What food to bring on Self Catering Holiday France

cazwasere

Sausages and Bacon are hard to find, also take a few jars of indian or thai sauces - or ready to cook spices, anything like this is really hard to find and expensive, but ideal if you are cooking for 10. Grab a large bag of pasta, and a few tins of chopped tomatoes - they are really rip off along with baked beans. I'll be doing a quick shop Friday morning before we head off as the exchange rate is really poor at the mo so will take the basics, but will buy meat and fruit and veg there. Crisps are expensive so take some if you like snacks. Have a great time

ChezAllen

As a french resident i read this thread with a giggle. I was thinking that i had given up blighty and moved to the end of the world.

I think you are right to take some essentials with you, baked beans and gravy granuals and if you like tea then teabags. (branston pickle and brown sauce too !)

In the big supermarkets E.LeClerc and Carrefour etc you can get everything you need to keep you going for your holiday, they now sell a lot of well known English brands Heinz Ketchup and El Paso and a lot of other big names and some in packaging you recognise but with a different name.
Someone earlier mentioned sliced bread its not great as it is sweet, but if you can get it then there is a brand called La Boulangere Toastiligne and it equivelent to english bread.

I appreciate those visiting France at the moment are not getting good value for money as the pound is weak against the euro, but there are still bargains in the supermarkets every week they have promotions and if you pick up a leaflet as you enter the store it tells you whats on promotion. (last week i bought 3 kilos of apples for 2 euro and 8 big pork chops for 3 euro nice ones too !)

Enjoy your holiday.

gordonw

We went to brittany last weekend and it was very expensive for a lot of main items eg bread was 2.5euros a loaf (£2.50),but wine was still reasonable and as ChezAllen said we got very good deals with pork and braising beef.In brittany try the smaller supermarkets,i.e casino or superU.
Anyway have a nice holiday,we still love the country and were both 70.

Jude123

We are going at end of May and I ahve already started my list along with what other people have already mentioned I am taking:

Longlife fruit juice,
pasta
rice
tin tomatoes
hot dog sausages in jars
vinegar
milkshake mix
sugar
boxes raisins
flapjacks

these are all stuff that the kids like, and it is better to have them and know that they will eat something.

mandragora_2

poppet wrote: »

yes it takes up room in the car, but we have a big car with lots of room and a roof box, and a trailer of we need it :rotfl: We take a couple of big plastic storage boxes with long lasting stuff and a big coolbox containing the stuff which needs to be kept cool - the cool box also comes in handy for day trips out and packed lunches.


Crikey - by the time you've added the cost of getting the trailer across there and the extra pertol consumption, do you actually make a saving?
Like you, we also take a cool box, but that's because we love picnics. You can get everything you need for a good one in any local market or supermarket - the French love picnics too, and have it down to a fine art, with every place you might have a day out at complete with ample picnicking areas!! For an astonishing hour or two of entertainment, take your (suddenly feeble-looking) pack-up to the nearest forest/beach/local park on any Sunday. Watch and learn as the French arrive 'en famille', along with a small fleet of various chariots carrying a fabulous array of foods, condiments and kit - including the ever-present tablecloth. They will install themselves together, pass the time away eating, chatting, playing and having an altogether brilliant time. I've learnt a lot from just people watching on this one!

I guess its down to personal philosophy and taste on this one, but I wouldn't be carting a load of stuff across with me. And as for sausages being hard to find, they're everywhere - a little different looking to ours, I agree, but they taste lovely, and seem to be a higher meat content than the ones in the uk.

Amanda65

10 of us have self catered in France on about 10 occassions now and the items we find we take has gone down. However staples are always:

Teabags
1 jar coffee (French coffee is lovely!)
Salad cream
Squash (they don't seem to do it there )
Frozen bacon in a cold box
Cereal
Poppadoms and Naans (we usually make at least one curry and have never found these!)
Pasta (see below)

I gather up herbs and spices from the cupboard.

My top tip for that first night is to make a freeze a Bolognese, keep in a cool box in the car to gradually defrost on the journey, and then all you have to do is heat it up and whack on some pasta for a quick and filling meal. Especially good when you arrive late. I'm sure someone will come along and say that this is unsafe, but I haven't poisoned anyone yet

Everywhere we've been has always had an oven and a hob but we love barbecuing some of the lovely meat and fish which makes meals so much simpler and easier to prepare.

And for the past 5 years we've been able to buy slimline tonic! :T

Where in France are you off too (not that it matters, just being nosey :rotfl: )

kb36

Oh la la!
And they say that travel broadens the mind - obviously not culinary experience!;)
By the way jam and coffee (not instant) are dirt cheap in France.

I'm picturing it now my lovely confit de canard/ moules frites/ pave de boeuf/ with good ole gravy granules....