TESCO offering Overseas Delivery - non food items

[MmeLindor.]

And not too expensive either HURRAH

better? Horrendously expensive in Belgium!

Really, more expensive? And what's the quality like in Belgian supermarkets?
I remember shopping in Tesco as a rather depressing experience

Having said that, I'd kill for a M&S carrot cake and its marvellous tuna pate.

scaryteacher bloody hell! Was that direct with dfds? I normally go for longer and have found (for my dates) the cheapest with ferrysavers.

natation I am currently over the border in NL close to Maastricht - the Alpine more a nod to my love of skiing, although I spent 4 years living in the Belgian Ardennes - and 4 years in Flanders + 1 year in Brussels.

Franca Mostly I'd agree with you, but e.g., in NL I can't get decent porridge oats, or a large range of pulses, or pork & apple sausages, or smoked back bacon without paying an enormous premium. Some of the stuff I could probably get in Delhaize - I seem to remember finding crumpets in there for example, and Jumbo in NL does clotted cream - but I just want to do Tesco. Not for the packet sauces - ewwww, but like the aforementioned "indian takeaway for 6 quid". Not sure where you are but I've never had a decent indian in NL, Gent was horrible, Brussels only had one nice one but that was the ridiculously expensive one in Avenue Louise filled with embassy workers. Luxembourg does good curries but that's a heck of a trip.

Oh, and don't even get me started on stuff like original source shower gel for 99p in the UK. Mind you, I've discovered only the other month that hair-dye is cheaper in Germany than it even is in BOGOF in the UK!

Burt's Bees is 12 euros a pot here, 6 quid on amazon.co.uk (with free delivery). Shopping options can be shit here - but not enough to make me start buying Tesco clothes.

Alpine, yes, I have very dear friends who live in the NL and they do complain about the supermarkets being uninspiring to say the least .

We've moved back to Italy after a long time in the UK, and I must say I do miss a good curry, luckily things are improving here and we now got a few decent Indian restaurant, though they are not as cheap as those in the UK (having said that, we lived in Devon, which is not exactly famous for its curry houses!)

I remember I spent the first year in the UK comparing prices, and given that at that time we still had liras, everything in England felt £££££...

Btw, I have just been back from Amsterdam (to see the aforementioned friends) and there are some amazing shops there... (NOT cheap I agree)

Alpine - yep direct - booked in Euros - worth a look. That was to UK last Wed and back on Friday!! As for curry, Namaste at Sterrebeek and the Krishna at Overijse are both good.

Franca - in Sainsbury the other day I bought purple sprouting broccoli, bellevita broccoli and tenderstem. In Carrefour I get the usual tree type broccoli. The veg here is dull, parsnips are expensive, and I have never seen a sprout tree here like I have in UK. Belgian supermarkets are very dear; I'd love a decent sized chicken - they only appear at Christmas and even then are horrendously expensive. It is cheaper to get milk from the British shop at the moment than from the supermarket and the same goes for pasta.

You evidently lived in the wrong part of Devon as well, Tavistock and Plymouth are both very well supplied with Indian restaurants.

Oh BRILL!

Thank you so much for the heads up on this.

That this year's trouser crisis sorted.

Wonder if they go on to do food.

Scary I wasn't in Plymouth nor in Tavistock. I was in a city where the food scene was actually quite depressing, when we first moved there, apart from a lovely tearoom that made gorgeous cakes (things improved with the years though).

Haven't you got markets there in Belgium? If I want more variety I go to the local market, here.

Likewise, when we lived in Devon, I was pretty excited when the farmers market appeared. More variety and great taste. The veggies in Tesco weren't exactly marvellous.

scaryteacher Well fresh milk is something we can get hold of easily here - 4 litres for 1.15 I think it is. I agree about the meat though - although have never had better (or cheaper) chateaubriand than from what was then the "GB". We got a joint of lamb a couple of xmas's ago - just the two of us. 47 euros. It was nice, but it didn't even cook itself!

I want to buy lamb.

We've got a curry house here, it's fucking dire - 44 euros for 2 mangy plates which were vaguely yellow through use of tumeric, but absolutely lacking flavour. :( I'm trying a new one tomorrow night though about 25km north. Worth a pop!

The veggies here are pretty dull - can't even get buggering butternut squash here in NL - and I go to a fancy pants organic shop. Even beetroot which is spilling over on the shelves in the UK. I can get some stuff in Germany but seriously, why go to 3 countries on a saturday afternoon when I can go to Tesco Dover and do it all?

Alpine I get porridge oats from the local Natuur Winkel, there's a stall on the market does them too, I can check the brandname on them. Same goes for pulses, all sorts dried and canned. My butcher does lovely smoked backbacon which is a bit pricey but it's organic so fair enough. Super de Boer used to do nice sausages, maybe they still do, but I confess for those I bring huge stashes from Dublin (NOT Tescos) and freeze them, all my Irish visitors being some too.

The Dutch suerpmarkets are pretty rubbish and bland, but where I am lots of people still use butchers, fishmongers, local greengrocers and the market, so Tesco and their ilk can stay away thank you. I realise we're lucky with our market though (it's a regular one not a posh farmer's type-thing).

Indians I agree with, I've eaten decent ones in Amsterdam (two good spots on Overtoom) but it's hit and miss, takeaway you can forget about.

blardy hell....order for a few pairs of trousers has grown into a mad shopping session.

I'm sure I don't need purple fluffy slippers.

Will go back and prune.

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

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

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.

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

Yes, I totally understand Delgirl.

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

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, 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.

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...

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

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 ...

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.