What's all this nonsense about porridge. If you want to make porridge from rolled oats then Quaker Oats is a widely available brand. Is it really so much more expensive in France? Our local French bio shop has flocons d'avoine to buy by the kilo which is much the same but cheaper. If only one could buy pinhead oatmeal for real porridge. Still the dram to go with it is so much cheaper!
Obvious answer...................don't wear 'em
Yup - knickers are rubbish 
Well i'm amazed at what people ask for we have been here two years in the Tarn i brought all my tools 50 years as an engineer plus DIY i emptied my workshop into a trailer, two motorbikes and 4 dogs we now have goats as well, tea bags oxo cubes and bisto and the jury's out on the bisto are the only things that are difficult to get, there is a substitute for pretty much everything,we do a lot of baking and i mean WE my wife and myself cakes bread you name it and the bread isnt done in a bread maker all hand made and cooked in a wood fired oven there is an American beef farmer in the Gers who sells beef hung for longer than the French do cheaper than a supermarket and grass fed beef, local farmer does his own pork and sausages duck farmer as well i have always been called a fussy eater but think i have adapted well not changed my diet much at all just more of it oh i must admit my wife does complain about the underwear she says the knickers are rubbish they tear easy but then i wouldnt know would i
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Hi Elaine - you will virtually be neighbours then
We are about 40 min away so look forward to meeting up - in the meantime - any chance of a photo please? Thanks! x
I too am ready to be on the move in 8 weeks. The thread has been most useful despite having owned our French home for 7 years. Yes gloss paint is on the list along with a few items for baking (golden syrup, treacle and currants are top of the list).
We will be in Pyrenees Atlantiques near to St Palais. Canāt wait to get there, it a nightmare sorting out 24 years of clutter, especially as I was a magpie teacher. Roll on January and our new life.
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Hi Joan
Try this service for quotes. Canāt recommend one as we did a DIY job!
http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/the-road-ahead-sponsored-post
Good luck with the moveā¦Cx
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Any good tips for reasonable removal companies from Scotland to Dordogne?? Can anyone recommend from experience?!
Already started my pile of porridge and red lentils!
hello all, as rightly pointed out this is an old thread and we've been living in France now for 20 months... we have just today moved from Revel in the Tarn 81 to Vaison la Romaine in the Vaucluse 84... i can tell you all that moving in France (even diy moving which we did) is MUCH more expensive than moving within the UK...
there is nothing i wish we'd bought with us... we get 'bangers' from the english butcher, who now delivers to aix-en provence, and anything else we really can't find we buy online... we use parcels please - send a whole load of stuff to my mum with free delivery in the UK and ship it to france easily in a quick and cheap pacakge (it's really just a maths / price / speed question)
we have never been happier... we live in a country where children are polite, lunch is important and it doesn't rain all the time! Crap paint is a small price to pay
x
Two things I didn't bring and wished I had -
1) our lovely old piano (my husband's rationale was that it was very heavy and would be nearly impossible to get up the steps to our Breton house and in any case I hadn't played it in ages) - I really miss it
2) Blue Dragon chinese sauces - we love a varied diet, French, English, Italian, Indian, Chinese, etc . . . the only chinese cooking sauce I've found here is a very poor sweet n sour - so I got a friend to mail me some!
Oh - and Bonne Chance with the move!!!
We've been here many years and only in our 40's but 'yes - everything is so much more expensive here especially toiletries and kids clothes' Better start another thread if this takes off:-)
And don't get my husband going about the price of Dulux Professional Paint - his preferred brand!
Is it my imagination or is everything now more expensive in France? It seems much cheaper to buy on the internet and then pay the delivery charges. I'm sure it wasn't like that 5 years ago when we moved... or am I starting to suffer from old git syndrome and just feel the urge to whinge about everything?
definately toiletries especially deodorant and mens shaving gel ---- they are ridiculously expensive in france
More tea bags and oxo cubes, paint, wall paper and other bits n pieces like that. Good Luck
Then why was this emailed as Worth the Read??
I should think Teresa is well and truly settled here by now unless they changed their mind; original post was February 2011
@Steve, I agree cards are c***p and very expensive, I think she should take Christmas cards with her too!!and Shreddies and/or Shredded Wheat which we cannot find. If you like baking Teresa, you'll need to put currants in the lorry too. Good luck with the move.... Angela
You have had so many replies that I have to say I have not looked at all 15 pages, so apologies if someone has said this. If you are doing lots of renovation bring skirting boards, we can only find narrow rubbish looking stuff, and so expensive. Also ironically White wine vinegar, you can get every other conceivable type but not this,unless someone else can tell us differently. Good luck, we have been here since March and are loving it.
Photocopiers: Donāt you have a computer printer? They have copying facilities.
Coriander - you can find it easily.
Worms - plentiful in the garden. Lovely fat wiggly earthworms ideal for composting and fishing.Most Mairies offer a free composting unit; itās cheaper for them to do this than have to dispose of your kitchen scraps themselves. We have beautiful compost all the time.
Porridge - again, no problem. Itās called āAvoineā and most known brands, eg Quaker are available.
Corn flour: Several different types around, mostly of the Maizena brand, to be used for different purposes such as 1 for thickening, another for baking and so on.
Shampoos etc: Do you find them expensive here? Yes, you can get cosmetics in Spain but they recently increased their Sales Tax Rate.
Dry Yeast: yes, also available easily, either in sachets or little tins.
People tend to forget that they are voluntarily leaving their accustomed way of life, and embarking on a new one.
Some of the things you are used to, will be rather different perhaps but you REALLY HAVE TO ADAPT; Itās up to the immigrant to a new country to change, rather than try to change the country they have moved to.
thanks liz... we've been in france just over 8 months now and looking forward to our first xmas... (i DID bring xmas cards!) we are lucky to have a tiny brit section in intermarche when the desire for baked beans is overwhelming... a 'brit shop' who import things near to us in Lavaur, and the British butcher does an occasional drop near us. i missed currents for my christmas cake, and the husband has a desire for mint jelly that i might make...
we are, however, blissfully happy and there are so many things i don't miss and i'm glad i didn't bring with me...!