No offence taken Brian… I warn everyone about where they will pay exhorbitant prices because such-and-such is a tourist trap… yet still folk will do their own thing.
eg. confit de canard (not the bits, the actual big thigh/leg) I will only buy when I see it at 6€ for a tin/4-5 portions. In a nearby “spot” it sells for 19€ (and it does sell, amazingly enough)
We choose to shop where our neighbours shop. Around here the “French” are very canny… (I mean no disrespect saying “French” it is merely to explain) … anyway, “French” folk know good stuff, they know when it is over-priced (and don’t buy it)… and they talk… word of mouth is wonderful for good and bad references.
What is overpriced to our “French” will be snapped up by visitors and unwary…
The best bottle of wine is, of course, when it comes as a gift… a neighbour dropped a bottle in yesterday for OH’s birthday…
So we opened the 2017 St-Chinian today. It was delicious with homemade spag-bol… and we finished the wine munching on really dark chocolate (a union made in heaven as far as I am concerned).
Not so bad these days because there is far more info on the net to check and to go on a forum like SF and ask other members what they could expect to pay, but when we arrived here 16 years ago it was like the old wild west.
That is very true, sadly… which is why I always badger to get 3 quotes and inform all and sundry that I shall be checking with my “French” neighbours…
Bar the first year when some folk did try to rip us off… we have managed to home in on local, tried and tested workers… (except last year, when a well-recommended roofer ripped-off us and half the village as well. He is now on everyone’s blacklist… )
I agree with Stella about shopping around and buy in bulk when on offer, but only buy it if you will actually use it. I know people that have stocks of cheap offers cluttering their cupboards!
The weekly supermarket offers were very rare 5-10 years ago in France and the prices were much higher that the UK. I was amazed how much the prices have increased in UK supermarkets in the last couple of years!
Simon, if I could regularly compare cross border prices maybe I would feel different, you seem to have the best of both
Brian and David, you do seem to be a positive couple and have done a lot of homework , I would say ‘just go for it’ life in France can be so wonderful if you don’t keep looking back and comparing.
Now I am waffling…
Generally agree Lily except…always double check the offer / promo to make sure it actually is one!! I always look at prices / kg / litre etc and I check the price of single items in their normal supermarket shelf position (i.e. not the end of aisle promos). Try it out - you’ll be surprised
Before now… I have stopped another shopper in order to ask them if I have correctly understood the “special offer”… they never seem to mind, in fact they are always glad to help… although they have to get past my accent…
I do this already especially in Tesco’s it’s amazing how many times buying two smaller jars or two 1/2 kilo bags of something is cheaper than a kilo bag. Tesco are always up to those kind of tricks
Our French neighbours ring workman for us and then accompany them to our house.
So far the devis have been ‘correct.’
Still expensive but the going price.
I’d say its nearly impossible to compare like for like - in part lifestyle is so different - London life was peddling the hamster wheel - work stupid hours - earn the mortgage - spend a tenner just getting on the tube twice to go earn money. Live 5 minutes from a supermarket so buy food 10 minutes before you cook it -or just order a delivery. Now its about weekly/monthly shops - but also thinking about money differently (once cash rich time poor - now time is more plentiful than cash so the oh its only a tenner random buys go out the window). In context - tell me I can save a years firewood bill but it will take a week of my life - now I happily go chop and pile and chop some more - in London I’d have Googled and had it delivered next day - admittedly I didn’t have fields and trees but that’s not the point … Food on the whole - I’m probably less picky now - the must be organic meat went out the window quickly - but equally the veg patch saves a fortune - June - Oct we’ll be self sufficient - then depends on weather - but we probably eat onions - spuds - beans and soft fruits of our own 10 months a year.
But equally there isn’t the competition (or the Poles) when it comes to shops/trades so most the time trades are more than in London - but Social Charges etc are a factor - living on a hill miles from anyway means you’re paying travel time for them as well whether they admit or not - so how do you compare. Equally local Brico is eye watering - but I’m not driving an extra 60kms to save a few euro - so you learn to plan a bit more and have it ready - rather than buying when you need (I had a Wilko 2 minutes walk - Wickes 5 minutes by car - B&Q/Homebase within 15 minutes and 6 builders merchants who’d deliver same day in Ealing - now I don’t - so you learn not to run out of screws/timber/glue anymore - and you learn what to bulk buy when its on offer - so you change with it) Heating - I’m home more so … guess what it costs more - that said I miss mains gas and all the savings that brings
I’ve never had a really stupid devis yet - they made my eyes water at times - but when every quote is the same ballpark you know its you who has to change your thinking.
At the same time - as said above - shop around - you want how much … two shops later you find it at a fraction of the price. Even chicken food - I can walk between a Gamme Vert and a Leclerc Brico in 10 minutes - yet I can get the same basic mix for a third of the price in one of them.
Like I said Teresa it is not so bad these days, me thinks they know that they cannot be so hard faced like they used to be, but like you say Still expensive but that is not always their fault what with very very high social charges the only winner is the French Government.
I went to the local supermarket (Asda in Selsey), bananas were£1.59 /kilo, compared with our local Carrefour at €1.79. Looks like food in UK has got more expensive, at least on the banana index…
(and it does sell, amazingly enough)
although they have to get past my accent… 