Food bargains from abroad?

BizzyMummy

Hi there

The jars of jam, I really like apricot, are great value and so much nicer.

A friend of mine shops in france regularly and always buys things like washing powder and tin foil, as well as kitchenware.

When I was in Paris a couple of months ago, in the supermarket alot of kids stuff like nutella, chocolate bars, juice, and a few lovely things like brie and biscuits were worth stocking up on. Plus if you get a chance to check out the supermarkets, things like picnic and glassware, plus napkins and stationery are loads cheaper.

Happy shopping!
Lx

miggy

harvestmoon wrote: »

Unless you live in the extreme south of uk and can get a dead cheap day return crossing, i dont think it's necessarily cost effective to go shopping there

No, used to but that was long ago and this trip is quite a long haul for us.
Worth it for anchovies and olives of course!
Also for fabric conditioner and liquid soap refills.
And you don't appear abrupt - sorry you lost your original post though, that's maddening for you.

ivyleaf

You can get very tasty ready-made pasta sauces in jars, with the meat already in them - they are reasonably priced and a godsend when you're ill or in a big hurry. Two brands are Princes and Panzoni. We went to France last month and noticed a big difference in prices compared to last year, but we still brought a couple of these sauces back. Packet soups are good, much more flavoursome than here (the Knorr chicken one is far less runny and the seasoning is much better) - we found a very good brand called "Secrets de Gran'mere" , they do ready-made soups in cartons too which are very handy when self-catering if you want soup that really tastes home-made.

We always used to bring back a few jars of Carte Noire instant coffee, but found this year that if was actually dearer there than in U.K. I think ground coffee is better value though.

miggy

Thank you everyone for your replies!
I have loads of good ideas now, it will save us taking stuff we can buy more cheaply when we get there, and of course I am hoping to find a few bargains to bring home!
Bon voyage to everyone headed in the same direction

champys

Miggy - I live in France so have all the bargains at my fingertips. I missed your thread because I've been on holiday. Note that the earlier post about the higher Euro exchange rate is very valid! I don't think anyone has mentioned tinned crab meat yet - very cheap in France compared to the UK. By the way if you are looking for the anchovies, for some reason they are always in the chill cabinet with the smoked salmon, even though they are tinned. So nowhere near the sardines.

The best advice I can give you is to visit a French Lidl if you see one. They have a different range from the UK which include French things for French customers, and the value is excellent, especially for wine (for example cr!mant which is champagne from other areas than champagne and delicious at 3.99 Euros a bottle), French cheeses and a great buy are their big tins of 'confit de canard' which only cost between 5 and 6 Euros. Beware that the closer you get to Calais and Boulogne you often have to pay more in the special wine warehouses and even supermarkets as they cater for the tourists....

Pink.

harvestmoon wrote: »

I hope this helps - and just in case anyone can help me - is Auchan cheaper tha Carrefour in Calais?
Enjoy!

Yes definitely. We had Auchan and Carrefour near us this year and Auchan had more variety and was cheaper than Carrefour for almost everything.

Pink