Food bargains from abroad?

miggy

My family is going abroad for the first time this summer and, being me, I will be on the look-out for edibles to bring home.
I wondered what people here would recommend, apart from booze, from a trip to France? What food shops are 'must haves', and what do you buy there? I am thinking particularly of things which will have a bit of shelf life.
TIA.

moo2moo

Coffee for cafetieres and filter macines is very sensibly priced and comes in 10kg packs. Wine comes in 25 litre vacuum pack boxes although its a bit of a challenge to drink one in 6 weeks I did succeed.

Theres a sporting goods chain called "Decathalon" who have very good quality stuff and pretty much everything sporty at very sensible prices. My Nike Air running shoes were 30 Euros whereas here they are £120. Decathalon have also opened a few stores in the UK including one in Manchester and the prices are just as good.

THIRZAH

We go to France about once a year and always call at the Hypermarket on the way back.I usually leave DH in the wine aisle and go off by myself.

I normally buy chocolate, biscuits and jam-they tend to have a very good choice and some different flavours.Olive oil is usually cheaper too.I look at things like tinned veg and fruit and baking stuff. My sister likes the creme brulee mixes so I get her a couple of those.

I also look at non-food items-stationery, saucepans( you often get reasonably priced cast iron pans).I also buy the packs of a dozen small juice glasses if we need them

We normally do hampers for my three BILs at Christmas so I always keep my eyes open for stuff for them-olives, mustards etc.If you have to give to things like bottle stalls at church or school fetes it's worth looking out for some cheap bottles of fizzy wine-they always look impressive.

Then we buy cheese-usually far too much but I do try to restrain myself, petit suisse, big packs of croissants, fruit and usually treat ourselves to a nice cake.

Pitlanepiglet

France isn't as cheap as it was owing to the effect of the Euro and the poor exchange rate so you'd need to have a good idea of what you are actually paying for items....

We buy, filter coffee, coffee pods (for senseo machine), expresso coffee, decent (high cocoa plain) chocolate, wine boxes (try Calais Vin, just off the motorway at Calais, it's fab and their 15 litre wine boxes are good quality and well priced). Fruit and veg is usually very good quality and well priced but obviously won't last long

Tins and jars of veg are really good value and the jars are great quality. The tins of confit de canard (duck confit) are great value and I keep one in our camping kit as emergency food! Try the jars of fish soup as well and also the jars/tins of pate.

The tins and jars of ready meals look really nice, much better than our ready meals but I'm still too tight to buy them!

Saucepans etc. are often cheap and they seem to have much nicer/better priced outdoors stuff and kitchen wear. Most of the supermarkets have good prices on the Tefal stuff with removable handles (can't remember what it's called?)

Have a good trip and don't forget Calais Vin!

Belnahua

I don't know if you'll get Spanish delicacies in France, but look out for a spicy red sausage called "sobrasada"; it's from the Balearic Islands, and you can't get it in this country, but France may have it.

It's great spread on a crusty roll, or as a pizza topping![FONT=&quot]
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ghandi

Chorizo is very, very cheap at Calais (Auchan Hypermarket) near Eurotunnel entrance. My wife was there last Saturday but never bought me any!:mad:

liz545

The exchange rate means things aren't as cheap as they were, but you can still get bargains on some of the things that are still luxuries over here. I tend to pick up jars of dried wild mushrooms (I like the Sabarot brand), posh biscuits (particularly the Jules Destrooper ones), nice jams, coffee, cheeses and charcuterie (especially thinly sliced parma ham and salami-type saucisson sec) and rilettes, which are like a kind of pate (shredded pork packed under a layer of fat - I like the Bordeau Chesnil brand in the red tub). You can usually pick up nicely packaged Dijon mustard, herb vinegars and olive oils for not a lot of money, which are nice to cook with or give as gifts; and I always bring back Marseille soap - it's made with olive oil which is very moisturising for the skin, and you can get big cubes of it as well as normal blocks. Good fragrances include miel (honey), lait (milk), vanille, tilleuil (lime blossom), figue (figs) and verbena (lemony scent). Mustard, nutella, gherkins etc often come in reuseable juice glasses with fun cartoons on the outside (Asterix/Disney etc) which the kids may like; and next time I go I'll be keeping an eye out for this - speculoos spread, like nutella but gingersnap flavour! If anyone in your house likes french liquers (like Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Creme de Cassis etc), they tend to be much cheaper as well. You probably won't be far from a supermarket - Carrefour, Monoprix and SuperU tend to be everywhere! This website may also be helpful: http://www.day-tripper.net/price-surveys.html

Diane_239

Does anyone know if there any cheap foods from Floridea?
were going in Dec/Jan.

miggy

moo2moo wrote: »

Coffee for cafetieres and filter macines is very sensibly priced and comes in 10kg packs. Wine comes in 25 litre vacuum pack boxes although its a bit of a challenge to drink one in 6 weeks I did succeed.

Theres a sporting goods chain called "Decathalon" who have very good quality stuff

Thanks Moo2Moo, and LOL about the wine!
I shall look up Decathlon before we go as I was just saying DS needs new trainers, and with 3 kids I imagine most of the mortgages given out nowadays are for children's shoes ... Also DD loves her sports so she might enjoy that.

miggy

THIRZAH wrote: »

I normally buy chocolate, biscuits and jam-they tend to have a very good choice and some different flavours.Olive oil is usually cheaper too.I look at things like tinned veg and fruit and baking stuff. My sister likes the creme brulee mixes so I get her a couple of those...
I also look at non-food items-stationery, saucepans( you often get reasonably priced cast iron pans).I also buy the packs of a dozen small juice glasses if we need them
...
Then we buy cheese-usually far too much but I do try to restrain myself, petit suisse, big packs of croissants, fruit and usually treat ourselves to a nice cake.

Thirzah, thanks, I think you must have a trailer and if so may I borrow it?! I am looking forward to buying fresh fruit & veg (we're self-catering) though I will have to be careful not to get more than we can cope with. We all adore croissants (it's one of the few things we all eat), and it will be fun trying new jams with them... must say a jar of jam has a shelf life of about 7 days in this house, once someone has started it, so I may squirrel a couple away to bring out at Christmas.

I remember buying really pretty juice glasses when I went as a student (about 20 years ago!) but hadn't thought about stationery - nice one. (Am always on the look out for stocking-fillers too).

Any recommendations for cake? We can eat a lot of that.

Spendless

mustard comes in really decorative glasses, nice to keep when contents are used. Once I even saw some with different zodiac signs on so nice for a pressie. Pepper sauce, but we have used our last so can't give you brand. I love the jam 'confipote'. Runny with lots of fruit bits and the kids hate it-so more for me.:D They do a fizzy apple juice that looks like a champagne bottle, and I buy this for the kids for christmas day. You can get re-fills for hand-soap quite cheaply, they come in bags, just snip top off and pour in your old bottle that's something I've never seen here. Baygon insect killer cos I find it gets rid of everything.:o I love shopping in France.:j