The cost of food in Europe.....

Londonirish_4

Sharon87,
We are presently in Dordogne for a few weeks before school resumes early Sep in London... and you are absolutely correct in some way:
- Fresh fruit and veg are tastier and cheaper that what we tend to find in Tesco or the aisles of Sainsbury. If you can wake up early, go to the local market ! You have the cheap prices, the choice and the smeell of real products.
- Anything processed seems to be cheaper in the UK if you stick to what we tend to eat back in Blighty.
- The local recipes are cheaper than any Yorkshire pudding and even a proper fry up costs an arm and a leg if you use local bacon here in France... :eek:
- Now Tea like the PG tips offer I just read earlier; no comparison cheaper in the UK but you do not see a Perigord farmer emptying cups of teas all day long as we do back home.
- Wine, and anything alcool is definitively cheaper on the Continent
- Even cereals for the kids can be expensive in France. Weetabix: avoid and get the local Supermarket branded boxes.
- Marmite, Hellman's, etc... Get them in the car on the way down as they are part of the "Foreign Flavours" next to soya sauce aisle at Leclerc and Carrefour in Bergerac and you won't finish anyway in 5 or 6 weeks.
- Forget about Nan Bread, chicken tikka and Dimp Sun...
- Even MCDonalds is more expensive than at home.

- On a positive note the restaurants in the Supermarkets themselves are a bargain ! The Cafeteria Flunch, Leclerc restaurant, Intermarche Restaumarche, Al Campo / Auchan restaurant etc.. are excellent and very child friendly when you have at least 3 kids like us .


- Diesel: just refilled at €1.07 per liter and am still worried of the £1.21 back in London. :mad:

- Netto, Lidl, Aldi: Same product on both side of the English Channel but 2 different prices if you have a quick look at the respective website of these shops around Europe. If you subscribe for example to their newsletters in ther UK and France, they mark their prices up on the UK bound products.

- Other funny difference is IKEA: We played a game with the kids bedrooms that needed to be renovated. We checked on the web the idfferent IKEA websites around Europe with a prize (Thorpe Park) for the kid who finds the cheapest place to buy 1 of the 6 elelments we chose. Their lamp and carpet was cheapest in Italy. Their wardrobe: UK ! I had a look myself and cheapest place to buy a kitchen: Holland, a sofa: France, Wardrobe: UK :beer:
I will have to try the different Decathlon websites before the boys go on their rugby tour in France next Easter...


Maybe a suggestion for Martin:
-> Before the ski holiday we should have somewhere on your very useful website a check list of basic articles and a European price list (Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France...) for goods such as honey, jam, milk, sliced bread, ski gloves, etc...
-> Before the summer hols roughly the same thing: Wine, Beer, Pepsi, Sparkling water, peanuts, crisps, cakes, ice cones, suntan lotion, goggles, etc...

I heard from Dutch friends a comparison website was in existence in Norway, Swedeen, Denmark and it even included the toll and petrol costs for Scandinavians coming down to countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal...

I hope this helps :T
joke: 34 degrees today awful under the parasol and this sun...:p:p:p

Teahfc

Another one from Spain

Live here 3 months at a time and find the supermarkets for groceries expensive compared to Blighty,If you eat seasonal produce in Spaon you cannot go wrong, every town has at least one market a week sometimes more and the prices are cheap as chips and you can pick whatever you like.

Consum ( discount side of Eroski) & Mercadona are 2 best Spanish Supermarkets IMO, with Lidl and Aldi always there but their limited stocks measn you have to shop in different stores :T