the hefty price tag of feeding a family of 4 in France

[ginzagirl]

I've been in France for 5 years now and my friends are horrified back home (and so am I...) when they hear I spend over 800 euros / month on food for my family of 4. And I DO buy supermarket brands and try and economise where possible. Having done a few shopping trips to the UK over Xmas, I refuse to buy anything apart from food now but the locals here still seem content to spend 9 euros for a pack of felt tips (my latest gripe...). Price fixing is rife between the supermarkets so there's no competition unf'y unlike in the UK where there's BOGOF offers everywhere! Still, it makes the UK seem more 'attractive' than it did a few years ago where I wasn't bothered about going over.

[Roan]

Do you buy what's on offer and seasonal? Do you buy a lot of meat? I felt cutting down meat to twice a week and eating more seasonal and buying what's been reduced for the week has made a difference.

Personally I found Scandinavia shockingly expensive when I first moved there but when I settled in London I had less money than in Denmark after using tube, having a latte to go, etc.

[Othersideofthechannel]

Actually that figure horrifies me too and we are a family of four!
Are you including toiletries, cleaning products etc or just food?
Of course the age of your children makes a big difference, mine are are both under 7 so don't eat a huge amount.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

I envy you your 800 euros. Try 1500 Swiss francs. I regularly drive to Mulhouse to fill our freezer with meat. One day I am going to be stopped at customs.................

[gorionine]

Kreecherlivesupstairs! really? ouch! I have not lived in Switzerland for the past 12 years and remember meat and fruit/veg to be a killer but thought other things were priced pretty much like in the UK.

Although, I remember that even in my days a lot of people where going to shop in France.

[winnybella]

Yep. It's horrible. I went to Monoprix and spent 180 euros for a week's shop-even though I bought mostly their own brand. Tried Franprix- some things are a bit cheaper, but a lot actually are more expensive.
Short of eating only beans I don't know how I could cut down.

[SchrodingersSexKitten]

Winnybella I too try to shop at Franprix if I can but the range of goods is very limited and the quality of fresh veg and fruit can be, ahem, mixed. So it means doing the fresh stuff from the market or Monop, so time consuming.
I know loads of people in the UK whinge about Tesco taking over, but I'd love a one-stop shop option with the range and prices in Tesco.

Tried buying some little toys for my Dd's birthday for party game prizes......5 euros for a bag of 10 marbles in Monop!

I try to support local shops bet that is evenmore expensive. I made the huge error of buying 3 individual cheese souffles at our local butcher / traiteur the other day. They were signposted as 'c'est Bon, c'est maison!'....well they bloody should be at that price! 13.50 for three small souffles.

[Bonsoir]

Don't you shop online at all? There are lots of offers if you shop on www.houra.fr - not BOGOF, but 50% of the second item. If you have a bit of storage you can stock up on items on offer.

Monoprix is expensive - but the quality is a lot better than other supermarkets.

[winnybella]

I know Schrodingers!
There is no other place really to shop. There is an Aldi and Lidl outside of Paris, but I haven't got a car.
I live next to an amazing market, but it is very expensive, although I guess you can get some fruits and vegetables cheaper than in the supermarket- but a lot of it is more expensive, and meat and dairy...forget it, it's all artisanal...
It's weird how Franprix is supposed to be a cheaper option, but a lot od stuff is more expensive ie creme fraiche more expensive than in Monoprix, baby stuff, too.
I read sometimes those threads here and people talk of spending 60 quid a week for a family of 4. It's impossible here.

[nighbynight]

I go to France to shop, it is way cheaper than the UK, and beats Germany too, I would say.
We shop at aldi, or SuperU. Super U is more expensive, but still not that bad.

[winnybella]

Aaaah, Bonsoir, I was about to start a thread calling out to you to ask you the name of that online supermarket.
Do they show use by dates on eggs and meat?
I went to Monoprix website and you can't buy meat ( except the pre-packaged one, like sausages or chicken wings already in barbecue sauce) and they don't show dates on eggs etc.
How much would be your average shop on there, if I may ask?

[ppeatfruit]

We live in France and no way would we buy cheap industrially farmed meat; we buy less but the best it is fab. and worth it for taste,health for us and the animals.If you followed that policy and bought the local fruit and veg. from your market (I can buy a week's worth of unsprayed veg including more expensive stuff like avoes.) for 15euros. You could deffo spend less. Always someone or something ends up paying the difference for cheap food ; the producer, the planet etc.
Sorry to go on but i feel strongly about this!!

[Othersideofthechannel]

I haven't heard of Franprix. Is that a Parisian thing?

Winnybella, whats wrong with eating beans? Pulses are the main part of our meal a couple of times a week at least.

[Bonsoir]

Lots of Franprix outlets in Paris, generally rather grotty and not terribly cheap. I don't usually bother going there.

I cannot say how much my shop is on Houra because I normally do a really big shop on there once a month for non-perishables only, and take up all the offers (on things like De Cecco pasta, Jordan's cereal, Carola water that last for ages). You kind of need to get into a routine of stocking up (and you need some storage space).

[Bonsoir]

Oh and on Houra there are all the Cora own brand goods, which are a lot cheaper than branded goods or than Monoprix own brands.

[winnybella]

ppeatfruit- well, I normally buy mostly organic, but it's just getting to expensive.
And when you buy a tiny poulet bio for 18 euros and it's so small it's enough for just one meal-well...free-range is less but still usually around 10 euros minimum for a small one.
And fruits and vegetables- we eat a lot so no way 15 euros is going to cover a whole week for the four of us.
And how far do I go- organic butter, so I can be sure the cows are having a nice life?
I used to, but am fed up now with spending so much money.

Yes, Franprix is in Paris, don't know about other cities.
Nothing wrong with beans, except that ds and dp are comitted carnivores and no way can I serve them lentilles more than once or twice a week.

[winnybella]

It looks good, Bonsoir- I'll have a go.

[Bonsoir]

Agree that organic is wildly more expensive here. I buy a few Monoprix own brand organic goods, but generally stick to free-range, which is cheaper and generally, I find, tastier than organic.

We don't eat large pieces of meat every day. I make home-made Bolognese sauce with 5% fat from Monoprix, with lots of vegetables in it - that works out quite cheap. I also roast a chicken and then make stock out of the bones, and use the stock to make a vegetable or lentil soup that does for another meal.

[winnybella]

Do the same thing, Bonsoir- actually just scaled back from Monoprix organic mince to their regular one and ,strangely, it tastes better.
I make stock as well, but I'm afraid soup on its own wouldn't really satify ds and dp's appetites- so I use it to make risotto instead.
Ever tried ED? Looks horrible, went there once and the appearance of meat almost made me faint, so didn't buy anything, but am wondering now...
It must be possible to pay no more than 100 euros a week- or am I deluding myself?

[Bonsoir]

I haven't been in an ED in years - there used to be one near my old apartment and I popped in occasionally in desperation. But I certainly wouldn't have done my regular shop there.

EUR 100 a week? I can only dream of spending that little - the DSSs have massive appetites! When they were still quite little, four or so years ago, I used to try to not spend more than EUR 120 a week on groceries - but would spend EUR 200+ once a month at houra or telemarket on top of that. But those times are long gone! DSS1 (nearly 15) can eat a whole packet of Jordan's chocolate Country Crisp with milk, and a litre of Tropicana apple juice, for a between meal snack .

[flyingcloud]

Having rather haughtily said I was going to try and 'cook french' a bit more to cut down on my costs, I was really naughty a couple of weeks ago as I cooked Sunday lunch for some friends and bought a 1.2kg shoulder of lamb to slow cook. I wanted an easy slow cook recipe as I am quite pregnant, and I hadn't eaten lamb pretty much at all in the 10 months I have lived here. Silly, silly mistake (although it was delicious).

?32 in the butcher! I just checked on the Waitrose website and it costs £5.49 a kg for English lamb...
I also went to the supermarket afterwards (Carrefour) to compare and their pre-wrapped shoulder was about ?20.

I also bought four osso bucci (sp?) in the butcher for ?26 the other day, I always thought that was a relatively cheap cut of meat too.

DH and I can usually get by on ?15 of vegetables a week (one trip to the market), but it's the meat which upsets me. We both eat lunch and supper at home every day (and he expects a full meal both meals) but I get upset using cheap cuts of meat, and eating so much mince, so am trying to wean him onto a more vegetarian diet. He has a very physical job so is exceedingly hungry when he gets home from work both at lunchtime and in the evenings.

Oh ?4 for a single vanilla pod in Cora, £2.39 for a single Barts' Vanilla Pod in Waitrose. I've now hidden my vanilla pod to keep for a special occasion!!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Ed or Leaderprice for basics - puy lentils, pasta, sugar, flour etc - nothing wrong with that. Also for tins of beans - flageolets, white beans etc. Picard for emergency frozen veg - green beans, peas etc. Also frozen fish. Passage Brady for rice and lentils, chillis etc. Monoprix for everything else, pretty much, and am about to head off there now...

[frakkinaround]

I know I'm DOM but leaderprice, leclerc and the market are my saviours at the moment.

Franprix in Paris isn't necessarily grotty but usually very convenient - there was one right below my old stduio and it was cheaper than Monoprix or the G20 both of which were bigger and nicer. Saying that I only ever seemed to buy rice, pasta, cereal and soya milk there. The rest I bought at the market.

Who wants some vanilla? That's the one thing we have in abundance here!!!

[bunjies]

I don't live in Paris but when I shop in Carrefour I could just about manage to feed my family of 5 for about ?120, but this involved buyng a lot of their Carrefour Discount range etc and would only be a once a month occurence, ie when I didn't have to buy washing powder for example. Meat is very expensive so I only bought what was on special offer. Oh and bought lots of frozen veg when the caulis etc were too expensive. Now I am lucky to be able to get UK shopping delivered over here and I am saving so much and it allows me to spend my sterling rather than exchange it for a measly amount of euros.

[CaptainNancy]

I am ... when we lived in Paris food was so inexpensive compared with UK prices- seriously we spent 170F for a week's supermarket shopping, then bought bread/milk as necessary. This was only about 10 years ago (same time as euro switchover, when all prices were in F and E)

We used Champignon and Monoprix, and there were only 2 of us to feed.

[scouserabroad]

Are you all in Paris? I'm in Brittany, family of four & our weekly shop is about 60 euros, including nappies, etc. We go to Lidl & Super U, and ED sometimes. The DDs are 2 and 3, I think the food bill will prob go up as they get older & eat more!