IKEA: Sofas, linens, rugs — and dinner
Most people know IKEA for its smartly designed, assemble-it-yourself furniture and other reasonably priced furnishings and products for the home.
If they associate IKEA with food, they likely think meatballs, and they might have enjoyed (or heard of) the inexpensive meals served in the stores’ restaurants.
But unless you’ve lived in the same city as an IKEA, and shop there regularly, you’re probably not so familiar with its grocery items.
Go online and you’ll find plenty of lists of “best grocery items at IKEA,” along with loyal customers raving about their favorites, everything from the meatballs (of course) to the herring, rosti (potato fritters), muesli, pancakes, lingonberry sauce, coffee, Swedish candies and more.
At the new Oak Creek Store, just west of I-94 off Drexel Ave., the Swedish Foodmarket is located right before the checkout stations. There, you’ll find all of these items and many more.
The best seller, of course, is those meatballs, sold frozen in 2.2-pound bags: regular and chicken ($8.99), as well as vegan veggie balls ($7.99) introduced a couple of years ago, according to Peter Ho, IKEA corporate chef. All can be heated in the oven or microwave. (We liked the Swedish meatballs, weren’t so taken with the veggie balls.)
Naturally, there is salmon: several types, all frozen, all sustainably raised: fillets ($11.99 for four, 1 pound 2 ounces total), plus hot-smoked, cold-smoked, cured and cured & smoked varieties.
Sustainability is a key theme not only in the foods sold here and in the restaurant, but also throughout the store. Additionally, a number of Foodmarket items are organic, gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, etc., Ho said.
For side dishes, there are those potato pancakes, as well as cheesy potato-broccoli veggie medallions, and mashed potatoes, sold in bags as little frozen potato cylinders, which — we tried them — really do cook down into creamy, flavorful mashed potatoes.
There are packaged mixes for things like bread, pancakes and sauces, including a vanilla dessert sauce and a “savory sauce” for the meatballs (add water and cream and simmer) that honestly tastes homemade.
Swedish specialties include large wheels of rye crispbread, like a very thick cracker, which Ho said Swedes break into pieces and use in place of bread, sometimes to make open-face sandwiches, topped perhaps with herring or shrimp.
There is lingonberry jam, of course, but also blueberry, strawberry, blueberry-raspberry (known as “queen’s blend") and cloudberry jam — something you probably won’t find anywhere else. Cloudberries are similar to raspberries, but they grow wild in far northern regions and can’t be cultivated. Hence, a jar costs $7.99 vs. $3.99 for the other flavors.
Desserts, all $5.99 and serving four to six, include various cakes (including gluten-free almond cakes) and a frozen rhubarb-raspberry crumble mix that looks divine: just place fruit mixture in a baking dish, sprinkle with crumble topping and bake.(“Rhubarb is a very Swedish flavor,” Ho said.)
A favorite prepared dessert, little pink cream cakes with almond paste — popularly known as "princess cakes" — are well worth the price for four.
Among new Marketplace items, Ho said, is a line of infused organic rapeseed (canola) oils: wild garlic, thyme and dill, for sautéing, to use in dressings or for brushing on that salmon.
And come September, IKEA will roll out its own meal kits. Taking less than 30 minutes to prepare and serving four, they’ll cost under $20, according to Ho. An example, he said, might be meatballs, mashed potatoes or broccoli-potato medallions, lingonberry jam and cream sauce mix for the meatballs and, always, a dessert.
Not sure what to do with some of the products? You can pick up recipe cards near the freezer case with directions for creating the likes of Waffles with Prawns, Chicken Meatball Skewers and Veggie Ball Avocado Wraps.
IKEA opens at 9 a.m. today . Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday (closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day).