Day trip to Calais - What should we buy?

bellamonkey

Going over on the Shuttle to Calais. We thought go for a drive along the coast and have lunch out somewhere. Then on the way back stop off at the hypermarket for couple of hours.
What we plan to buy is
Wine
Beer
Mustard
Olive Oil
Would be grateful for more ideas/bargain you have found.
:j

Diamond_Olly

check out the deli section in the hypermarket - cheese and pate definitely. But they also have some other really good deli stuff as well. We also buy jam and biscuits - the kids love BN biscuits - chocolate sandwich biscuits.

If you are going to eat fairly soon - then bread, pastries, croissants etc. They don't last too long, have to be eaten same day really

Gaz27_2

Foie gras and French sausages

Spendless

We loved shopping in France and always tried to get an annual trip in. As well as the things you've mentioned I also liked their (drinking) glasses, galak chocolate, pepper sauce, big tubs of garlic granules. baygon insect killer (works really well, god knows what it does to the ozone layer though!) big bottles of washing liquid, re-fills for liquid soap but when we went at Christmas time we were shocked at the prices (due to the exchange rate for the euro). We only fetched a few things back if we thought they were both a bargain and we couldn't obtain them at home.

mchale

day-tripper.net

Pee

Def consider the exchange rate.

There are some dried bread / toast style cheese biscuits that my boyfriend loves and you can only get abroad. Cheese - maybe take a cool bag?

Also make sure you know when the hypermarket will be open - we pulled into the car park on a sunday and it was shut. Was still a lovely day out, though.

bcl999

Your question made me think. I used to go often but that was in the 80s and 90s. The sorts of things I bought then I can now get in Tesco's e.g Bonne Maman preserves, Maille Dijon mustard made with white wine, Cote d'Or chocolate, pure butter pain au chocolat, baguettes made with French flour, cheapish mineral water (though I still can't always get Badoit here).
I suppose this is all down to the removal of trade barriers in the EU (Schengen treaty, was it called?) That said, I expect their wine & cheese selctions are still vastly superior.

BitterAndTwisted

If you drink ground coffee at home expect it to be MUCH cheaper there than here.

VickyA_2

When we were in France last year, Bonne Maman jam was about £1 cheaper there than here. Some of the places along the coast to the west of Calais are lovely to visit too, especially Wissant.

premiertravel

Being based in Kent we travel regularly and have a coach load going over on the 15th May to Bologne, we never buy our booze in the hyper markets or citie europe we go to majestic wines they are online and you can preorder and pay in sterling much cheaper.

I do buy olive oil, cheese, olives, and love their disposable table wear for BBQ's etc. But now the exchange rate is so bad it is not as cheap as it use to be.

bellamonkey

Thanks for all your replies, some brilliant recommendations, I just didn't want to miss any good deals.