Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm having troubles! My kitchen here is supremely ill-equipped. I don't even have mixing bowls! I would love assistance on where to purchase the following (and cheaply):

mixing bowls
baking sheet
tupperware
cocoa powder
chocolate chips
flaxseed meal (I saw a little bag of linseed in Holland & Barrett but I don't have a spice grinder - do they sell flaxseed meal anywhere?)
apple cider vinegar (is this called something else?)
Frank's
liquid smoke
miso
confectioner's sugar
cooking spray

Thanks in advance!

what part of London are you in?

you can find kitchen equipment (baking sheets, bowls, etc) at an ironmongers, or at a department store with a home goods section (BHS, John Lewis, TK Maxx)

confectioner's sugar is called icing sugar, and apple cider vinegar is just cider (sometimes cyder) vinegar. you should be able to find both at most supermarkets, as well as cocoa powder and cooking spray (so says the husband). miso can be found in just about any health food store, often on the shelves instead of the refrigerator.

i've seen vegan chocolate chips in a few health food stores with a bulk section, but it's probably better to just chop up a bar of chocolate yourself.

if you can get to a Whole Foods, that should cross a bunch of the food items off your list - i've heard of people finding Frank's and liquid smoke there.


hope this helps!

You can get basic cookware and kitchenware in the supermarket too, apparently Sainsburys has some good deals on kitchenwares at the moment. When I moved into my new house I stocked up on mixing bowls, baking sheets and other kitchen things in Asda and Tesco. TK Maxx also has some good finds if you go in on a good day!

I can send you liquid smoke if you'd like but I'm sure you can find it somewhere down there.
Icing sugar is confectioners sugar, available at any grocery store.
For chocolate chips, I get dark chocolate drops at Morrisons and they're vegan.
I get cooking spray there, too- it's on sale right now. It's by the other oils.
I've seen miso at Sainsbury's in the Asian section.

sorry, ETK said some of these already! Good luck, RJM!

This is a useful thread.

chocolate chips - Sainsburys (in the baking section)
flaxseed meal - Holland & Barrett or Sainsburys - it comes in a blue bag, the brand is called Linwoods. In the supermarket, it will probably be near the Free From section.
miso - H&B or Sainsburys - in the latter, you'll find it in the expensive foreign foods section with the japanese stuff - the brand is Clearspring.

Try and find a Wilkinson's near you - they stock all the basic homey things. Larger supermarkets (especially Asda and big Tescos) d ohouse stuff, too.

mixing bowls - any large supermarket should have these. Wilkinson's should.
baking sheet - supermarkets, Wilkinsons
tupperware - ditto
cocoa powder - I just buy mine in the supermarket. It's usually by the baking supplies.
chocolate chips - ditto. One of the run of the mill branded ones is vegan, but I can't remember which
flaxseed meal - Possibly small health food shops, but Waitrose might have it
apple cider vinegar - I get mine in the Co-op supermarket. I'd just call it "cider vinegar"...
Frank's - I don't know what this is
liquid smoke - This is spectacularly hard to find here. Let me know when you get hold of some?
miso - Supermarket (Sainsbury's, Waitrose), health food shops
confectioner's sugar - we call it icing sugar and buy it from supermarkets
cooking spray - larger supermarkets, I don't think we use it all that commonly

Liquid smoke is available up here at Lupe Pinto's. I would venture a guess that Frank's would be, as well.
Come visit!

choc chips - silver spoon dark and dr oetker dark chips are both vegan and available in most supermarkets.

mixing bowls.... if you have a tesco or sainsburys near you check out their cookware sections. Their basic / value ranges have some proper cheap stuff and it's not bad.

You can get Franks in larger tescos / sainsburys.

Liquid smoke, I've seen it in my local american shop, but nowhere else. You can order it online or I can send you a bottle if you want?

You can get Liquid Smoke at Kensington Wholefoods.

Thanks everyone! The market closest to us is a Tesco, and I've used that all the time, but I just was told that it's a Tesco metro or some little version. Probably explains why I can't really find anything!

yeah, we don't really have any big supermarkets in Bristol, either. one of the drawbacks of living in the city.
and i was totally going to suggest Wilkinsons too but it slipped my mind when i posted. oops.

I went on the overground to the big Sainsbury's in Whitechapel today! I found most of the things I needed so thank you all. I didn't find flaxmeal (not even the whole seed there!), cooking spray, choc chips, liquid smoke (all 3 I don't reeeally need yet) or a good cake pan. All the cake pans they had had loose bottoms without good closures like with springform, so pretty much a guarantee that batter would leak out. But pretty good turnout. I also found the chocolate chip oatcakes that Meggs raved about. I'm so excited to try them!

For chocolate chips, I usually smash up a bar of dark chocolate.

Oh! Another question - where do you recycle batteries?

Flaxmeal is called ground flax - a good brand is Linusit, and it's definitely in bigger Tescos, Waitrose, and hfs.

John Lewis is good for better quality cake tins, or Lakeland online.

There's a recycling drop-off point at my local Sainsbury's which takes batteries so...back to Sainsbury's?

I can just put batteries in my normal kerbside recycling box. Double check on your local council's website.

I know the big Tesco near my office has a battery recycling bin, so maybe one of the larger big box stores.

Great thanks!

Oooh, I live within a five minute walk from the Whitechapel Sainsbury's :D
Next time you're going there, if you still haven't found the flax you might want to take a detour to Tesco by Bethnal Green, it's maybe an 8 minute walk, but they have started selling flax seed (whole ones) in their Free From section. I've got the bag, now I just need a grinder. Anyone know if a coffee grinder will do the trick?

I used a coffee grinder for flaxseeds in America. I miss it! I used it for peppercorns, fennel, flax, everything.

For miso that's way cheaper than what you'll find in supermarkets (and so much other Japanese stuff) try Japan Centre in Picadilly Circus. It's so cool, and they also sell the best freshly made, but pre-packed, sushi and other bits in there. Yum. I wish I still lived in London.

Lakeland! I think there's one in Stratford or you could shop online. They will have everything you need, and loads of stuff that you didn't think you needed but will immediately want the minute you see it.

Wow, I've never heard of the Japan Centre! I might have to make a trip there this weekend.

It's awesome. It's about 50% pretty Japanese tat, 50% food. And that's great.