What to eat in Finland? Budget travellers eating guide for Finnish food
Are you planning a trip to Finland and want to get to know the Finnish food? This guide is for you!
I'm a 100% Finn, and miss my home country flavors, so whenever I go to Finland, there are some must items to taste again.
Is food expensive in Finland?
Yes, food is expensive in Finland. It's also of great quality and well-controlled. Finns eat a lot at home, because restaurants are very expensive, especially the drinks are costly.
A dinner costs easily 30-50 euros per person in a restaurant. You can eat cheaper, maybe 15-25 euros in fast food places and gas stations (they offer great buffets!
So when in Finland, you should do as the Finns do, and avoid restaurants. And you need to know that most restaurants in Finland offer other cuisine than Finnish, because when going out, Finns like to eat something they can't make at home.
How to try all Finnish food flavors on a budget?
What to do then to cover as wide variety as possible of different Finnish foods and not to go bankcrupt in restaurants?
Finnish supermarkets offer a really wide selection of ready-made foods. These are significantly cheaper than eating at a restaurant, so you can try many things and no worries if you don't like something, it was not too expensive.
Ready-made food portions are often only 2-5 euros per each. Many Finns who can't cook buy these or half-ready ones (e.g I miss ready-chopped potato/onion mix..just pour the frozen bag to a casserole, add spices and cream and ham/sausage/fish, bake it and you have a great meal made for the whole family.
What to consider when booking a hotel / air-bnb or other accomodation in Finland
Check that your accomodation has a microwave oven and maybe also an electric kettle to heat water, if you like coffee or tea. A fridge, even a small one is very useful! By using these instead of eating out you can save tens of euros every day of your visit!
There are also some cold options if you don't have a microwave oven, and some great porridges are easily prepared just by adding hot water.
Where to buy food in Finland?
In Finland, there are two main chains of grocery stores/supermarkets, S and K. S is generally a bit cheaper, their smaller grocery shops Alepa and S-Market are moderately priced, and their hypermarket Prima has it all. Small K-markets are quite expensive so you can find better offers in K-supermarket or Citymarket.
Just check with Google Maps where are the nearest supermarkets. There are many grocery shops open 24/7 in Helsinki area. Check also further away, e.g. Iso Omena mall has big hypermarkets and many other things and can be reached with same metro ticket as city center.
Where to buy alcohol in Finland?
In Finland, grocery stores can sell only moderate max 8% alcohol, like beer, cider and lonkero (long drink, on definitely recommended -list!) and nowadays also wine.
Great selection of Finnish and international vodka and other spirits, gins and whiskies are found at Alko, which is a dedicated shop for selling alcohol. You can check the selection and prices online: https://www.alko.fi/en/ - search e.g. spirits from Finland to find nice flavored vodkas.
What foods should you try when visiting Finland?
Here are some of my favorites and recommendations to buy - share this page to remember when shopping!
If you have challenges with lactose (milk sugar) note that all low-lactose products are marked "vähälaktoosinen" or "hyla" and the lactose amount is marked in the nutritional values. There are also many lactose free products marked "laktoositon" in every store.
Rye bread
Obviously you'll need to try famous Finnish rye bread! There are many shapes and sizes. Buy also some good butter (voi) or Oivariini (like butter but easier to spread) and some cheese and cold cuts to go on top.
A couple of my favorites are:
Pulla - Sweet cardamom buns
There is a huge variety of pulla available. It's an everyday thing often eaten with coffee. Search for e.g. "voisilmäpulla", "korvapuusti" in the fresh baked goods.
If no fresh pulla available, these are good too Oululainen Pullava voisilmäpitko
Karelian pies/pasties
The best loved snack of Finland - available fresh in almost all grocery stores. Search for "karjalanpiirakka" in the fresh baked goods. Remember to buy butter ("voi") and maybe other toppings (not mandatory, e.g. cheese). If you have possibility to cook eggs, make egg-butter, season with salt.
Koskenlaskija cheese
This is something very unique, Koskenlaskija is a Finnish processed cheese known for its smooth, creamy texture and mild yet slightly tangy flavor. It melts well, making it ideal for cooking, such as in soups, sauces, and casseroles. The name Koskenlaskija translates to "rapids runner," evoking a sense of tradition and Finnish nature.
Whipped lingonberry porridge
This sweet pink porridge made of semolina and lingonberries is so tasty! Buy some granulated sugar and milk, sprinkle sugar on top and add cold milk. No heating needed.
Examples:
Spinach crepes/pancakes and blood pancakes
Finns love crepes and pancakes - but the thin kind! These small crepes are easy to heat in microwave oven. Both spinach and blood pancakes go well with crushed lingonberries, so buy a bag of frozen lingonberries, thaw them, crush and add plenty of sugar, mix and let be overnight in fridge and add on top of heated pancakes.
But for some reason normal crepes we Finns eat with sweet jams like strawberries or raspberry (Note: they don't go well with spinach or blood pancakes)
My favorites (in Finnish ohukainen, lettu, lätty, räiskäle all mean crepes/pancakes)
Salmon soup
The classic fish soup that you can also find in Finnish restaurants.
Pea soup
This is a camping and mökki classic! Just add water, mix in a a pan and enjoy, additionally you can add mustard.
Oatmeal
The flavored oat porridges are soo good! So easy, just add hot water and mix! And add optionally cold milk. I recommend all the ready-made porridge portions from Elovena, e.g. this: Elovena omena-kaneli annospikapuuro
Mämmi
The classic easter dish is available frozen year-round. It looks horrible (like a pile of well, shit) but it's a very traditional, long baked rye flavor dessert to be enjoyed heated or cold with sugar and cream.
Blueberry soup
With this drinkable soup Finnish skiing champions made us proud back in the day. Try also other berry soups - they go well e.g. with cold semolina porridge "mannapuuro" or warm oatmeal.
Kiisseli
This is somewhat thicker than abovementioned soup, so must be eaten with spoon. Sometimes translated as kissel or fool.
Explore more Finnish food variety:
In addition to my favorites above, you could explore e.g. these traditional dishes:
Meat soup ("lihakeitto"), meat-macaroni-casserole ("lihamakaronilaatikko", buy also ketchup!), meatballs with mashed potatoes, chocolate porridge ("suklaapuuro"), liver casserole ("maksalaatikko"), cabbage casserole ("kaalilaatikko") enjoy both with sugared, crushed lingonberries, ham-potatoes casserole ("kinkkukiusaus") and if you are lucky, there might be also some Karelian hot pot ("karjalanpaisti") or reindeer casserole ("porokiusaus") or even reindeer stew ("poronkäristys").
S-stores: See food varietyK-stores: See food variety
Of course, there are also many other foods to explore in Finland. These are just my personal favorites.
What would you eat in Finland? Please leave a comment!
And we have not even talked about the sweets and chocolates.. maybe later another blog post about those!
Very special trick to save money, only Finns know this:
Go to grocery shopping (Alepa, S-market, Prisma) after 9 PM and find the -30 % products (they have red stickers!) in secret -60% discount! Also Lidl has special discounts but a bit smaller ones and often also day-time. K-markets (, K-Market, K-Supermarket, Citymarket)) don't have common line but many also have -30% labeled products -60% at the last opening hour 21-22.