Shopping in Calais

nitr02007

We *used* to shop several times a year in Calais (carrefour) but since moved from the SE so now its nowhere near as convenient.
Anyway, here's what we *used* to find were good value..

Cheese: brie, camembert
Olive oil
Olives
Chorizo sausage
Chocolate
French Sticks (Duh!)
Pate

If you have the time for a bit of sight seeing its worth taking a trip into Calais itself, its got a nice beach, pier & promenade, lots of sea-food restaurants and bars. Also a cracking chippy right next to the pier. (Frites des nations) Highly recommended.

dhirenmehta

Hey Folks,

Need of some advice, I'm thinking to go over to France to get wine and beer from a hypermarket my my wedding reception:beer:.

Is it still worth doing this sorta thing? (I may be able to trade Tesco Club Card vouchers for the return euro-tunnel crossing:money:).

I'll probably be getting somewhere in the region of 4-6 mixed cases of wine and about 15 cases of beer (avg 15 bottles per case).

Any advice, please let me know.
Cheers in advance:)
Dee:D

esuhl

I think there are no limits at all on bringing alcohol back from other EU countries (so long as you're not going to sell it).

You can probably check the hypermarket prices online these days, so just add in travelling costs and if that's less than you'd spend in this country, you're saving money.

Barneysmom

Last time I went, I bought a bottle of Jagermeister for my daughter but when I checked, it was cheaper in Asda.
Ifyou fancy a nice little trip it's worth going but I doubt you'd save much -especially on beer, it's so cheap at the supermarkets here.

Hmm also when I got a hotdog, it wasn't like real one and there wasn't even any onions on it :rotfl:


There is an allowance but it's a pretty generous one.

You would save much more on duty free tobacco than booze.

Middy

My parents used to do this once every 9-12 months and stayed in a hotel overnight. They stopped doing this because of these factors:
. Rubbish exchange rate
. Supermarkets are getting cheaper deals for alcohol than they used to and more variety
. Cost of fuel

My mum's half-niece lives in France and once a year, she and DH go to the UK to visit friends and family. They always stock up their estate car with things like laundry products, cleaning stuff, toiletries, tinned stuff etc as the supermarkets in France don't have BOGOFs, half price 2 for £4 offers like the supermarkets do here. So its cheaper for them to stock up on items like this. Likewise when her daughter does the annual trip to France, a shopping list is given in an e-mail!

klemutot

The cheapest wine you can buy in this country is about £3.

The cheapest bottle from France works out at about 80p.

Do the sums yourself!

maman

I wouldn't recommend just buying any old wine. It could ruin your wedding reception!

Friends of mine used something like this

http://www.majesticinfrance.co.uk/Services/Weddings

and bought wine they were familiar with (Wolf Bass was their choice) but much chepaer than here. At the time they were given a free ferry but I don't think that offer's on any more.

gastronomix

Partly depends on the numbers. A wedding for 40 is going to be much less cost effective than one for 400..
How much will your venue charge you for corkage? Any saving can quickly be wiped out by this. Unless you live close enough to not be spending much on petrol or are intending to go anyhow, I doubt if the saving is big enough to validate the journey, especially if shopping at the cheap end of the spectrum.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

one of our friends used to do the 'booze run' and it was great in the begining, but then he stopped as he said, the deals in the supermarkets, and the likes of lidle and aldi.. the prices were not that much different..

If you want to go there anyway, for a weekend break and see the sights etc, then it might be different

Middy

klemutot wrote: »

The cheapest wine you can buy in this country is about £3.

The cheapest bottle from France works out at about 80p.

Do the sums yourself!

I have sampled the 80p bottle myself and it was vile! The French use this for cooking. Stock up on some Aldi wine that costs £3-3.50 a bottle.