TESCO offering Overseas Delivery - non food items

[MmeLindor.]

And not too expensive either HURRAH

[scaryteacher]

They had heritage cheddar in Tervuren Carrefour (which I think is Nisa), and it was the equivalent of buying good cheddar from Stonemanor.

It is expensive here - I buy meat when it is reduced and stick it in the freezer.I stock up on shampoo and toiletries when back in UK as it is so much cheaper, and have enough to keep myself going for a while.

I know what you mean about cleaning products - Porto - mine seems to eat lemon cream cleaner - I bought 4 new bottles from Sainsbury the weekend of 30/09 and there is 1 left.

[tb]

We have a British butcher - he rears his own, fairly near to us, not far from Pompadour in SW France. Bit dear, but good. He now does steak and kidney pies. They're not quite as good as Hollands, but better than anything else.

Also, having been addicted to Matalan jeans for years, I've recently (re)discovered c+a, and, as they now do free delivery and returns, saves on diesel going to Perigeux to buy. Their jeans seem to vary from about ?15 to ?35. T-shirts and knickers I usually buy at Carrefour from their Tex range. Bras and other tops and bras I get from Bravissimo. Most underwear shops and supermarkets don't stock anything larger than a 'D', and I'm 'FF'.

We often make the most of promos such as those for pork and salmon at the supermarkets, and only splurge for things like Cheshire cheese, which is unavailable at French supermarkets.

[AlpinePony]

The shampoo/shower gel stuff in be/NL is I think the same price it was in the UK when I left. Shampoo was not always a quid a bottle on bogof. I remember paying 3 quid for original source shower gel in boots in the late 90's. Got it for 95p in June. So my bathroom cabinets are stuffed with superdrug/Tesco bogofs.

For fab cond/washing liquid/bog roll/nappies, I'm very happy with lidl or aldi.

I've always thought salaries here are shit, they only start paying if you've got children/mortgage.

Ah well, thems the breaks. I still love living in an innocent world. :)

BTW, tried the new curry house last night. Bloody gorgeous! Best curry outside Luxembourg I've had in 12 years. 30 miles north of maastreicht if anyone's interested.

[Francagoestohollywood]

Tax is high here too, but salaries are crap

[Putrifyno]

I think salaries are generally good - but tax is high! It's non food items too - washing powder is hugely expensive - 8- 10 euros per box. Fab conditioner 3-4 euros. Shampoo and conditioner about 3 euros each. Shower gel/deodorant/shaving gel all about the same. Easy to spend 30 euro before you even hit the food part. Our cleaner goes through stuff at a rate of knots so maybe 5-10 euros on cleaning products....

[Francagoestohollywood]

Tesco is cheap, but the quality used to be very poor ime... at least the one where I lived. It was a depressing place, not one of those nice big supermarkets.

[Francagoestohollywood]

Gosh 120 for 3 person is quite a lot! What are the salaries like in Belgium?

[AlpinePony]

Nl is definitely cheaper if you can get one shop a month in, shops are finally getting the bogof concept. Meat isn't cheap of course. When I lived in flanders I used to go to the Auchan in lille, but I doubt France is any better these days.

Germany much, much cheaper for toiletries and baby goods.

Like you I roll my eyes at those complaining about the prices in Tesco and the like. ;)

[Putrifyno]

I don't know! It seems to have got much worse in the last couple of years. I struggle on a budget of 120 euros per week for 3 of us. Usually it's more - and more still if I nip to Stone Manor for pie/sausages/Sunday paper. I buy discount ranges where possible but DH gets cross if I skimp too much as he considers he earns plenty of money to eat well. And I can't argue with that quite frankly.....

Then you can go to Sainsbury and get curry for 2 for a fiver, 2 packs of sausages for £4. All the BOGOFs you can shake a stick at.....and I come on here and see people complaining about the cost of food in the Uk!!! 5 euros for a titchy chicken! 4 euros for a box of fish fingers etc etc

[scaryteacher]

....which begs the question Porto, why Belgium is so bloody expensive?

[Francagoestohollywood]

But aren't pumpkin and squash more or less the same thing?
I remember I spent the years in the UK dreaming of artichokes.

[AlpinePony]

katie I am most definitely in the wrong part of NL, Odin do not deliver down here. I mean uncooked beets - I've only found them in Jumbo occasionally - and even then they're often squidgey and wrinkled ugh. As for squash - just pumpkin.

I live in the provinces y'know. We speak deutschglais down here.

[Katiepoes]

Alpinepony you are in the wrong part of NL. Even the Albert Heijn has beets, and squash of all sorts are in all shops that sell vegetables. I get decent affordable lamb from the Halal butcher, I am really beginning to think you are not trying .

Try the Odin site for meat and veg, they deliver all over so far as I know.

[DoctorGilbertson]

not to Argentina, but M&S does hurrah.

2 lots delivered to my door, and the third involved a load of phone calls and trips to customs ...

[Francagoestohollywood]

Yes, Porto, I always have the impression that many things in France are cheaper than in Italy and the UK (apart from Paris).

[Putrifyno]

When we were on holiday in France in the summer we were amazed at how cheap fresh stuff was, well how cheap everything was really.....When I go back to Blighty I am stunned at the whole dnner for a fiver thing...

[Francagoestohollywood]

Delgirl, no idea what "teaching to suck eggs", but anyway! Are you here now, how is it going?

Scary here in Italy market are still quite convenient and offer great variety especially cheeses, hams etc.
Greengrocers, fishmongers etc are quite expensive, at least here in Milan, though I usually prefer to eat less fish but buying it from reliable sources.

In Devon, my local farmers market was more expensive than the supermarket, but I prefer it, also because I didn't have access to waitrose.

[scaryteacher]

Franca - the markets are not cheap either, and the range of produce is about the same. 30 euros per kilo for some decent looking cod, so it ain't cheap.

I was lucky in Devon as had a great greengrocers and butchers (from whence I cart back 8 kilos of smoked Cornish bacon for the year and freeze it) and Waitrose was easily accessible in either Okehampton or Saltash. The farmers markets are OK, but again, the one in Tavi is pricy.

[DelGirl]

hope i'm not teaching you to suck eggs or however the saying goes sorry

[Francagoestohollywood]

Yes, I totally understand Delgirl.

[DelGirl]

the £ to euro exchange on uk price tags is horrendous, I think all the pricing was done when the exchange rate was 60p against the euro, now it is 90p

[DelGirl]

Franca, tis cheaper for the likes of me who still has £ and not euro iykwim, kids clothes, well lots is more expensive for me actually and i'm not over keen on kids clothes unless you spend euro+++. Can't get that much for me either.

[Francagoestohollywood]

35 euros for a tshirt, bloody hell? But even in Zara/h&m etc? Children tshirts are anything from 7.99 (I saw one today at Oviesse) to about 12 euros in Zara.
35 euros is for really nice ones, not even Petit Bateau are that expensive here!

Ds didn't destroy his trousers as a toddler, but he does NOW with a vengeance... so I started to get him cheap trousers from Decathlon

[MmeLindor.]

Oh, I am well set for veg. Not cheap but it grows behind my hedge and I pick up my veg box every week. The tomatoes this year were incredible.

Meat is very expensive, which is why I shop in France where it is more reasonable. Fish is cheap there too, especially crevettes.

Clothes are very expensive here. How I would have killed for Tesco delivery when DS was a toddler and going through trousers like nobody's business.

I pay about CHF 50 (?35) for a cheap tshirt here, compared to about £10 in Tesco/M&S