Nibbler

burp,
oh!! sorry it was not me it was my FOOD!!!!
just finished another spaceman meal type pot noodle even though living in the land of culinary delights (france).
Its a essential in life and i just wondered about the rest of you people, what do you do?
Are you retired enjoying life going to outdoor markets for the essentials?
Do you go to the local shops for everything or do half and half with them and a supermarket?
supermarket shoppers dislikes and likes or best and worst?
I have my views on them but not enough time to respond, also does cost come into it,the above can be pricey at times and economic credit"o" crunch seems to be pushing everyone to cut back.
so as ever i know all your wise words will be appreciated.

G-J-B

Fortunately I've not been reduced to pot noodles yet!
I do 40% of the shopping in Lidl, 40% at Carrefour and the rest either at G20, Ed's or Franprix, or buy from the local markets. I was in Carrefour a couple of days ago and saw a mouse running about, and what I suspect were mouse droppings on the floor which was nice. Also on my last grocery trip, I had a strange experience when a French guy stopped me, and said (in English, as he overheard me speaking English) - "I think I know you! Yes... You are from Ireland, I believe I worked with you at ____(I didn't catch the name because of the accent)". I had to assure him I'd never seen him before in my life, and nor was I Irish. A couple of weeks prior a French guy thought I was Dutch because he was commenting on my shoelaces being too long. I have about a neutral an English accent as a person can have.

Bought a steamer a couple of days ago, so have started steaming vegetables and fish, so I eat very healthily these days, and very cheaply. For lunch I usually have rice or pasta with vegetables, and make soups from anything we have about the house.

My pet hate about the supermarkets are the narrow aisles, and people leaving their trolleys jack-knifed across the aisle meaning you have to push it out the way. Also queue jumpers, which I frequently come across.

Herman

We mix it up. We get a weekly delivery from Ooshop (Carrefour online) of basics and heavy stuff (my wife is heavily pregnant and I'm just idle). We tend to buy all our meat, fish, cheese, bread from small local shops and have to pay quite a premium for that. We buy fruit and veg from the local market on Saturday mornings, also expensive but good quality. We completely fill the car with nappies, cosmetics, marmite, ketchup and baked beans from Tesco when we drive back to the UK occasionally as these products are c70% cheaper than in Paris. We recently bought 250 pounds worth of disposable nappies in Tesco (emptied the shelf) who had a 2 for 1 offer and are about half the price of Carrefour even pre-offer. We calculated they would have cost 925 euros in Carrefour, which itself is the cheapest place in Paris. The saving more than covered the cost of Eurotunnel, fuel and a weekend in a very nice country hotel in Kent.

PS. can't say I've ever even tried a pot noodle, nor has my wife. Are we missing out?

Andrea50

You crack me up Herman, you really do! I have to take my hat off to you, as I never met a man yet who admitted openly in front of hundreds to be bone idle! Love it m8.

And now to serious stuff - are you missing out not having had Pot Noodle? Yes, of course you are, they are the perfect food item. You eat it, it's disgusting so you throw it up and therefore don't put on weight, then you can use the pot after punching holes in it to bring on yer cucumber seeds in the greenhouse. Voila!

Never realised nappies were expensive in France - at our age, incontinence pads would be more of an issue really, so maybe the time will come when we will be raiding the Tesco shelves in a similar way. At the moment it would be boots full of baked beans, gravy powder, custard powder and fabric for me, as the French don't seem to have words for "pastel" or "subtle" when it comes to bedding and stuff.

Netto used to be good too - we always found the markets were better for the social aspect and the odd bunch of carrotts, as they were rather dear. I only went to Carrefour for their Sauternes (I used to have a palette in them days) and most of it we did like the others at Lidl. Bits and bobs for the home we got from Gifi.

Food is hyped up in whichever country one ends up. Here it is Gordon Ramsey and his flash mates, all charging £45 for something borderline invisible on a plate and calling it a "starter". Over there, it's no different. I truly believe it is possible to live frugally wherever you are - you know the saying "When all else fails, lower your standards".

Things might have changed but our food bill weekly in France 3 years ago was never anymore than about 30 euros - we did grow veg and stuff but we were just sensible probably.

Happy Friday to all.

jenny and charlie

We do ok, I go to Le Clerc on tuesdays and do "the shop" and then on saturday morning we go to Bazas market for fruit and veg where we meet up with our brit friends and go and have a coffee or wine in the local cheap bar (5 euros for 3 glasses of wine and a cappuccino - not bad ?) I buy a big bag of dog food from Brico for our two greyhounds and that works out same-ish as we paid in england. We feel we do ok and our food bill is cheaper than in uk each week.

Nibbler

Hi
Queue jumpers!! it is usually the elderly,hello been stood here for 20 mins them 20 seconds.
Anyway myself i do a combination of local and supermarket, blessed with a convenient road nearby it has 3 butchers(1 good),2 greengrocers(1 good),2 bakeries(1 good),5 pizza places(0 good),3 speciality shops(never venture in),many bars and the most horrible man who runs the newsagent.
get daily stuff from them, made a few friends keep going back, can actually work out cheaper than the supermarkets somtimes.
Never manage to get to outdoor markets that often, agian can be cheap then you get stung trying somthing homemade and it cost you a fortune.
Supermarkets,yes....the french supermarket big place lots of people,go there for big shop,big price for very little
I would love to like carrefour,casino,and the rest but to me its missing somthing(value).
There are some great low cost places hard to the big shop in them though.
No sunday shopping at the big boys but the local shops open in the morning,shut monday,closed middle of day and never open the wedsday.
Card fidelity now thats question,do you buckle and let them have your details and curiosly the next week recieve bundles of advertising after they flog your details to the advertising company,no thanks!! am i missing out?
oh yes spaceman food at supermarkts in the somwhere between pasta and noodles ,exotique stuff with the hint of curry or chicken!!

beigey

EVERYTHING from Auchan once a week - have a carte Auchan and get 5% back - I plan my meals based on the offers - bulk buy certain items like Olive Oil, Washing Detergent etc when its on offer ... Managed to knock a huge amount off my shopping bill one day as I redeemed my cashback - planning to get a chest freezer so I can freeze things when I buy in bulk ... recently got 1/4 of a lamb for around 20 euros which made around 12 meals plus bones for the dog! Have also started padding our meals with extra veges added ... I will start going to a local farmers market in a few weeks to get veg which is cheaper than the supermarkets ... In the village where I live the same thing (which is admittedly better) is 3 times the price so we save that for special occassions ... my Auchan promo demi gigot d'agneau yesterday was AMAZING - even my MIL thought it was from the village and must have cost at least 20 euros (in reality it was 8!)
I love a bargain but will never compromise on quality!!