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

lea2012

If you fancy bringing back some cheap but decent make up or skin care then I suggest a visit to kiko, a make up store with several branches in Paris.
It's actually an Italian brand with tons of shops across Europe including London and leeds here in the UK but it's cheaper to buy it in Europe.
I discovered it when visitin my in laws in Spain but have bought quite a bit over the last few years and you can't fault it. Beauty bloggers seem to love it too!

hollydays

Wine is going to be heavy to carry but here's an article that explains a couple of ways to choose a half decent French wine

http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2015/09/07/a-little-tip-on-how-to-choose-a-french-wine/

Scrimpstar

We just did one of those Dover-Calais ferry deals with P&O for £25 we got our return car ferry and six bottles of cheapo wine. We were astounded at the cheapness of some deals in the supermarkets, with an Auchan loyalty card ( the Waooh! card which you can pick up at customer services) you could get lovely Leffe lager 24 bottles for 7.99 euros, or Jp chenet wine 6 bottles for 9.50 euros, silly money really.

Maille flavoured mustard costs about 10 quid a jar over here, but there was 3.15 euros, and Bonne Maman jam was 1.50 euros ( £1 a jar or thereabouts) We bought raclette cheese, real ham ( not that formed stuff) Veloute yoghurts, La Laitiere chocolate pots, Poulain drinking chocolate, fruit syrups for making drinks, coffee, cakes, french bread and croissants, lots of different cheeses to try, those little pots of plain fromage frais, french butter which tastes much nicer than ours, fruit compote in jars which is very pricy over here. And petrol. And bunches of flowers such as cornflowers, scabious, sea holly etc which would cost a fortune in uk if you could get them.
We like the Marseilais shampoo and soap which is cheap and cheerful and my daughters like shopping in Sephora, Pimkie, Bershka good for teenagers stuff, they have New Look there too and the euro rate makes this cheaper for us.

This time I did the job properly and packed two freezer bags with ice packs in them for the cold food. Don't forget a euro for the trolleys ( £1 won't fit) and some big shopping bags.

Made myself all hungry now....:D

knightstyle

I will add that you can get a "jetton" which you can use instead of a coin in the trolleys at the customer service desk. Fun for younger kids to collect as free souvenirs as they have the shop name on.
Plus lots of whisky available at good prices but almost no brandy!
We also brought back packets of sponges as they are the perfect size and a bottle of eau detachant to remove sticky stuff.

Liz_M

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I was trying to decide whether it would be worth buying wine as I won't be able to carry loads. I'm sure we can carry a few bottles between us though so I can use your suggestions to make sure the few bottles I get are the ones worth getting! Hadn't even thought about spirits so will have a look at those too.

Some nice foodie suggestions too - I've never tried confit de canard so might get a tin to try, and some other little bits like the nice mustards etc.

The Embryolisse cream is actually the first thing I decided to buy over there as soon as I knew I was going! I think there will be some other skincare purchases too! Does anyone have any experience buying perfume over there? A lot of good perfume brands are French but I don't know whether this means they would be cheaper over there or not?

missbiggles1

hollydays wrote: »

Wine is going to be heavy to carry but here's an article that explains a couple of ways to choose a half decent French wine

http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2015/09/07/a-little-tip-on-how-to-choose-a-french-wine/

You can get very decent wine in wine boxes these days, not just plonk.

hollydays

True, I'm a fan of super u .

Liz_M

Do you mean wine boxes as in a mixed case, or those boxes with the little plastic tap on them?

hollydays

We mean plastic boxes with a tap on.
It's all down to taste though

http://www.downthelane.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36007

Supetmarket own brands can be bought by the bottle so you could could try a bottle before committing to the box.
As someone In that thread said-some is good some can be like drain cleaner

CKgeordieinlondon

We bought half a kilo of dried porcini mushrooms at a french market for 7 euros.

The equivalent over here would be upwards of £30.

This was in quite a small village in the Dordogne so i don't know if this is typical or we were incredibly lucky.

They keep well in the freezer and I put them in practically every savoury meal I make