Grocery prices in France
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I don't think France is particularly expensive for most things, and as eurortraveller says just try getting a decent baguette or cherry tart in the UK at whatever price. Every French village has a boulangerie selling gorgeous food. We always try to buy vegetables and fruit at markets. Prices are no cheaper than supermarkets but quality is often out of this world. On our recent trip we had some local (within a few miles of the market) strawberries that were incomparable.
We also take advantage of the boxed wine in the supermarkets. A perfectly good 3 litre (4 bottle) box of Bordeaux can be had for €15; the same size of Bergerac for €10. In fact I'm halfway through one of the latter at the moment and it's very very nice. At a couple of quid a bottle even if it wasn't I'd probably still drink it!
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ah, Brew (sorry Brue
) that chart only includes nnon alcoholic drinks...
most of us will include some form of alcoholic beverages in our shopping, to keep cool (beer/lager) or to compliment meals (wine) and the significant difference to the uk would soon have the balance (of our trolley, anyway) swinging back towards Spain being significantly cheaper in 'the real world'...
part of the attraction of being in a warmer climate is to eat and dring outside and I would say this will add more 'booze to the basket'.
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Living in Germany where grocery prices are probably some of the lowest in Europe we certainly found that France is getting more expensive when we passed through on our way back from Spain last week. Can’t speak for wine or beer, though, as we don’t don’t fancy either that much and can’t say anything about restaurant prices as we do all our own meals.
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Over the years we too have noticed that France is becoming more expensive. There was an article in The Times a couple of days ago on this subject. The author thought that locally grown fresh produce purchased in the markets was more expensive than that imported from say Spain because of the way the French farmers operate. It said that they are reluctant to use pesticides etc whereas non French farmers use them. I have no wish to get into the pros and cons of this! There is also the question of the taxes in France.
I agree with Lutz. We have found that Germany is now a very reasonably priced country in which to holiday. Eating out there is also very reasonable. And there motorways are free!!!
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Fully agree. We prefer to shop in Super U, and did not feel that their prices had significantly increased in Euros, although in reality we would be paying more due to the drop in value of the £ against the Euro.
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I got into a "discussion " at my local Super U last week, the English couple in front were complaining about prices.when I pointed out they had bought packaged vegetables not loose they said it was more convenient, I then pointed out the garlic they had bought was 10.99 a kilo where as loose it was 5.95 a kilo, I learnt this lesson soon after I moved over here.
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It's a lesson that applies just as equally in the UK.
In answer to Comeyras's comments I believe the big agri companies in France use Pesticides just the same as our country does and I'm sceptical as to a lot of the smaller growers as well.
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How long is it since you were last there David? I ask as in the past 2 years the food prices and Diesel have gone up horrendously. Meat and fish are very expensive, yes you get a good selection of fish but at a price. We've never found the markets to be cheaper than the supermarkets. Although some of the fruit comes from Spain we've noticed an awful lot comes from South America.
We haven't been to Spain for a few years so will be interested in how the prices compare to France and UK.
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....reply to Brue actually, but quoted this post of Seves as it was here at the top of the chart that it said it only included non alcoholic drinks...
so, re this table I was right...
but sorry to have referred to your link.....
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TG, from our recent experience (Jan to March this year) we spent much time in the Spanish supermarkets, markets and restaurants.....all very much cheaper, we felt, than the UK...incl fuel at around €1 a litre.
3 course meal in restaurant , incl wine often €10 or less....
on the other hand, we had two holidays in France last year (a four week tour in the van and a week in St Martin de Ré......a pretty expensive place)....and we did feel the supermarket prices were more than in the uk and fuel was about the same as here.
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Cheers BB
I'm not sure where other folk do their shopping but I tend to use the main supermarkets plus Aldi and Lidl. We don't have a fishmonger or a green grocer in our town so don't have a comparison.
In France we found that fruit even in the main supermarkets is around twice the price as I pay at home. Melons that have come from Spain can be 5€ each while I pay less than £2 at home and usually bigger, also from Spain. Bananas, pears, apples nectarine etc are all dearer and from Spain. Potatoes and onions can be silly prices and 6€ for a Cauliflower is just plain daft (I didn't buy it) even bread can vary 45c in Lidl and Aldi to 1.50€ in the bakers (or some campsites) I actually don't like the very hard Artisan breads so tend to buy from Lidl where its much easier to cut it and eat, OH's chainsaw doesn't go on holiday with us
We love Germany, the prices are good and the food is Mmmmm, in fact its the only place we like to eat out. However having spent 20 years living there we are still trying to visit other countries.
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Sorry but you are defiantly shopping in another country to where I live. not seen melons or cauli at those prices. there are fluctuations in price but not as extreme as that. beware potatoes are expensive at the moment. There has been some Spanish fruit in our local supermarket but is priced the same as the French.
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Afraid not there is only one France.
Those are the prices we have seen over the last few years, the Cauli was in Carrefour in Cavalaire sur mer 2017, melons every time we've been, that's twice a year for the last 8 years.
This year we travelled from Zeebrugge to the Med, then Provence, Alps, Central,the Loire and finally back to Zeebrugge via Neufchatel. That's a fair bit of France we covered as is our norm. All main supermarkets used including Lidl and Aldi.
We have never toured abroad because it might be cheaper in some respects but just because we like it better, however cheaper sites and often fuel go a long way towards paying higher French prices .
Same here David, we like the weather and what the country has to offer. Prices won't stop us from going but France is getting more expensive every time we go. Some areas are better than others we have noticed.
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We spent 5 weeks in France and I really don’t agree that the prices are high. Why buy cauliflower if it is expensive, especially when courgettes, aubergines etc. are quite cheap. Many things are cheaper - coffee, Lindt chocolate (don’t ask!), apricots, cherries (in season) etc. And to suggest that wine is expensive is ridiculous! Of course, there are good and bad wines but supermarket regional wines are far cheaper then the UK as the tax is much lower.
Markets have better produce and are generally cheaper than he supermarkets and thats what the locals use. The important thing is not to get fixated on buying a list of items that you would expect to buy in the UK. Do what the French do, look at what’s good and buy it.
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Why buy cauliflower if it is expensive, especially when courgettes, aubergines etc. are quite cheap.
I didn't say I bought it, just noticed the price of it.
We don't like courgettes or aubergines or apricots.
Wine I couldn't care less about as I don't drink it, neither do I drink coffee oh and I rarely eat chess
Buying food that you don't like would be daft just because its cheaper. We are on holiday we eat what we like and enjoy but it doesn't stop me from noticing the prices of things.
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I think they must have made an unwise choice of restaurant, or maybe there was no choice?
Generally, in an inexpensive establishment you would pay around £20-£25 per head for a main course and soft drink, for what they paid I would expect a 3 course meal each!
Generally it costs a little under twice what it would to eat out in UK, which is of course bad.
Where are you heading to brue?
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Going back to France.....must be 3 years ago we were last there.....the price of onions was also what caught our attention, as it has on all our previous visits!
We found France considerably more expensive than Germany, and UK, even shopping in Lidl, and fresh milk often difficult to find.....hate the long life stuff!
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I agree, having just returned from a 6 week trip to France, prices for fruit and veg especially were high. Agree TG, with the price of cauliflower; not that we were looking for one, but a Frenchman in a supermarket in the veg area stopped us when we were looking at what we wanted to buy. He said that the price of vegetables was ridiculously high, and especially cauliflowers, and he doesn't buy them any more!!
Price of diesel has also gone up considerably, gone are the days of cheaper diesel, it was more expensive than at our local Tesco.
But, I also agree, we go because we like it there, and dearer prices won't put us off.
And.........not a white pitch marker in sight
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In my 35 years of holidaying in France I've never considered France to be cheaper than the UK, except for Diesel & wine. However I still do consider the foodstuff to be generally of higher quality. I do tend to go for Leclerc, Super U or Champion shops, not the larger hypermarkets, but that's just because I hate walking for miles around a shop.
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Perhaps have a browse here! https://www.carrefour.fr/r/fruits-et-legumes Chou Fleur €3.55
David
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Our friends were in central Oslo KJ, possibly hoping for a medium priced simple meal. Although the cost was high they enjoyed their stay over there. We'll be in and around Bergen, not with the van and we're looking forward to it too.
Might take the van to Denmark at a later date.0
