French supermarket and shopping recommendations

[Marronsandcamembert]

Off to France for the weekend staying near Dunkirk. I have a shopping list already- wine, cheese, liqueurs you can’t get easily here eg chestnut, walnut , Petit Marseillaise soap and shower gel, marrons glacé, olive oil, mustard, more wine.
what else do I need?? All recommendations welcome.

Oh and interesting shop and restaurant recommendations too please if you have them.

Pommeau. It's an apple liqueur, which is lovely on its own, mixed with cremant or the like (but makes for a very alcoholic drink!), drizzled over ice cream... you get the gist.

It's usually quite cheap too, so we always get quite a few bottles.

Lipton's hibiscus and raspberry teabags.

Jacques Dessange shampoo/conditioner :
tinned vegetables, at which the French excel :

William Saurin cassoulet : confit de canard, anything tinned actually.
100 ltr.rubbish/storage bags :

kitchen gadgets you didn’t know you needed :
Pineau, different brands.

You will come home laden.
Then perhaps you could tell/show us what you bought ?! Have fun !

Tinned veg? Why tinned over fresh, or even frozen?

All the flavours of the petit ecolier LU biscuits - not just milk and dark chocolate. The hazelnut ones are particularly good.

For those of you pining for French produce yet unable to make the journey,
there is a company called French Click who import.

They were a small unit in Herne Hill, now have bigger premises in SW19,
well recommended.

Some great recommendations here thank you! Keep them coming!

@@LondonPapa sigh

Go to Grand Frais for fresh fruit and veg (much of it grown in France), French garlic and onions are a fave here. Or have a look to see if there are any fresh food markets on when you're there - not so good at this time of year, but worth a look for local produce.

https://www.dunkirk-tourism.com/things-to-do/go-local/open-markets/

Calais also has a Saturday market.

Those little cans of Cassegrain petits pois are so much better than any tinned peas that you can buy in the UK. They’re a camping/campervan larder staple for us, brilliant for making mattar paneer on camping curry nights.

Soup in a carton is nice can’t think of the name basically like Knorr.

Le Petit Marsellaise also do great shampoos and conditioners.

Any supermarket (Carrefour, Intermarche, E LeClerc) branded bits including clothes. The lingerie eg Daniel Hechter is good value and much nicer than you’d get in UK for same price. I think they also do a blackcurrant sirop or something you add to water. French crisps are nice often have mustard or unusual flavours. Cassoulet in a tin and most tinned meat stuff if you like that.

Sauce Algérienne, and you will never need a another condiment.

Amer Picon (amaro/liqueur) is difficult to get here now, and Green Chartreuse is very pricey so worth it to buy in France.

Sigh. Or maybe you have an actual answer? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Cornichons. We bulk buy the Maille cornichons. Maille anything is cheaper in France and such pretty jars.

YY to tinned stuff. I was in a Le Clerc at the weekend and was astonished at the entire wall of tinned fish.

Eclaires and baguette if you've got somewhere to store fresh stuff on the way home.

You used to be able to get Petit Bateau knickers in French supermarkets.

Proper apple juice

A big bottle of vanilla essence if you bake. They do high quality at decent prices.

Toffee microwave popcorn (be careful, don't burn yourself!)

Chocolate Mousses

E LeClerc sell everything!

I just spend half the day in the cosmetics/toiletry section of Auchan! The only other thing I buy is Cremant, I don't drink, but am told it is nicer than prosecco and champers. I was in Normandy in Sept and stocked up for Christmas. Makes good pressies for those who like a bit of fizz!

I also bought raspberry and cherry caramel in cute jars, but that was in a local farm place en route to somewhere or other. It is fab, and I'm sure you could get similar in the big shops.

I enjoy just meandering around the shops and if I see something I like I'll have it, I don't go for something specific. Enjoy your trip!

If you like fish soups, big jars of them, croutons and aioli, cassoulets. Syrup drinks as they have a far wider range of flavours than here. Orangina / blood orange orangina. Can't wait to back to France next year and stock up!

Do check alcohol limits post Brexit (there are limits coming into the EU, so I assume also going back. Strangely you can't bring cheese into the EU but you can take into the U.K.).

Has anyone mentioned French pharmacies for skincare if you use those types? La Roche Posay, Avène, Caudalíe etc are all cheaper than U.K. And you can buy melatonin otc if you use it.

Teisseire sirops are very good and there's a wide range with sugar, not sweeteners. Recommend grenadine, passion fruit and pink grapefruit flavours! Monin sirops are even better, but with a price to match... nice for cocktails or non-drinking adults at Christmas. Sirop de pomegranate is particularly good, as it's made with actual pomegranate and not a mix of fruits like the cheaper ones.

You can buy lovely salted caramel in a jar if it's your thing. Crème de salidou is one that's usually easy to find. If not in supermarkets you'll find it in speciality kitchen shops like Alice délice, or other brands in bio (organic) shops such as Satoriz or Le Comptoir des bios.

And finally... macarons! The cream filled ones need to be eaten quickly but the 'sœurs' type keep for a while.

So many fabulous suggestions, some things I’d forgotten about and some I had no idea about. Excited now for the weekend but think I need longer to do all this shopping! Thank you all for inspiring me.

Thank you @IntheSnowySnowyMountains there are limits on alcohol but with 2 peoples allowances I think we’ll be ok. I checked on the HMRC site -

• beer - 42 litres
• wine (still) - 18 litres

You can also bring in either:

• spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
• alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres

Alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol include:

• sparkling wine
• fortified wine (for example port, sherry)
• cider

You can split this last allowance. For example, you could bring 2 litres of spirits and 4.5 litres of fortified wine (both half of your allowance).’