Homesick for NZ Foods. How to obtain in the USA?

December 26, 2014 2:21 PM

Recently came back from New Zealand after living there for over a year. I seriously miss certain foods/drinks like OSM (One Square Meal) bars, L&P soda, Kapiti Island cheeses, Steinlager, Black Mac's, Export Gold, etc. Been trying to find these things online with intl. shipping but failing. Many of these companies seem to not export any of their products at all. Is there some service where you can have a guy literally walk into a grocery store, buy some specific items, and then mail them to you?

So far the closest thing I have found is this website: http://www.kiwihomesickpack.co.nz/buy.html which just sends you a generic homesick pack filled with goodies (cute idea, but mostly candy) and then this site: http://www.shopenzed.com/contact-us-xidc2262.html which sells some NZ groceries but none of the stuff I actually want :(

I contacted the OSM bar people directly and they said they can send me 32 packs (64 bars total) for NZ$147.20 + NZ$127.00 shipping making a grand total of NZ$274.20 (~ $212 US). I really don't need 64 of these delicious but highly caloric snacks that will probably expire before I am able to eat them all, and at that shocking price! Most tragically of all, GNC used to actually sell them in their stores in the USA until 2010 (because they hate me, obviously).

Ideally if there was some way to have a courier or grocery service hand pick and send the items to me that would be amazing and help soothe my NZ-homesick heart! Anyone done something similar before or have some NZ specific knowledge?

PS: I'm aware the cheese may be the least able to happen due to refrigeration requirements and a likely 3 week journey by ship! OSM bars and beer should still travel reasonably well though.

PPS: I'm also aware that the shipping will be high either way, but I'd be more willing to pay for that crazy shipping that the OSM bar ppl quoted me, if I was getting something beyond just 1 flavor of 64 OSM bars, and instead it was for a nice variety of items.

posted by taciturnpachyderm to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: Can you ask a friend in NZ to help you out? (I'm a kiwi in London so I know this pain well!)

Check out Nosh/Farro Fresh grocery stores for hampers or wildpoppies.co.nz - I've sent hampers from there before too.
posted by teststrip at 2:30 PM on December 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

I understand your pain. I work in an office that is 50% expats and I have friends who live in other countries that ask me to bring back their favorite US treats when I visit.

I've seen Steinlager at BevMo here in California, which means it has some distribution in the US. Export Gold, not so much.

There are other stores like the ones that you've suggested, including http://productsfromnz.com/. Amazon aggregates a lot of those sellers.
posted by rednikki at 2:33 PM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Could try posting something over in the Jobs subsite.
posted by edgeways at 3:07 PM on December 26, 2014

I don't know anything about NZ foods, but if you live near a Cost Plus World Market you should check it out. They have stuff from all over.
posted by radioamy at 3:50 PM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Try this site. I see the bars and the soda.
posted by acidic at 3:59 PM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

That Kiwi Corner Dairy site looks promising, but I'll also add: I used to always be trying to ship or transport stuff to another distant country and it would be very tricky to find an opportunity to do so.

Then I joined a Facebook group of people where part of the reason for the online community was because these are people who are constantly traveling back and forth between my country and the other country in question. If you happened to be able to find an online community of people who fairly often travel back and forth between NZ and your location (people who travel to NZ for business? A group for people who are doing semesters abroad in NZ?), you might find that some of them would be happy to help you out, especially if you were willing to pay a little bit for their luggage space. And that could be a heck of a lot cheaper for you because the shipping costs are going to be crazy.

I live in New England and I'd be happy to help except that I only go to NZ about once every 2 years.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 6:20 PM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I see Steinlager regularly at Trader Joe's in California (for the same price as other beers), and I remember my mom getting the local liquor store to special-order her a case of it way back in the 90s, so that one shouldn't be too difficult.
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:09 PM on December 26, 2014

I'm in Toronto, but I live 5 minutes' walk from possibly the largest supply of Scarlet Manuka (amongst other varieties!) honey outside of the Southern Hemisphere. Would be happy to pick you up a few jars. I've heard Tim Tams are available in the city too.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 3:54 PM on December 27, 2014