What is worth buying in France (price-wise)?

Liz_M

Hi everyone,

I've done a search for similar threads but could only find one from 10 years ago, and I know prices and availability of things changes so I'm not sure if that's still relevant now. (Apologies if there's something newer that I've missed!).

I'm going to Paris in a few weeks and although I'm on a bit of a budget, I'd love to do some shopping while I'm there - little things like cosmetics, food items etc that I can actually use rather than something that will sit on a shelf (although I wouldn't rule out a nice little trinket too!). I'll be travelling by Eurostar so I don't have to worry about a weight limit - although I do have to lug it all around with me.

I've done google searches but a lot of websites seem to be talking about things that are worth buying in France to take back to the USA, so I don't know if much of that is relevant to me either. No point buying something that's hard to get hold of in America but easy to get in the UK.

I know of a few cosmetic brands that are cheaper to buy over there in the parapharmacies, but I don't know if this applies to all French brands? I've done some googling and it sounds like there are some pretty cheap everyday French brands that aren't even sold over here, which makes me even more intrigued to buy them! There are a lot of expensive French perfumes over here, but I'm not sure if any of them are cheaper over there as I know not eveyrthing will be dirt cheap - I was looking at the l'Occitaine websites both French and English, and the French prices are a bit cheaper but still more than what I could afford (or would be willing to spend) on cosmetics (E.g. a face cream for £45 here might work out to be about £35 if you buy it there).

I'd love to buy some food items too but I don't want to waste luggage space buying things that I can buy over here for not much more money. Mustard seems to be one that keeps popping up on websites as a good thing to buy - and is something I assume would actually be nicer quality than the french mustards we can buy in the supermarkets here. People talk about macaroons a lot so I might have to try one while I'm there, but from what I've seen they're still not really cheap there, and more and more places here are selling them which makes them a bit less of a must-buy for me. I'd rather buy some really 'French' things that I would struggle to get (or in some cases struggle to afford) over here.

Thanks in advance for any help!

knightstyle

When we came back after spending the summer there we brought back:
Red wine, it is better and cheaper now than a few years ago, some in bottles and some boxes.
Big tins of confit de canard. Giant tin of gerkins to decant into smaller jars for christmas gifts.
Fresh fruit to make into jam, bunch of purple long life garlic. A whole hard goats cheese to cut up and freeze. A battery drill from Lidll, cheaper than UK. Eucalyptus sweets from Lidl, not available in UK.
Plus a full tank of fuel!

maman

Another vote for tins of confit de canard although they're heavy to carry. I often buy own brand herbs and spices from French SMs as they remind me of my holiday when I use them. Nothing's hugely cheap.


We often buy cheese (President seem to do camembert in individual portions that they don't do here). But cheese is smelly enough in the car, I don't think you'd be too popular on the train!

tomtontom

For French toiletries look at https://www.escentual.com. Most brands have 25% or more off this month, so the price is little different to France. I can highly recommend Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre.

jfdi

Coffee filters in large quantities as it's so hard to get big packs here, & El cheapo ground coffee which is tons better than ours here!

konark

According to last week's ' The Apprentice' it is cheese, snails, louis phillipe mirrors and champagne glasses. Buy your dinghys, anchors and manure in Blighty!

phatbear

berets, striped jerseys, and strings of onions are best buys

hollydays

maman wrote: »

Another vote for tins of confit de canard although they're heavy to carry. I often buy own brand herbs and spices from French SMs as they remind me of my holiday when I use them. Nothing's hugely cheap.


We often buy cheese (President seem to do camembert in individual portions that they don't do here). But cheese is smelly enough in the car, I don't think you'd be too popular on the train!

Agree with this. I'd look at the condiments and herbs section mainly in the supermarkets own brand.

I find they have little bundles of Bouquet garni, pack of six and small packs with little tiny individual bottles of salad dressing . Mustard in a decorative glass , vinegar with fresh bunches of herbs in, I think bonne maman jam may be cheaper. Le creuset cookware.

benjus

Wine is an obvious one - the fact that it's produced in the same country (there's not much non-French wine on sale in France) plus the low tax and the weak(ish) Euro makes it a lot cheaper than the UK. One very nice wine that I bought from E. Leclerc on a recent trip at £15 a bottle sells for £30 at my local wine shop.

More generally, most types of alcohol are substantially cheaper - even Scotch Whisky!

missbiggles1

Wine, wine and more wine.

silverwhistle

Cognac? (Although I prefer Armagnac). Calvados can be awful or gorgeous: worth spending a little extra on an aged Pay de l'Auge, >= 8year old. Do not touch french Rhum Agricole unless to give people to get rid of them.

Salami - jambon cru; cheeses (raclette is great for cooking), but take a plastic box unless it's vacuum sealed. Spices as mentioned, but vanilla pods seemed cheap last time I was there.

Have a look at french websites - Lidl, Leclerc, Auchan to get a few ideas.