Zimbabwean Grocery and Food Shops in the UK: Where to Buy Sadza, Matemba, and Zimbabwean Staples

For Zimbabweans in the UK, finding the right ingredients to cook a proper meal — sadza with matemba, dovi, or a good usavi — used to mean long detours to African markets or asking friends to bring things over from home. That has changed significantly. A growing number of dedicated online shops and physical stockists now supply Zimbabwean staples across the UK, many offering next-day or tracked delivery straight to your door. **Key Online Zimbabwean Food Retailers** **Zim Foods (zimfoods.co.uk)** is one of the more established online retailers, based in Birmingham. They stock a wide range of recognisable Zimbabwean brands including Lobels biscuits (Choice, Lemon Creams, Custard Creams, Vanilla Creams, Bermuda Creams), Charhons chocolates and cookies, Colcom products including French polony, Royco Usavi Mix in both chicken and beef varieties, and Cerevita in banana and chocolate malt flavours. Wholesale boxes of Cerevita (24 units) are available for those buying in bulk — the banana box is priced at £170 and chocolate malt at £180. They also stock South African brands familiar to Zimbabweans, including Knorrox stock cubes, All Gold tomato sauce, Black Cat and Family peanut butter (dovi), Joko Tea, Nola mayonnaise, and Rajah curry powder. Prices for individual items generally range from £1.50 to £10, with regular sale prices offering significant discounts. Customers report reliable tracked delivery to addresses across the UK and even internationally. **GazMart (gazmart.co.uk)** has been operating since 2018 and positions itself as a supplier of Zimbabwean home foods with a "from home to your door" ethos. Their range includes Mazoe drinks, Lobels biscuits, and other pantry staples familiar to Zimbabwean households. They aim to cater not only to first-generation diaspora members but also to those wanting to introduce Zimbabwean flavours to their children and to broader communities in the UK. **Hungwe Tuckshop (hungwetuckshop.co.uk)** serves the London area and offers a particularly useful option for those who prefer to collect in person — orders can be picked up from Woolwich Arsenal in southeast London. They also run a city-to-city tour service, so customers in other cities can contact them to find out when they may be visiting. Their stock includes madora (mopane worms), Southern African ciders including Savanna Dry and Hunters Gold, and a range of African groceries and fabrics. Phone: 07472 350503. **Makola UK (makola.uk)** stocks matemba (one man thousand) at £5.99 for a 500g pack. They carry a broader African grocery range and can be reached on 0800 702 2607. **Solide Store UK (solidestore.uk)** specialises in Zimbabwean products and stocks matemba specifically as Kariba Dried Kapenta in 250g quantities. They emphasise the sun-dried, authentic preparation of the fish and can be reached via WhatsApp on +44 7728 598027 or +44 7361 031838. **ZimGroceries (zimgroceries.co.uk)** operates differently from the others — rather than delivering to you in the UK, this platform is designed for diaspora members to shop online and have groceries delivered to family members in Harare and surrounding areas. Free delivery is offered on orders over $100, with delivery in three to five business days. This is particularly useful if you want to stock a parent or relative's kitchen back home without going through a courier service. **Finding Sadza Meal (Roller Meal) and Dried Fish** White maize meal for making sadza — often sold as roller meal — is available through most of the retailers above, though stock levels vary. When not available through specialist Zimbabwean retailers, large-format West African or general African food shops in cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leicester often carry coarse white maize meal that works well for sadza, though the texture may differ slightly from Zimbabwean brands. Matemba, also known as kapenta or one man thousand, is one of the more sought-after items. It is available dried through Makola UK and Solide Store UK online. In physical form, dried fish including matemba and other small dried fish varieties can sometimes be found in African and Caribbean food markets in cities with larger Zimbabwean communities. **Other Products to Look For** Across these retailers you can typically find: mauyu (baobab fruit), freezits, Zim-style peanut butter (dovi), moringa tea, and various South African condiments that form part of everyday Zimbabwean cooking. Colcom products — a brand central to Zimbabwean food culture — appear periodically depending on import availability. **Practical Tips** Prices and stock availability shift regularly, so it pays to check websites directly before ordering. Several of these shops run sale prices that can halve the cost of individual items. For bulk buying, wholesale options through Zim Foods can reduce per-unit cost considerably. If you are in London, Hungwe Tuckshop's collection option at Woolwich Arsenal saves on delivery costs. For those regularly supplying family in Zimbabwe, ZimGroceries offers a cleaner alternative to expensive courier parcels.