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

livinginhope

We stock up on washing powder/softener,much,much cheaper in France.We buy chipolata sausages and merguez sausages,can't find anything like them over here,we get jars and jars of the shredded carrot salad,also the beetroot one.UHT Fruit compote,I used to get this as England didn't sell it and I was told by the hospital in France to eat 3 of these daily (this is the only fruit I can digest) but I don't bother now as Lidl has started selling them,yeah!!
Other good buys are swimming pool chlorine tablets,crockery and Le Creuset pots and pans.
Oh nearly forgot,for all us ladies,hair removing cream is nearly half price in France,as is shower gel.

taxiphil

julie_d wrote: »

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

Yes, the ferries do sell perfumes etc, but they're not duty free, as that was abolished in 1999. They market their perfumes in a way which plays on the misconception that they're still duty free, but in reality you can always find them cheaper on the UK high street in places like Superdrug and TK Maxx.

Mrs_Thrify

:eek: Oh, good job is was not for me then! I passed the bill on....
I am going through Gatwick next month and thought I would do my perfume shopping there will that be duty/tax free? I thought I could look around their bigger shops!

Thanks for the info....

rockyrose

julie_d wrote: »

:eek: Oh, good job is was not for me then! I passed the bill on....
I am going through Gatwick next month and thought I would do my perfume shopping there will that be duty/tax free? I thought I could look around their bigger shops!

Thanks for the info....

yes-at airport you can get perfume duty free just not cigs etc if flying to eu(can outside eu) but perfumes ok any detination-bought loads last week flying to spain

lynzpower

We had some cracking deals of lager when we were there, 24 cans of red stripe or sanmiguels/ corona etc were about a tenner. bargain

We usually go to eastenders ( just for fun) and usually we get some sort of freebie for buying over a certain amount.

If you are travelling by ferry, do look out for the sun or daily express deals- we took a car over for a tenner on a day trip mid week, and its a quid usually for foot passengers. Saw a lot of foot passengers with huge rucksacks just filling up with the fags on board, not getting off at calais and jsut coming straight back to dover.

Also at the ferry port 9 both sides) look out for booklets of vouchers for free this and that .

dont forget you can gain your nectar & clubard points in the tescso & sainsburys there too

minomonkey2

I am suppling the bar at our wedding (dinner and evening) so have been on the look out for deals here or in France to cut the cost (not money saving I know but expected in our family!.)

Most of the chains have a calais website e.g Tesco, Sainburys so you can research before you go.

The best deals / sales we found were on Majestic for champagne and bottled beer + you could try in the UK and buy there....

If you pre-ordered enough and booked the ferry through them the crossing would be free - this was around Christmas. We calculated we saved about £1300 on 1200 beers and 54 bottles of champagne the time compared to the shelf price in Tesco.

If you can sample the wine before your get there so you know what you are looking for otherwise you can end up with 100 bottles of vinegar or panic buying. I find the smaller independant French warehouses are cheaper than Citi-Europe etc and have a better range of local French wines (plus quieter, friendlier and feels like you could be in France - not calais if you know what I mean)

misspoppy

I don't know what to buy but I know how to get there cheap.

We are going twice this year and have booked flight with easyjet 6 months in advance for less than £100 return for two to Paris and then about £50 for singles back from Nice. We are flying from Luton. We are now in the position where we have a flight home in Sept but no flight out as we are flying into a different location and Ryanair are "too expensive" at £79 each at the mo!

wendyh

We always buy prawns, pastries, chirizo sausage, celery salads, garlic snails (my kids love them), washing powder, hand soap (you can buy the refills which are in a plastic pouch for about 70c) So much cheaper than here. Usually go to Sainsbury's for the wine JP Chenet is dirt cheap - about £1 ish a bottle compared to £4 over here.

nickismith

I bought my hubby some "Mont Blanc" dessert several years ago on a day trip to France. Now, every single time we go, we HAVE to buy the stuff! It is like a canned version of blancmange, but not so set - probably the consistency of a good yoghurt. It comes in all sorts of flavours - vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, Grand Marnier...... my kids especially love the chocolate one. You can get it in baked bean sized cans, and also in smaller lunch-box sized cans. I have to say, it is rather lovely, and you cant yet get this in the UK. They also do a vanilla rice too, which is to die for..... I even found some Mont Blanc Icecreams this Easter, my husband almost passed out with delight!! If you have a sweet tooth, then try it, but please please please, leave some on the shelves for us!!!

nickismith

Oh, and the fresh beefburgers are to die for in the meat department, but I am not sure on the law on bringing meat back from France? Must say, though, that it is far cheaper and far superior to the junk we get over here. Also, all the fruit n veggies over there. Boulougne Market Day is Saturday, how convenient!!!