An American man living in the UK has shared his shock at five stark differences between grocery shopping in Britain and back home.
Kobie Jordan, a TikTok content creator known as @kjordyyy, often explores cultural contrasts between the two countries, both through street interviews with Brits and sharing his own experiences online.
In a video uploaded in August, titled ‘Grocery shopping in London as an American,’ Jordan shared his observations whilst shopping for necessities in his local Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Filming his visit, the content creator singled out specific items while weighing up the pros and cons of varieties available in supermarkets in both nations.
The first thing that caught Jordan off guard was the sight of unrefrigerated eggs, as he panned his camera to dozens of cartons stacked neatly on shelves.
He said: ‘One of the first things that threw me off: the eggs are not refrigerated.
‘Funny enough, I found the eggs last way longer than when I used to refrigerate them. For me, I put them on top of the microwave.’
Next, Jordan noted that UK supermarkets appear to sell food in much smaller portions compared to their American counterparts, adding: ‘The UK, you shop way more often, but you buy in smaller quantities.’
Kobie Jordan, a TikTok content creator known as @kjordyyy, has shared his shock at five stark differences between grocery shopping in Britain and back home in the United States
Pointing out that bulk purchases of items like giant condiment bottles were nearly impossible to find in British shops, he joked: ‘You can’t really buy things in bulk. Here, you can’t buy ketchup the size of compact cars.’
Fresh produce in the UK also puzzled Jordan, as he showed bags of potatoes, radish and pre-prepared lettuce as examples with expiration dates just days away.
While displaying the items’ “best before” dates of August 11 and August 8, he explained: ‘Fresh produce expires more quickly than back home. At the time of filming this, it’s August 7th.’
‘Most of them won’t last more than three days – but back home, our produce is pumped with so much preservatives.’
Panning his camera at crates of baked beans stacked from the floor to the highest shelf in one aisle, he joked: ‘But, of course, the bean section has no shortages, and was ironically the item that had the most stock.’
One aspect of UK supermarkets Jordan praised was the absence of hidden taxes.
He said: ‘What you see is what you buy. So, if something is £2.75, you’re going to leave paying £2.75.
‘Back home, there’s nothing worse than doing your whole shop and then realising, “Add 6% tax” to anything you buy.’
The first thing that caught Jordan off guard was the sight of unrefrigerated eggs, as he panned his camera to dozens of cartons stacked neatly on shelves
Jordan’s observations sparked a lively discussion among viewers, with over 900 Brits, Americans, and even viewers from other countries sharing their thoughts.
Regarding Jordan’s observation on taxed goods, a baffled Briton asked: ‘Why can’t America just put the full price you pay on things, can’t be that difficult??’
Regarding produce, one Brit wrote: ‘Our produce isn’t full of preservatives, it’s fresh. the UK has to import everything so it has a shorter life span
Another commented: ‘If a “fresh” product lasts longer it probably isn’t for a good reason.’
A third wrote: ‘The reason why USA plastic packaged fruit/veg lasts longer is simply cause the USA fill the bags with nitrogen & not “air” which also contains oxygen & its stored in the store in fridges.’
Meanwhile, commenters explained that in the US, eggs are washed to remove the protective membrane, which requires refrigeration, while in the UK, eggs remain untreated, allowing them to be stored safely at room temperature.
Regarding his observation on eggs, one Brit wrote: ‘Eggs are not in the fridge but everybody I know including me puts them in the fridge as soon as they’re home.’
Another viewer, who claims to live in Africa, said: ‘In Africa too we don’t refrigerate eggs. It’s only in USA and I wonder why?
Jordan’s observations sparked a lively discussion among viewers, with over 900 Brits, Americans, and even viewers from other countries sharing their thoughts
However, on American wrote: ‘Americans wash the membrane off the egg that requires them to be refrigerated. We do backwards with everything.’
Some viewers, meanwhile, warned Jordan that storing eggs on top of the microwave was a bad idea due to heat exposure, with one writing: ‘Don’t put anything on top of your microwave it will heat up each time as it gets hot after every use.’
It comes after an American woman living in the UK has revealed the classic British sweets she cannot stand – much to the consternation of her followers online.
Lisa Dollan is originally from Georgia in the United States but moved to Yorkshire after falling in love with her now-husband Paul after they met at a business conference in 2009.
Taking to TikTok, where she has amassed over 1.2million followers under her handle Yorkshire Peach, Lisa shared common British confectionary items that she disliked.
