The ten year war over Iceland is over and Iceland has come out the victor. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, be prepared to listen to a whole bunch of stupid. In 2016, we wrote …
I moved from the U.S to Wales for a year for a study program.
I used Icelandair to fly there. And stopped over in Iceland for 4 days. Because why not.
It’s a beautiful country btw.
While there I ate some of the local foods. I liked their skyr yogurt and these hotdog bun things they sold all over.
I Wasn’t interested in their main foods like fermented fish.
But anyway. I get to Wales. I find a store called Iceland.
I think. Oh I bet they sell Icelandic food. Like the yogurt and hotdog buns.
I go in.
It’s just frozen coolers.
All they sell is frozen food.
Now something important about Wales (and I’ve heard this applies to other European countries) is that the big fridges and freezers common in the U.S are not common there.
At my apartment I only had a mini fridge. And I asked around and that’s common. It’s very uncommon for apartments to have full size refrigerators.
This was a pain cause I had to go grocery shopping 2x a week. And the freezer was so small that the only thing that fit was an ice cube tray and a tub of ice cream (priorities).
So I couldn’t buy frozen food. But most stores didn’t sell much of it anyway. (Like the Tesco).
But this Iceland store did.
But I wondered, who has freezer space to buy any of this since most people don’t have big freezers. ?
Anyway. My point.
Misleading store name. No Iceland food. No yogurt. No hotdog bun things.
They could have at least put a hyphen in the name.
And 2. Not sure how lucrative it is to sell frozen food in many European locations when people don’t have freezers.
Now something important about Wales (and I’ve heard this applies to other European countries) is that the big fridges and freezers common in the U.S are not common there.
Smaller fridges where the freezer is only located on one shelf in the fridge are a thing too, I’ve seen them in vacation apartments, but I think only people with extremely limited space in their kitchen would get one of these for their homes.
Well I was a student. I was in a 1 bedroom apartment.
I also looked at about 6 places before renting this one. They all had mini fridges. Perhaps it’s different in other parts of Europe. This was the UK and more specifically, Wales.
Yes, that makes sense that very small apartments would also have very small kitchens where you’d have these kinds of fridges. Point is, most people do have much bigger ones, even in Europe. :)
Sorry for your experience but I assure you we do have freezers. Freezers are in fact very common, just not in small apartments where space is at a premium.
Vast, American-style double-fronted fridge freezers are uncommon, but I’d venture a guess at most UK & Western European households having a freezer of some sort - either a tall fridge/freezer unit or two separate under-counter units.
I moved from the U.S to Wales for a year for a study program.
I used Icelandair to fly there. And stopped over in Iceland for 4 days. Because why not.
It’s a beautiful country btw.
While there I ate some of the local foods. I liked their skyr yogurt and these hotdog bun things they sold all over.
I Wasn’t interested in their main foods like fermented fish.
But anyway. I get to Wales. I find a store called Iceland.
I think. Oh I bet they sell Icelandic food. Like the yogurt and hotdog buns.
I go in. It’s just frozen coolers.
All they sell is frozen food.
Now something important about Wales (and I’ve heard this applies to other European countries) is that the big fridges and freezers common in the U.S are not common there.
At my apartment I only had a mini fridge. And I asked around and that’s common. It’s very uncommon for apartments to have full size refrigerators.
This was a pain cause I had to go grocery shopping 2x a week. And the freezer was so small that the only thing that fit was an ice cube tray and a tub of ice cream (priorities).
So I couldn’t buy frozen food. But most stores didn’t sell much of it anyway. (Like the Tesco).
But this Iceland store did.
But I wondered, who has freezer space to buy any of this since most people don’t have big freezers. ?
Anyway. My point.
Misleading store name. No Iceland food. No yogurt. No hotdog bun things.
They could have at least put a hyphen in the name.
And 2. Not sure how lucrative it is to sell frozen food in many European locations when people don’t have freezers.
I would recommend you don’t go to Waterstones, Currys, Boots or Weird Fish.
Instead, I recommend going to Staples. You’ll have a much better time there.
I’ve lived in central Europe all my life and all apartments I remember living in had fridges similar to this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bosch_Electronic_no_frost_fridge_freezer_(2019)_06.jpg (on the top is the fridge, on the bottom the freezer)
Smaller fridges where the freezer is only located on one shelf in the fridge are a thing too, I’ve seen them in vacation apartments, but I think only people with extremely limited space in their kitchen would get one of these for their homes.
Well I was a student. I was in a 1 bedroom apartment. I also looked at about 6 places before renting this one. They all had mini fridges. Perhaps it’s different in other parts of Europe. This was the UK and more specifically, Wales.
Yes, that makes sense that very small apartments would also have very small kitchens where you’d have these kinds of fridges. Point is, most people do have much bigger ones, even in Europe. :)
Well Europe is big. Maybe it’s a UK thing. I only lived in Wales and was told it was common there.
Sorry for your experience but I assure you we do have freezers. Freezers are in fact very common, just not in small apartments where space is at a premium.
Vast, American-style double-fronted fridge freezers are uncommon, but I’d venture a guess at most UK & Western European households having a freezer of some sort - either a tall fridge/freezer unit or two separate under-counter units.
A friend living there in a house did have a traditional upright fridge freezer. But she also said only households typically had those. Not apartments.
In England, flats often do have Fridge Freezers. I’ve never not had one.