Great ‘what to buy on a day trip to France’ Hunt

MSE_Martin

‘What should I buy on a day trip to France?’ is one of the most commonly asked questions on the Travel Chat Forum Board, so I thought I’d turn it into a great hunt.

I want your top tips on bulk-buying cut-price French goodies. What are the best items to stock up on? How can you check what’s on offer before you go? Plus, are there any cheap ways to get the ferry in the first place?

Please reply below to share your booze cruise bargains.

Heva2015

I always buy washing powder, it works out cheaper there at carrefour.

skr80

Aluminiium foil, dishwasher tablets, powdered full cream milk (for breadmaking), beer, wine, cheese, vegetables, fruit, are all a lot cheaper en France

pompeyrich

Diesel drivers should top their tanks up at around a Euro (70p) a litre, the pumps at the Carrefour petrol station now accept English credit cards so fuel is available 24/7. THIS site offer lots of tips and links to the main Hypermarkets in France.

alyth

Depending on what part of France you go to, places like L'Occitane and Yves Rocher are so much cheaper for candles, toilletries and things like that. In my richer days, Louis Vuitton in Lille was also much cheaper for handbags than Harrods!!

Mrs_Thrify

Hi all. In France I buy boxes of wine from Tesco's in city europe or one of the wine warehouses. Pastries/breads/chocolate, sometimes clothes and shoes!
I once brought a large box of washing powder from carfore and then found it to be the same as in my local supermarket, so won't do that again :mad:
On a speciol occasion, I have shopped for a birthday pressant
There are many perfume shops, but I always stock up in the duty free.

I travel by coach from a local pick up point for approx £25 pp. I have been through the tunnel and on the boat quite a few times. (I prefere the tunnel) although it can be very HOT.

Best wishes and happy traveling...

taxiphil

Pure orange juice (the long life stuff in 1 litre cartons) is currently 0.42 Euros in all the major French supermarkets - that's about 30p give or take a penny, which is half the 59p currently being charged for the budget 'cheapo' ones in UK supermarkets. This is because Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons are operating a price-fixing cartel on orange juice in the UK (you may recall that it used to be 30p-ish a couple of years ago until the big 4 all suddenly doubled the price overnight without any explanation). If you drink lots of OJ it's worth stocking up in France as the Best Before dates are 10-12 months away.

And the quality and taste of the French stuff is far, far superior as French consumers are far less willing than us to accept whatever low-grade tat is thrown at them.

taxiphil

julie_d wrote: »

There are many perfume shops, but I always stock up in the duty free.

There isn't any duty free available when you travel to France.

Stephen_Leak

At most hypermarkets, there are usually boxes of 6 bottles of wine, one red and one white, at an obvious "loss leader" 2 for 1 price. OK, its not vintage, but even cheap French wine is quite drinkable. They send the undrinkable stuff over here direct!

Mrs_Thrify

Thats funny :rotfl: just bought some at the end of March on Sea France cruise ferry Dover to Calais.

alyth

We go to France usually every couple of months, and it's become a competition now to see who can find the cheapest bottle of drinkable wine, in the local supermarket in the area we go to the one euro white wine is actually pretty good, although I wouldn't try the red at that price, and there's usually something on offer at less than a euro!