French supermarket must buys!

[STST]

Just that really; looking for some great suggestions of things to bring back from a french trip. Ideally non refrigerated things, there is only so much we can eat of fresh stuff before it all goes off.

So far I’ve got confit tins, chestnut puree, tins of french beans, fleur du sel….

Wanted also to bring some fresh fruit/veggies back, what is in season at the moment? Heard about Bertranne apples. Going to try to fit in a market as well.

Cashmere and stationery suggested by a Friend In The Know.

Any cookware/tableware things to look out for?

Also - does anyone know the ‘rankings’ of french supermarkets, quality/price wise? Is Auchan better than E.leclerc for example? Or Carrefour….

Off to Paris in two weeks (fingers crossed) and already planning at least one session in a Monop. I've bought some very nice clothes from there in the past too, but this time I think I'm going to be focused on the food.

Palm oil free chocolate spread (much easier to find over there)
Dried mushrooms
tubes of harissa - really cheap
chocolate

@STST we've managed before by buying a bag of ice and sacrificing it to keep the food cool. It lasted evening, overnight and until teatime the next day in a cool box in the car, as we could only shop before the big drive home

Branston Pickle

Never thought to buy a bag of ice - genius!! They’ll definitely be selling ice, even in November? Would assume so in such a large supermarket…

Monoprix silk shirts are fantastic

Annoyingly, don’t think there is a Monoprix in/near Calais….

Probably not, they're in more upmarket towns as a rule.

I've found my people! Planning a purely supermarket shopping trip for the new year and having done a Google search, it says there's a Monoprix in Dunkirk, which isn't that far from Calais. Anyone been? I'm a Monoprix virgin, but totally taken in by the promise of a le Waitrose experience.

This is such a lovely thread. Have just spent ages browsing the French Click website, thank you to whoever posted that link. I always check out supermarkets abroad, I love pottering around and buying a few things to take home.

I'm going to Calais for the day on the 26th November, mostly to Carrefour Cité. This thread has been the best thing I've ever read on Mumsnet. Merci à tous!

Monoprix sell really lovely children’s clothes.

You can buy Le Petit Marseillais in supermarkets but a smaller range of products than a pharmacy in my experience.

Remoulade is one of my favorites. Veal stock (a French staple and hard to find over here). A range of saucisson varieties. Rillons (chunks of cooked pork belly), dried ham and pate en croute from the deli counter. Leclerc butcher counters sell fab stuffed joints of pork. Little cheese/nut/bacon crunchy aperitif things in boxes. Canapé selections.

I miss France.

Herbamare herb salt is a staple ...

I have just come back from a 3 day trip to France and fortunately saw this thread before I went! OMG I went to every supermarket mentioned and had made a list of every recommendation on here!

We found a Super U and I bought the washing powder and fabric conditioner that was suggested by @DanceWithYourBalloon! It really smells lovely, much better than the powder here!

We found a Grand Frais and spent too long looking at their fabulous cheese counter! Their fruit and veg section was amazing, they had white onions that had been peeled! How posh!

I stocked up on petit marseillais shower gel! Back in Calais we stopped in Marie boulangerie and stocked up on various loaves that we freeze!

Fortunately we had the car to transport all the stuff home!

The covid paperwork and the 2 day testing is a faff but so worth it!

Thanks to this thread my French Click order has just arrived, I placed a smallish order just to see what everything was like and to check out the postage/delivery costs. Really looking forward to doing some baking with the lovely French cake/tart/flan mixes. And the Petit Marseillais olive oil soap refills smell absolutely gorgeous. Yes it's not the cheapest way of doing it but I'm too far from the South Coast to make it worth driving across to France. I will definitely be stocking up from French Click again in future I think, there's so many nice storecupboard things to try.

Having saved this thread for 6 months, we’re now on our way to the eurotunnel for a day of supermarkets!!! List made and cool bags at the ready eeeek!!!

Hope you had a great day @PersilPower. Any good buys?

@DoryisinCuba the best, thanks! We started the day at Monoprix. Definitely more upmarket than carrefour. Picked up a few items I’d never seen at carrefour…. Unusual Compote flavours and posh nibbles for summer drinking. I know it’s not for everyone, but we also managed to get a half price jar of foie gras, down to £15. Topped off the morning at the most amazing patisserie round the corner and scoffed a cake each.
Then on to carrefour and blasted the list… lots of petit Marseille shower gels bought! Washing powder. The kids love chocopik. Booze. Obviously. We were wary about our allowance and how hot they are on checking.
Strangest thing I saw in Carrefour was a pork gelatin product shaped like a mouse rat. Stomach churning! I’ll get the photo off DH!
Returning home and French passport control was slooooow. One booth open, massive queue and passport stamping I would say was deliberately slow. Get through that and there was 6 uk booths open. So just word of caution to anyone heading out and allowing time. They’ve also redesigned the approaching road in the last year or so, maybe to take account of the queues?
But who can complain, I have a fridge of smelly cheese, bottles of sparkling wine for the summer and a few of those alcoholic mixers….. cassis and peach. Yum!

Sounds great!! I am jealous

Thanks for restarting this thread @PersilPower. I’m going to Paris via train next month and I can review the thread for things to buy. I may just take a cooler bag with me.

Enjoy!

We went to Paris a few weeks ago and bought mustard and gherkin flavour Lays crisps, they were amazing, even better than the Spanish ones in the green bag.

@JingsMahBucket cooler bag essential IMO. Do you have one of those pull along trolley ones? We picked up one in TK Maxx a few years ago. Would be great on the train.

I can't remember what brand they were but the other day I bought some ridged pesto and mozzarella crisps! Best things ever!

A bargain €5 anyone?

anyone know why they have porky mice?

That mouse is hilarious. Like Disney did Mrs Beaton's calves foot aspic.