What food to pack for Norway

[Chris CM]

We are planning a trip to Norway and Sweden this Spring. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the cost of even basic foodstuffs in Norway. Can any of our experienced Norway hands advise what food we should take? Not really bothered about booze as we’re not great drinkers and will probably pack a couple of cases of Spanish beer.

Thanks

 

[EuroTrotters]

We only ever took booze. You can't buy much other than beers and ciders in Supermarkets.

Maybe take the usual tinned foods and preserves.

Norway has a bad reputation for food and drink prices. I have never found it that bad. After skiing in Beitostølen in 2007 we went for a meal. Lager was £5 a pint. My Nephew sent me a text from Chamonix, they had just paid €30 for a pizza and €9 a pint.

 

[vzac]

We packed all the dried foods, tins,bottles ( water and juice, long life milk ( soyer milk) snacks and toiletries. Just bought meat, fruit, bread and fresh veg. I have been told that a chain in Norway sell of fresh stuff cheaper in the afternoon, I never came across it though.
Have a great trip.

 

[Jenben]

We packed lots of our usual tin and rice/pasta supplies, tea bags as well . I think the staple foods in Norway whilst not cheap weren’t too expensive ( talking about bread, fruit veg etc ) and was good quality, I can’t recall if this is a state policy approach to the cost of these items?

I was surprised by the price of fish , I somehow expected it to be cheaper?

We didn’t eat out at all as we never really found anywhere to go on our particular trip and they don’t have the same cafe culture that we see elsewhere.

Supermarkets are easily accessible on route, this surprised us as we expected to not see them so frequently .

 

[Red Sonja]

If you like chocolate and sweets take them with you. Also bring cook your own rolls. I found bread expensive. Stock up on dried and ttins.i didn't find Sweden to expensive but Norway was very expensive.

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[The general]

I took plenty of porridge

 

[Neilj]

We were in Norway for a month last year. Our total supermarket shopping worked out £10 more than we would have expected to spend in a month in our local supermarket. Yes, fresh meat and fish are more expensive. The rest, not so much. If you can afford the cost of getting there and back again the supermarket is unlikely to tip you into bancruptcy.

 

[The general]

The rest, not so much. If you can afford the cost of getting there and back again the supermarket is unlikely to tip you into bancruptcy.

Exactly , why worry about it ?

 

[Dutch 68]

We are planning a trip to Norway and Sweden this Spring. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the cost of even basic foodstuffs in Norway. Can any of our experienced Norway hands advise what food we should take? Not really bothered about booze as we’re not great drinkers and will probably pack a couple of cases of Spanish beer.

Thanks

Any tips on various routes of how to get there and what route to take ? We are heading for Norway in summer too, anyone with experience black tank disposal in Norway ? We have a black tank, no cassette

 

[Dramfineday]

The couple who run the youtube channel, The little red van ( life is too short), have some recent stuff on their adventures Norway including buying food. Might be worth a look.

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[Dutch 68]

We only ever took booze. You can't buy much other than beers and ciders in Supermarkets.

Maybe take the usual tinned foods and preserves.

Norway has a bad reputation for food and drink prices. I have never found it that bad. After skiing in Beitostølen in 2007 we went for a meal. Lager was £5 a pint. My Nephew sent me a text from Chamonix, they had just paid €30 for a pizza and €9 a pint.

Bargain, we just paid 11.50 for two hot chocolates in a paper cup at the euro Chunnel terminal, I don’t know how they keep a straight face when telling you how much

 

[Foo Fighter]

We spent 3 months exploring Scandinavia this summer and found supermarket prices were the highest in Norway. The further north the higher the pricing. In Sweden we found that Willey's were by far the cheapest of the supermarkets on offer, and the quality of goods was very high. We found Finland to be on a par with Denmark in terms of pricing. We didn't buy any alcohol as the prices are exorbitant and we had bought our own.

 

[jumartoo]

We took loads of stuff the first time we went, not so much the following year. Some things were the same price as we pay in Spain, amd some cheaper. Of course a lot were more expensive. We started using the Rema 1000 supermarket chain but then started to use the Co-ops. They often have offers on a different food/foods daily. I got salmon for four very cheaply one day. Cheaper than here anyway.

There is always a loaf of bread sold much cheaper than the rest. I think (we were told) it's a government requirement.

 

[TheMachMan]

There’s a video covering this on the Camper Vibe YouTube channel.

 

[Clive Beeza]

We are planning a trip to Norway and Sweden this Spring. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the cost of even basic foodstuffs in Norway. Can any of our experienced Norway hands advise what food we should take? Not really bothered about booze as we’re not great drinkers and will probably pack a couple of cases of Spanish beer.

Thanks

We went with some friends a few years ago,
and all we remember, is how beautiful and clean Norway is
the natives were very friendly, and no language problem,
I do not remember what things cost really
but the memories are priceless
You will love it.

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[NorwayNeil]

I've lived near Stavanger on the west coast for nearly 15 years, retired 6 years ago. Yes, I think it's an expensive place to live, but when we visit family a few times a year, I think a lot of food items are not far off the price here, my main gripe would be the selection of most foodstuffs is limited. Bring your favourite cheese, sausage and bacon.
As others said, bring any tinned or dried stuff you might use, rice, pasta, soups, etc. Bread choice is great and usually freshly baked, most supermarkets have a loaf slicing machine. Coop often have a discount section/bin worth looking for (or ask). Rema1000, Joker & Spar are cheaper than Meny/Helgø. Only supermarkets with less than 32sq.m floor space are allowed to open on Sundays (some have a separate section for this purpose), every other retail is also closed except restaurants, cafes, fuel & gardening centres.
Drive up the west coast, especially road Fv17 upto Lofoten & you won't care about the prices. Might be worth getting an Autopass.no 'brick' for toll road discount, also look at a Ferrypass for big ferry discounts. Google https://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en/routes/ for other route ideas.

 

[Steve-N]

There is a recently posted YouTube channel called 'Wend yer way' - a recently retired couple who embark on such a trip, it gives a good insight into the planning and actual travel experiences they encountered along the way on their 6 week trip from Lincolnshire to Norway, Finland and Sweden (and back)
Worth a watch

 

[Carpmart]

In Sept this year, I spent a week at a fishing camp right at the very top of Norway. Wonderful experience, but OMG, the food and drink from the tiny little store some 35km away was ridiculously expensive....

 

[Wools]

We took a huge amount of food .Glad we did. Found Norway to be a feast for the eyes, not the stomach.

 

[NoName]

We are planning a trip to Norway and Sweden this Spring. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the cost of even basic foodstuffs in Norway. Can any of our experienced Norway hands advise what food we should take? Not really bothered about booze as we’re not great drinkers and will probably pack a couple of cases of Spanish beer.

Thanks

I’m always surprised at the posts about what foods to take when heading to Europe. Surely the opportunity to sample the local cuisine is one of the attractions?
By all means take one or two staples but let your hair down, go wild! Forgo the marmite ,Nutella & chips ,see what the locals are eating and give it a try. Unless you are going for months, a few extra € is hardly going to break the bank is it?

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[Neilj]

I have to say that I'm amazed by the emphasis on the relatively small extra in the cost of most supermarket shopping. The ferries, thousands of miles worth of diesel and all the other costs of a holiday drive the supermarket spending into insignificance. On our last trip to Norway supermarket shopping was just 9.5% of our total spend on the holiday. Surely it is the remaining 90.5% where the pennies can be saved.

 

[Jonno1103]

I’m always surprised at the posts about what foods to take when heading to Europe. Surely the opportunity to sample the local cuisine is one of the attractions?
By all means take one or two staples but let your hair down, go wild! Forgo the marmite ,Nutella & chips ,see what the locals are eating and give it a try. Unless you are going for months, a few extra € is hardly going to break the bank is it?

You can't beat sliced up deep fried hotdogs and fries slathered in mayonnaise at some of the road stops in Denmark!

 

[Bailey58]

We took plenty of part baked rolls, so many we got fed up with them! Tins as mentioned and frozen packs of home made Chili, Spag Bol, curries and the like as well as a few steaks, sausages and bacon. We can manage without booze but did take a few beers and cans of pop and 3 or 4 bottles of wine, half of which came home again. We used Rema and Co-op and never found prices too bad.

 

[Chris CM]

Thanks all!

Seems all is not as bad as I was led to believe!

 

[hblewett]

Drive up the west coast, especially road Fv17 up to Lofoten & you won't care about the prices

I'll second that . There's lots of ferries so take your time and enjoy. Must be the best coastal route on earth.

If your using Autogas there are very few places you can get it so you need to plan to visit any you're near. We arrived at one at 17.45 on a Friday which had just shut and didn't open till Monday morning! Many are stand-alone [for agriculture etc?] and not attached to filling stations. Filling stations can be a long way apart and we had to divert a few miles an [even more!] remote village middle of nowhere, where we were pleasantly surprised to find the price not much different to anywhere else.

You need to be aware as are not in EU, you will have to go through customs and should declare any alcohol you're carrying. We declared a litre of spirits and paid more tax than the bottle cost in the first place.

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[jumar]

Before we set off on our first Norwegian trip I brushed up on my fishing and making bread... didn't imagine there were shops where we were heading....Shops were plentyful and got fed up of fish....@jumartoo smuggled wine hidden in our pillows....who would have thought eh...

 

[Stavelot]

I took plenty of porridgeView attachment 691794

Every time I open a cupboard in our moho a bloody porridge pot falls out! They're stashed everywhere.

 

[Neilj]

We declared a litre of spirits and paid more tax than the bottle cost in the first place.

Really?
I thought the limits were
1 litre of spirits, 1.5 litres of wine (2 bottles) and 2 litres of beer (6 x 0.33 l)
+ 200 cigarettes or 250 g of other types of tobacco, and 200 sheets of cigarette paper.

 

[kernewek]

There’s a video covering this on the Camper Vibe YouTube channel.

You beat me to it! It's a really good one to watch comparing Norway and UK. Think most folk will spend less on snacks than Emily!

 

[Kato]

Returned recently from Scandinavia, just a few of our observations: Fuel cheaper in Norway than Sweden - not a surprise as they produce it, it will be your biggest cost. You do need to plan gas refills as already mentioned by others, P4N best or https://www.lpgnorge.no/ . Food selection we found was limited in Scandinavia compared to UK & other European countries and bread was really expensive, but REMA 1000 (they do some great own brand soups sold in a pouch in the chiller cabinet) recommended in Norway, Willys in Sweden. Wine in Sweden at the state controlled shops similar to UK prices, some wines cheaper! Definitely get your Autopass for the roads and ferries for Norway as this will really cut down on the costs, not difficult to apply for online and we just got the balance of our ferry deposit back with no hassles at all. No problems with using our debit/credit cards. No real problems with communication in English, everyone really friendly and wow how clean everything is. Stavanger our favourite city, go see the Oil and Gas museum. Loved the Norwegian coastline, plenty of great harbour stops. We had lots of rain so unfortunately the fjords were a bit of a washout. Enjoy!

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