Singapore Is The Worlds Biggest Shopping Center, But Sometimes It Runs Out Of Stock
You usually get told “No worries, you can buy everything in Singapore, don’t bring too much when moving over and keep your bags empty for all the shopping”…
Well, I agree. You will realized upon your arrival that you can indeed find almost everything in Singapore.
But after some time you will realize, that its certain small things, that you just take so much for granted or got used to at home, that you wont think about them anymore. However, some of them will painfully be missed in Singapore.
Continue reading if you want to know what you cannot forget to bring over to Singapore.
Food – Haribo, Good Cheese and Herbs
If you are used to cook your local specialties at home, you will be missing your local herbs and ingredients that are hard to get in Singapore. Same goes for some more sweeter things:
- Haribo
Surprisingly Haribo is very limited in their range of products in Singapore. You will find Haribo “Roulette” in every 7-11 and Supermarket, but even Goldbears are only rarely available in Singapore.
On the other hand “Trolli”, supplies 90% of the markets “gummy” sweets. All a question of taste. - Marzipan
Almost only available in the backing section of supermarkets. The actual sweet, like marzipan balls, bread etc is not available here. - Herbs
There is a certain range of cooking herbs available in Singapore but they are mainly local tastes like “Chilli” etc. If you are looking for real authentic herbs from your home country you better bring them yourself. - Dairy Products
Yoghurts, Good Cheese, Muellermilch, cheap Mozarella etc etc, it is verhy hard and expensive to get your hand on good quality dairy products in Singapore. There is no local demand for Gouda, Emmenthal or Camembert, hence your Cheese Fondue will have to wait for the next holiday in Switzerland.
Drinks – Sparkling Water, Cachaca and Jaegermeister
You will get tons of herbal tea, coconut milk and freshly squeezed wonderful juice of all varieties, but some drinks havent made it yet to Singapore, as per the following:
- Fresh Milk
Obviously not an option to bring over but at least a warning should be send out. There is no fresh milk available in Singapore. Obviously due to the lag of agriculture there are no cows here besides in your lunch meal. - Sparkling Water
Another difficult to bring thing but you should be aware of the fact, that besides massively overpriced “San Peligrino”, you wont find sparkling water in Singapore. Neither in the Supermarkets nor int the restaurants. I am not sure about the reason of this but I guess its a cultural thing and “silent” water just goes better in this climate. - Certain Liquors
From time to time you will find yourself walking the supermarket aisles, realizing something is missing that you were never aware of before.
So for example with the German liquor “Jaegermeister” or the Brazilian “Cachaca”, used to prepare your favorite Caipirinha.
Equipment – Baking forms, Sunblocker and Gift Cards
Things you would usually not even think about back “home” you might miss hard times in Singapore. Especially those “easy” things that, besides you, the locals would never use:
- Baking Forms
Try to find nice little cookie forms for Christmas or a US-sized cake form in Singapore. Simply due to firstly different sized backing and cooking equipment and secondly due to the cultural differences, you will have to find special stores in Singapore, in your search for the above items. - Sun Blocker
Firstly, yes, of course there is sunblocker available in Singapore. But, you might have noticed the “Whitening Creme” just next to it. Which means, that sun blocker is rarely available below factor 30, which doesn’t serve the purpose to block the sun, but tan you at the same time. So pack a bag of sun blocker with the factor you need. - Gift Cards
I remember me getting the “usual” but still acceptable Gift cards for a couple of cents in every supermarket or little corner shop in Europe. In Singapore however Gift cards are often as expensive as the gift itself. Which is actually quite surprising considering the amount of public holidays and festivals here.
What Else Do You Have To Bring To Singapore?
In the above list I was concentrating on things that you really wont get in Singapore. Means that you of course should bring light summer clothes to wear, an umbrella for the daily rain and electric adapters for your appliances, but those are things you easily find in Singapore as well.
To expand the list, please let me know what you think is essential to bring to Singapore in the comments below!
by an Asia experienced 26 year young expat living and surviving in Singapore since years!
Discovering new interesting and strange things everyday, he provides guides, news and tips for how to survive Singapore and how to best prepare for it.
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14 Comments for this post
Mar 10, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You can get all this stuff in Singapore if you know where to look (after 8 years here you could call me the master). Of course, some things are wildly more expensive than they should be. You can get good sparkling water in the form of a brand called ‘San Benedicto’ (or something like that) from NTUC even.
Hmm… wondering if I could start a consultancy service? :)
Mar 10, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Hehe, yes mark, thx for the tip, I am sure you will find almost everything anywhere in the world, but I wrote the post from a “newcomers” perspective (although I am here since 2 years now as well)
cheers!
Mar 10, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Some things are so difficult to find here, you are so right about herbs and the price of dairy products (I miss cheese so bad). Also, I went crazy trying to find self-tanning lotion in the kingdom of whitening lotions. What I brought back from home are medicines and women underwear (the most common here is what I would consider shorts back home). And there are so many things that I will sure remember once I hit send…
Mar 11, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Anyone happen to know where one can find fresh Jalapeno peppers here? I am sure I saw them somewhere once, but can’t recall where.
I also get annoyed at the expensive price of tortilla shells, it is painful loving mexican food this side of the world.
Mar 11, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Hi there :) Always enjoyable seeing my country through another’s eyes.
There’s a few different brands of fresh milk in every supermarket that I’ve been in so far, and there is even a dairy farm here. Well, or there was one anyway. Only went there once, and that was years ago. Still, maybe our definition of “fresh” is different. I don’t know.
Mar 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm
We don’t have fresh milk? What about all the Magnolias & Marigolds & Farmhouse & Masters & Meiji you find in the refridgerated section (as opposed to those you find on the shelves)?
Herbs – we have the basil, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, turmeric etc. in every supermarket i think…
but you’re right about the sparkling water. which suddenly strikes me as strange. now why do we not drink sparkling water…???
Mar 12, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It will also depend where you originally come from….. what you miss from Europe may be different to what you miss from New Zealand, Australia etc….
But CHEESE…. yes, miss good cheese!!!
Miss the corner deli (Delicatessen) and certainly miss that lovely Italian Crusty bread. I have seen a couple of bakeries try to replicate crusty bread, but they don’t ever get there.
You can obtain most things now, but the cost is way over the top and not worth worrying about it.
……. but I am starting to realise that yes, even though I do miss a few things, I try to adapt to this way of life and let “what I miss” bypass me for the moment.
We live in Singapore, so must get used to what we have here – eventually. :-)
Mar 13, 2009 at 12:25 am
I would really love to get a fresh basil plant! It seemed like the most common thing in EU or in the Americas to have fresh herb plants at home, but I guess not in SG :( And of course cheese! The insane pricing on cheese here is really a bit over the top!
Most of all I miss my dear Haribo! They use to sell it at Candy Empire, but somehow it seems like they no longer have any stock :( Other candies, Trollie & Katje, just arent the same, though if thez had the Tropical Fruits Katje gummies I would be quite estatic!
Mar 16, 2009 at 1:43 pm
They sell fresh basil plants at Cold Storage.
I am growing 5 different kinds of basil, along with mint, rosemary, dill, parsley, and thyme. All obtained in Singapore (Mostly seeds)
Mar 16, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Sparkling mineral water I too miss. Used to brew my own in the old country (a company named soda club – it was great). Now I am back to purchasing by the bottle. I feel pretty guilty about water being shipped half way around the world for my enjoyment but I am completely addicted to the mouth cleansing feel.
Mar 17, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Where can one find Sage Sticks and Smudging Supply?
Mar 19, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I think it would be remiss to not point out, under the heading “Food” that POPPY SEEDS ARE ILLEGAL in Singapore. Don’t bring them in!
After posting this http://tinyurl.com/dbx7qy recipe on her site, the poor author had a visit from the narcotics squad who took her poppy seeds away.
Apr 20, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Hmm, let me think:
Milk – Meiji milk from Thailand is fresh, available in low-fat or full cream varieties and is real milk instead of th “Milk” that Marigold et al try to pass off that is full of flavourings.
Herbs – I haven’t needed anything I couldn’t find at a decent supermarket… Sometimes expensive, and yes Cold Storage and Jasons Marketplace at Raffles City are currently selling growing Basil plants in pots for $3.50. Anyone got any tips on how to keep it alive without constant air conditioning?
Beer – Check out http://www.6drunkmen.com/ for a cheap local supply of imported beer – around half price than what you pay at the supermarket. There are other wholesalers also and you should be able to get around $4/bottle for premium imported beer when buying by the case.
Mexican – Flour tortillas are incredibly expensive – $7 to $10 in most cases but if you head to Carrefour they have a house brand selling 8 in a pack for around $4.50. Fresh jalapenos are hard to find but they often have them at the Marketplace at Tanglin Mall, direct from Cameron Highlands. For your other Mexican grocery needs check out http://www.belmontelatinfoods.com who are a local online Mexican market (and they DO have Chipotles in Adobo!!)
Cheese – best variety I have found is Cold Storage at Great World City who have a half decent European supply and frequently bring in some of the nicer Australian brands (Mersey Valley Crumbly Chedder… yum!)
Jul 13, 2011 at 3:12 am
I have to disagree with poofs who said we have plenty of fresh milk here.
Just to put things into perspective, the same brand of Aussie milk tastes completely different over in Australia than Spore. The expiry time is about double for those sold here. I am guessing some kind of process or additives are done to the milk. Rendering wonderful springwater-like fresh milk to the horrid cloying stuff we get here…
To echo the above commentators, cheese is sooo expensive here!
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