500 euros a month would buy someone without much in the way of serious conditions quite a lot of private health insurance.
A mutuelle is something I have to sort out when funds allow - but I’m not looking forward to it as I’ve excellent health and will presumably be asked to pay a flat rate for my age that’s weighted based on other people’s conditions
I don’t understand?
So why have French supermarkets not gone down the rabbit hole?
the problem in the charente region is lack of competition. if a few hundred asians came in and started selling veg and meat at normal prices the supermarkets would have to wake up and smell the coffee.
Others may disagree but I do not think French consumers are as single minded as UK consumers about buying everything as cheap as possible. Of course some are, either out of necessity or out of choice. But it is my impression that there is less focus on shopping around and choosing items with a view to spending as little as possible. Price is only one criterion after all and to me, price always comes second to quality. We often pay a little more for Label Rouge products. We buy milk that gives a fair price to the producer. We are not religious about buying bio products but if the quality looks better we do. I assume that is what other people do too, or supermarkets would always sell out of the cheapest milk and the cheapest chicken first and that does not seem to happen, often it is the higher priced better quality items that sell out first.
Try finding a local market or (even better) an organic farm shop.
Which is 6€+ remember - so even in Bazza’a obviously particularly expensive local supermarket the price isn’t really much different from the UK!
That’s currently about £425 pm which would be a very high premium if paid into a private health insurance scheme
I am being very dim no doubt but I still do not see your point.
I agree 500€ per month would be a high premium for private health insurance.
But I cannot see the connection between an expensive private health insurance policy and your CSG/CRDT liability.
Cauliflower in france over €3, 3x the price of the UK ones.
We buy direct from the farm so 100% goes to the producer, better unpasteurised milk and €0.5 a litre.
My little na, na, ner na, na moment.
Cat 1 cauliflower today from my local Intermarché Drive is 1,59€.
Excuse me! Why do you specify asians?
That seems a slightly naive comment as running a small business here is far more complicated that in the UK. France has strict labour laws and protection for workers, so fewer exploitative businesses. We come to France for the quality of life, and quality of food - I certainly don’t want France to follow the UK”s lead even if it does mean my shopping costs a euro or two more.
I also wouldn’t buy food that was so cheap that there is no way it could be produced to decent animal welfare standards for that price!
That is the best way to do it. I wish we had a convenient local farm shop selling their own fresh milk direct to the consumer. The best I can do is buy local milk at the little local deli which brings the cost up to 98 cents, slightly more than “fair price” regionally produced long life milk we get from the supermarket.
the wine in France is a bargain. I visit motards in salignac de mirambeau. 10 euro for 5 litres. his cognac is excellent too. not blended all from his vineyard. but it bugs me to pay silly money for veg. a few years back I grew butternut squash in the garden. not difficult and quite rewarding. but root veg doesn’t work there, tried Swede and parsnips but nothing came of them. courgettes and tomatoes also easy to grow here. because of the RIP off prices in France I will start again in the spring.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment, the UK does have at the moment at least decent animal welfare standards monitored by the RSPCA and DEFRA.
EDIT, provided its not flown in from Asia of course.
To be fair this was a very recent change as someone spotted a very small dairy operation just down the road where the hurd isnt over milked ( not withstanding the need to keep the cows in that state) apologies to anyone who is upset by this.
But I wont drink factory pasterised homogenised milk any longer.
Why are you buying chicken which has been reared in appalling conditions?
animal welfare in France is a lot lower than in the UK. I’ve seen calves tied to the wall in a barn so they couldn’t eat the straw on the floor.had to be milk fed for the buyers. not allowed in the UK.
the farmers in the uk wouldn’t do it anyway.