They don't have Saltines in England

...or What's a pregnant expat to do?

It's universally acknowledged in America that the go-to food for a morning sick mom-to-be is the glorious Saltine.  I've long loved this cracker.  So crisp and salty.  They are delicious and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise (Unless of course, you are talking about stale ones like the one I ate at my grandparents' house last year, only to find it was approximately 20 years old.  It tasted like play-doh and butt.)

Vintage tin? Ok.

Vintage saltines?  Not.

I was distressed, upon moving to England to find that they are not available here.  I wondered what I would do when future Meg was pregnant.  I joked that I would get my mom to mail them to me.  I introduced Ross to my tasty cracker (I didn't mean that to sound dirty, but I'm leaving it 'cause it makes me laugh) and he was a convert.  We set out to find a Saltine substitute.  We reasoned that the UK has plenty of crackers on offer and there must be something that could hold it's own against the champion of all crackers.

Jacob's Cream Cracker

The number one brand of cracker in the UK (according to their own website) is Jacob's.  Their Cream Cracker seemed the most promising candidate.  Ross really likes them, and they look somewhat similar to a saltine.  It's a little bigger than a saltine, has no salt and is a bit thicker (leading to less crispness).  As a cracker in it's own right, they're ok.  They have no shot at replacing my Saltine-y goodness.

We eventually found a winner.  They still are not as light and crispy as a saltine, but they're pretty darn good.  They appear to be Italian, are pretty easy to find in most grocery stores on the cracker aisle, and are pretty cheap.  

Personal picture

 One of the big pros of these crackers is that they come in smaller packs.  If you've ever busted into a sleeve of Saltines, you know how hard it is to stop yourself.  Before you know it, you've eaten a whole huge sleeve! (Or is that just me?!)  Anyway, these come packaged in smaller, more appropriately-sized servings.

So with my Saltine substitute in place, I knew I would be ok for morning sickness.  I actually ended up being really lucky on the nausea front.  I had some *ahem* VERY close calls, but am proud to say that at 23 weeks I still haven't puked once.  The nausea was icky, but my hatred of throwing up prevailed and I managed to exercise some mind over matter zen thinking.  Despite the lack of actual vomit, I found that I had a few foods that really calmed my stomach.

Personal picture

Above, you'll see Meg's Official Morning Sickness Meal.  It consists of my Saltine-substitutes, green olives stuffed with pimentos, and a Babybel cheese.  Something about these things really calmed my stomach.  I didn't always eat them all together.  Often a little ramekin of olives would do the trick.  Now that I'm past the morning sickness phase, I haven't had this meal as often.  I still regularly partake of the Babybels though!  

I've told a few people that my craving for olives is better than any DNA test available, in terms of proof that this child is Ross' (not that there's any doubt!).  Ross is an olive fiend!  I've always liked them too, but when I started gobbling them up I proclaimed that there could now be no question at to the father of this child!

What were your go-to foods for nausea?

Did you have to find any substitutes for foods that you used to love?