cost of food in FRENCH SUPERMARKETS- just how expensive will it be this year...

[noonar]

... thanks to the terrible exchange rate? have already accepted that we are unlikely to eat out during our holiday to the dordogne, but will i want to weep at the supermarket checkout?

any tips on what's still good value/ what to avoid/ take with us( we are camping), would be greatly appreciated.

tia

BA
Really? We are now buying the huuuuuuuge jars (750g) because we go through so much. I got that in Intermarche, maybe they have one where you are.

Are your MrBadger, btw?

gah, MrsBadger, obviously

As far as I know MmeLindt BA is generally a more aquatic animal.

Really? How did I miss that considering all the time I waste on here

Good to see you back, BA.

I made some jam last night (great blackberries in N London) so will take that with me next week!

Seriously when we were in France in March, I reckoned while it was not such good value as before, prices in restaurants were equivalent to UK prices - eg meal for 4 (couple of beers, coke, apple juice) in a pizza restaurant at minor ski resort (Les Orres) was approx Pizza Express prices. ie for us £38ish. A nice meal in local "posh" (not very) hotel costs about 19E for a 3/4 course meal. You won't get that here. Also the spag bog in the Geant cafe is not bad and reasonably priced. The motoway services aren't too bad either.

Imo supermarkets were more shocking. We're def taking cereals, lots of tea bags and possibly a few other things from this thread.

This is interesting! We are off to France in September.

We are off to France this weekend and I can't decide whether or not I should take some stuff. I only have an M&S and Waitrose near me so might be a bit counter productive!

I've always seen lots of Bonne Maman in France - and they have flavours we don't. But it is probably cheaper here - think it was about 4 euro in the campsite shop last year

havensleptforayear the meal that cost 120 euros was a steak and chips (and it was disgusting and still mooing even though I'd asked for it well done), a burger and chips, fajitas, a pizza, a kids meal (one sausage and a few chips and drink)2 fizzy drinks, one bottle of water and 3 desserts. No starters, coffees, alchohol etc. This was in Laon. Maybe we just chose an expensive place but then when we went to Paris on a day trip 4 filled baguettes in a little bakers cost 38 euros with 3 soft drinks

we eat out a lot in the UK (I hate cooking) and a lot in the middle east where we spend a lot of time and found that France was very expensive

we have a marks at the end of the road
are going to have a poncetastic picnic to break the 7 hour drive

Yes we always take a picnic now - and extra for later in the day. Service stations seem to get busier the further south you go.... and we take plenty of cash after the time the service station tills weren't accepting credit cards - luckily we had enough to pay for the petrol!

One item to take is nappies - shockingly expensive in France especially for Pampers and Huggies. DS2 is still in pull-ups at night and we will make sure we take enough to last the hols.

Also dog food is way more expensive in France - both tinned and dried. They do have far more varieties and flavours though especially in the specialist pet shops!

Wine is incredibly cheap still (by UK standards) as long as you buy locally produced. In our local cooperative it's ?1 per litre - cheaper than petrol! (Probably tastes like petrol though - we buy the expensive stuff at ?2.50 a bottle.)

bump

any of those who have been already this year got any further tips please ?

We've just come back from France, was really surprised at how expensive the supermarkets are. Even if the £ were stronger, the prices are still expensive.

I suggest you take loads of your own things LIZS, such as washing powder, olive oil, salt, peper etc. There are no special offers or promotions etc.

Everything seemed absolutely bloody extortionate to us, apart from the market.

Also, do NOT run out of deodorant. It is apparently a luxury item in France, to judge by the price - over 4 euros for a small bottle of Sure roll-on!!

Just came back from Languedoc and I didn't really notice a difference between Carrefour and Sainsbury but then again I am more of a splurger than a scrimper.. (However Carrefour in Cyprus in May was absolutely ruinous..so maybe it just depends where you are).

Restaurants had gone up in price (16-23 euros for the set 3 course menu)

My little money saver was not to order juice or fizzy drinks (expensive at around 3.50 euros), order Grenadine or one of the many flavoured "syrops" @1.50 euro.

I got back last week and found it very expensive - and I'm a splurger not a scrimper.

Croissants were 85 cents each and I can get 8 in Sainsburys for £1.69!! And with 7 of us and the 4 kids keyed up for croissants for breakfast every morning...we spent £75 just on those!

The cheapest menu we found was 15 Euros with kids menus at around 10 Euros - that wouldn't be bad but for the exchange rate. Basic steak/frites, moules/frites in a cafe was between 11 and 14 euros. Agree re soft drinks a coke was 3.50! DH had to curb his addiction. A glass of lemonade was 1.50ish.

The mainstream supermarkets were expensive, except alcohol and cheese - would recommend going to Lidl for your basics and they were great for wine too. Intermarche seemed to be the cheapest of the others.