Tips for supermarket shopping in France

[Dragonball]

hello there - I'm not entirely sure this is the right place to post, but we are going to be camping in France next week - Pays de la Loire area - and then Ile de Re. Last year, we were totally overwhelmed by supermarket shopping...mainly by the cheese, ham and wine choice! anyone got any good recommendations - mild Cheddarish type cheese for DC and nice and strong or anything for us!
Thanks!

[GraceGrape]

We were out of luck with mild cheddar-like cheeses for our DD as she didn't like any of them. The only ones she would eat were Babybel! They sell a lot of Emmenthal in French supermarkets which is quite mild or Gouda. My best wine recommendation would be any of the reds from Roche-Mazet. Really nice and cheap as chips.

[Fourmantent]

The wine choices can be overwhelming. Try having a look at an on line guide. We recently discovered Floyd Uncorked on You Tube and watched the whole series - there is one on The Loire. If you like fizz then look out for Cremant which is made like champagne but is much cheaper. We always bring some back to drink on Xmas Day. Also Google "how to read a French wine label" for more information. Muscadet from the Loire will be nice and cheap.

We always buy a selection of different cheeses. Try a Google on Loire Valley cheeses if you want to try local specialities.

Also look out for merguez sausages (red and spicy).

[WelshMoth]

You won't find cheddar-type cheeses and the closest in strength tend to be nutty and a different texture (emmental and gouda (sp?)). I'd recommend you pack some in your coolbox.

As for the wine - I go along the try and but again school of thought. So far, I've yet to find any I don't like though and we shop from Lidl to Carrefour!

[EmilyAlice]

I would say that Cantal is fairly close to Cheddar. We buy Cantal, Gouda, Ossau Iraty and some of the other hard cheeses from the Pyrenees.
Lidl have Spanish Manchego in at the moment as we have just had Spanish week.

[Dragonball]

Thanks - very helpful - yes we did struggle last year in the lack of Cheddar - it's a bit of a standard for my DC...
Will definitely try all suggestions! :)

[fadingfast]

My dd loves Port Salut cheese. It's very mild. More buttery than cheddar but might be acceptable if they like babybel?

[samlovesdilys]

Cantal was a good cheddar substitute for us too...as for wine - we always go for the one that is nearly running out on the assumption that the French probably know more than us!! We love a wander around a French supermarket, ahhh - the pudding aisle...!!

[stripeknee]

We always avoid going on Mondays as the supermarket always seemed chaos then, but cant advise on cheese as we dont tend to buy it, there was a thread a few weeks back where people mentioned about which wine to pick

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2983198-First-holiday-in-France-general-advice-needed-please