BBD) on the bread, or they'll end up with three different loaves all BBD that day.
I imagine Sherlock will find frozen ready-meals *wonderful*. Just bung it in the microwave for 5 minutes and a voila a full Chicken Tikka Masala etc etc I also imagine he will not be aware that a "Meal for One" means "one anorexic gerbil" to quote Ben Elton! :D
Aunt Bessie's is a popular brand for frozen accompaniments to a roast dinner, but I tend to cook from scratch so don't know how her Yorkshire Puddings and Roast Potatoes etc taste.
Oh! Del Monte is a HUGE brand for tinned fruit and fruit juice from concentrate (long life tetra-pak type cartons). The man from Del Monte, he say YES! - as the ads say.
Rubicon is a brand that make Mango, Lychee, Passion Fruit, Guava and other exotic fruit drinks in cartons. They do a lot of TV ads, so Sherlock might recognise the name.
Sherlock might have fond memories of "Five Alive" fruit drinks from childhood. They still make it. Ditto "Capri-Sun" pouches. And Robinson's Squashes, including Barley Water (Orange or Lemon flavoured). And Ribena. :D
Just as Bold and Ariel are the big names in detergents, so is Comfort the go-to brand for fabric-softener, which living with Thames Water, they probably need, even if they use Bold 2-in-1 which contains some. Trouble is there are dozens of varieties and frangrances etc for all of these.
Then there's "Vanish" stain remover. "Trust Pink, Forget Stains" (it comes in lurid pink bottles).
And what about toiletries? Let me know.
How about if Sherlock makes up for all the stuff he didn't get or replaced by going to a "little place he knows" and buying John a half-case of decent scotch whisky (note the lack of "e" when it's Scotch) or - going from "Scandal" - red wine???
Re: Other things Sherlock may see/buy
Date: 2012-07-14 05:09 am (UTC)Yes, the frozen stuff! He'll be all, 'why didn't anyone tell me about this ages ago?'
This is brilliant and you're a treasure!
Toiletries - hm. I think John would probably generalize and hope Sherlock brings home the most expensive bottle of everything. So he just puts 'shampoo' 'hair conditioner' etc. and is rewarded by getting to smell posh for the next couple of months. What do you think?
Re: Other things Sherlock may see/buy
Date: 2012-07-14 09:02 am (UTC)Or maybe Sherlock still uses Johnson Baby products from childhood - No More Tears shampoo etc etc (My Dad washes his hair with Johnson's Baby Bath.)
Supermarkets don't tend to sell really expensive toiletry brands. That would be a Big Boots (the Chemist) maybe Superdrug (always just a BIT cheaper than Boots) or a department store. (John Lewis (on Oxford Street) - who also own Waitrose supermarkets btw: in some parts of London, like IN Canary Wharfe, there are Waitrose Food & Home which are a cross between a supermarket and a John Lewis store, Debenhams, Selfridges, Liberty (as seen in the Mind Palace sequence), Harrods (Knightsbridge, so a bit further away - my brothers school uniform used to have to be bought in Harrods), etc etc)
ETA a BIG brand in frozen foods is Findus. (Again, to quote Ben Elton "Fucking Findus"). Sherlock may go looking for Findus Crispy Pancakes (another childhood favourite).
Oh. And Tinned Ravioli in Tomato Sauce. We had that once a week in school dinners all through Junior School. And there are some Italian cafe-type places that still serve it. And you can still buy it. Cheap, quick comfort food.
Cadbury's CHOCOLATE. Buttons, Dairy Milk, Wholenut, Fruit & Nut (ads to the tune of something by Tsychovski - "Everyone's a Fruit and Nut-case, Maybe it's the tasty Cadbury's chocolate...") Borneville (dark chocolate) Do they still do Fudge fingers??? ("A finger of fudge is just enough, To give your kids a treat, A finger of fudge is just enough, until it's time to eat" etc - by the time we were 11 or 12 we were giving this rude connotations and they discontinued the ad campaign. lol)
Tins of individually wrapped chocolates - you were either a Quality Street family or a Roses family. Now there are Celebrations too.
OH! MILKY BAR white chocolate. The ads were always a kid with very blond hair and round glasses dressed as a coyboy, saying "The Milky Bars are on me!"
ROLOS - milk chocolate cups full of caramel. "Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?" (NOT to be confused with "King Rolo" which was a cartoon when we were kids).
Though my favourite chocolate brand is Green & Black. Quite expensive, though: £2 or over for a 200g bar. Lots of varieties.