Is France more expensive now?

[ericfield]

On a positive note . .....I’ve just bought 4 Large Almond Magnums for €2 in a French supermarket. Not seen them that cheap anywhere in the U. K.  May bring a stock back in lieu of booze and fags.

 

Campsites do seem refreshingly half full this year. Weather in France this month cannot be helping.  

 

 

[FrankBullet]

If we are on holiday, it will cost money - refuse to get wound up about it or sit there analysing it!

[LongTimeCaravaner]

11 hours ago, Mr Plodd said:

Like others we have noticed a substantial rise in the “cost of living” in France over the past few years, and Yes Spain IS (still) much cheaper than France (spent all of March there) but it is creeping up a little.

 

We are currently in Corsica, Diesel is around the €1. 55/litre mark pretty much everywhere. Petrol is about €1. 65 per litre!

 

So far, in the last two weeks, we have not seen a SINGLE Lidl or Aldi store and we have been a fair few miles.  

 

The fruit and veg in France is slightly more expensive than in the U. K. but the quality is far superior, all kinds of meat are ******* expensive. Being the cheapskate git that I am we buy our meat (chicken breast, 5% fat mince, both pork and beef and Chipolatas mainly) in the U. K. , package it all up Into 2 person portions, freeze the packages at home to fit the caravan freezer compartment with as little wasted space as possible, and then (carefully) pack it all into our caravan freezer compartment just before we leave.  By being careful with the size and shape it’s truely amazing just how much you can get in a caravan fridges ice compartment.  

 

I know others will say “Why bother?” but by buying smartly at home, on the lead up to our long trips (current one is 8 weeks) we are of the view that we save a fair bit (especially when comparing what it would cost to buy fresh in France) which enables us to eat out more! When we eat out it’s always at lunch time and we often go for the “Formula” or “Plat De Jour’ both of which are ALWAYS cheaper than the evening menu and usually of equivalent quality. We like lazy lunches, ESPECIALLY on a Sunday (along with most of the rest of France!) 

 

Before anyone asks we have Never had any issue with any of it defrosting, and we usually take an overnight ferry crossing.

 

One modification I HAVE done is to fit a 12v computer cooling fan (set to extract!) to the external top vent of the fridge (via a switch inside) to improve the air flow over the “bits that get hot” at the back of the fridge, it makes a HUGE difference to the fridge efficiency when the ambient temperature is higher than the mid 20’s  It’s amazing just how much really hot air it draws out. If you are off to warmer climes it’s certainly  well worth doing, I paid about a fiver for the fan (Artic fan I think it’s called) even has its own temp probe so the harder the fridge is working the harder the fan works.  

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

Like you, I pack my freezer section with Musk sausages, John's favourite,  steak from Aldi and homecooked bolognaise sauces. That's barbecues sorted and the occasional sausage casserole. We have two trips abroad for six weeks each and that is our little economy. Our 'treats' are to use the peage for towing to make it less stressful for John, and eating out is usually an icecream sundae which costs E8 and seems to be more available in the south than the north.

 

[Ern]

11 hours ago, Mr Plodd said:

Like others we have noticed a substantial rise in the “cost of living” in France over the past few years, and Yes Spain IS (still) much cheaper than France (spent all of March there) but it is creeping up a little.

 

We are currently in Corsica, Diesel is around the €1. 55/litre mark pretty much everywhere. Petrol is about €1. 65 per litre!

 

So far, in the last two weeks, we have not seen a SINGLE Lidl or Aldi store and we have been a fair few miles.  

 

The fruit and veg in France is slightly more expensive than in the U. K. but the quality is far superior, all kinds of meat are ******* expensive. Being the cheapskate git that I am we buy our meat (chicken breast, 5% fat mince, both pork and beef and Chipolatas mainly) in the U. K. , package it all up Into 2 person portions, freeze the packages at home to fit the caravan freezer compartment with as little wasted space as possible, and then (carefully) pack it all into our caravan freezer compartment just before we leave.  By being careful with the size and shape it’s truely amazing just how much you can get in a caravan fridges ice compartment.  

 

I know others will say “Why bother?” but by buying smartly at home, on the lead up to our long trips (current one is 8 weeks) we are of the view that we save a fair bit (especially when comparing what it would cost to buy fresh in France) which enables us to eat out more! When we eat out it’s always at lunch time and we often go for the “Formula” or “Plat De Jour’ both of which are ALWAYS cheaper than the evening menu and usually of equivalent quality. We like lazy lunches, ESPECIALLY on a Sunday (along with most of the rest of France!) 

 

Before anyone asks we have Never had any issue with any of it defrosting, and we usually take an overnight ferry crossing.

 

One modification I HAVE done is to fit a 12v computer cooling fan (set to extract!) to the external top vent of the fridge (via a switch inside) to improve the air flow over the “bits that get hot” at the back of the fridge, it makes a HUGE difference to the fridge efficiency when the ambient temperature is higher than the mid 20’s  It’s amazing just how much really hot air it draws out. If you are off to warmer climes it’s certainly  well worth doing, I paid about a fiver for the fan (Artic fan I think it’s called) even has its own temp probe so the harder the fridge is working the harder the fan works.  

 

Andy

 

 

 

We sing from the same hym book.

[fred]

We pack our freezer, with precisely enough food to do a full English breakfast, half way through the holliday, that’s it.   In terms of price, if you look for English food in a supermarket then you are going to pay a high price.   Go and enjoy it live a little play menu Roulette, the worst that can happen is you will miss a meal and I guess for most people, including me, won’t do much harm.  

[robf1234]

2 hours ago, LongTimeCaravaner said:

Before anyone asks we have Never had any issue with any of it defrosting, and we usually take an overnight ferry crossing.

i was thinking about taking some bacon,, steaks, ,but thought its going to defrost on the ferry overnight, ,but you say it  doesn't will the fridge still work on 12v while on the ferry ? never had to think about this before as its our first time ?   

[Jaydug]

18 minutes ago, robf1234 said:

 will the fridge still work on 12v while on the ferry ? 

No your fridge will stop working on 12volts as soon as the engine is switched off.

Every October/November I take the 36 hour crossing to Bilbao.    I take some frozen stuff with me - usually frozen dinners which I'll have prepared earlier.    I also freeze at home some 1 ltr carton of fruit juice and carry those in the fridge.    Usually when I arrive, the fruit juice is still solid and my frozen dinners still have the frost in them.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Jaydug

[FrankBullet]

56 minutes ago, Jaydug said:

No your fridge will stop working on 12volts as soon as the engine is switched off.

Every October/November I take the 36 hour crossing to Bilbao.    I take some frozen stuff with me - usually frozen dinners which I'll have prepared earlier.    I also freeze at home some 1 ltr carton of fruit juice and carry those in the fridge.    Usually when I arrive, the fruit juice is still solid and my frozen dinners still have the frost in them.

 

I change it to battery power which seems to be fine, then flick it back before driving off the ferry

[Guest]

1 minute ago, FrankBullet said:

 

I change it to battery power which seems to be fine, then flick it back before driving off the ferry

The fridge will only work from 12v when the car is connected and the engine is running.   Flicking it to battery power will have no effect on the fridge.

[Guest]

Quote

but thought its going to defrost on the ferry overnight

 

The fridge is (usually) very well insulated and if the ice box is well packed i. e. full, it will take a very long time to defrost. If you don't drink orange juice use bottled water instead but remember to pour a little out before freezing as it will expand. And of course, as soon as you hit the road again it will begin to chill.

 

I often pack a cold bag the day before and put the whole lot in the fridge. If you can find a cold bag that will fit the ice box I don't see why you couldn't do the same with frozen stuff but use the home freezer instead of the fridge prior to leaving.

 

Jim

[Jaydug]

6 minutes ago, jampot said:

 

. If you don't drink orange juice use bottled water instead but remember to pour a little out before freezing as it will expand.

 

You can also freeze the milk you take with you - although it won't keep quite so long as milk that hasn't been frozen.

[shipbroker]

To revert to OP question. ...we have new neighbours who have just moved back after 12 years in the Charente.

I asked them the question, their answer was pretty much as expected. ...some things are, some things not so. They find that fruit and vegetables in UK much cheaper than they remembered . Meat. ..they were in a pig farming area so pork cheap,they commented how cheap chicken was here. ...I told them chickens always go cheep cheep. ....

 

geoff  

[shipbroker]

Reading some of the past replies I had missed. ..we used to holiday in France with friends who had to an art the amount of meat they could get into their fridge in solid packs. I am not joking when I say they could go best part of three weeks without buying any meat or fish.

Us, a couple of large packs of bacon otherwise what we would normally start any holiday with and buy, 'cos it is a great part of the holiday, meats,veg, etc. etc at Leclerc, Intermarche or wherever.

For health reason unlikely to return,more is the pity,but if we did would envisage no change to things. ......Oh and we have never ever run fridge on 12v whilst travelling. .but that's us.

 

geof

[Ern]

We regularly take some meat with us, in particular some great sausage from our local butcher who makes his own. However when we’re abroad we like to buy food locally and use restaurants too. It’s part of the enjoyment of the holiday.

As for caravan freezers, they are ok if the food is properly frozen at home and packed solid in the caravan freezer box. Then, once we get going the freezer box is never opened until we’re sited and the fridge is cooled.  

This year we are trying a slightly different method - we are putting the pre-frozen meat in a strong plastic food storage box in our domestic freezer at home which fits well inside the caravan freezer box, so that everything is even better insulated for the ferry. Taking the ferry travel time plus the waiting time it’s about 8 hours.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Ern

[Leedslad]

Pork, chicken and turkey are usually reasonably priced,but we do like to lash out on some fillet steak occasionally.  ?

John.

[Mr Plodd]

As others have said, freeze stuff at home, get your caravan fridge as cold as possible, pack the freezer compartment as full as possible DONT open it up until you are on site and on EHU. Caravan fridges are VERY well insulated and will cope with 12-18 without power with no detriment to freezer compartment contents.  

 

Andy

[shipbroker]

Stick your fridge on gas whilst waiting at ferry port, switch off before boarding.

geoff

[Mr Plodd]

11 minutes ago, shipbroker said:

Stick your fridge on gas whilst waiting at ferry port, switch off before boarding.

geoff

 

Little point, it will stay cold enough for many hours (12-18 no problem) so faffing about switching to gas for a short period is pretty pointless really.  

 

I have been packing the freezer compartment with meat for many years, firstly with motorhomes and now with a caravan. Even did it from Portsmouth to Santander once,  everything  was still rock solid even after 24 hours off grid! A FULL freezer compartment is a large very cold lump, it might lose a few degrees of  cold, but certainly not enough to defrost, go remotely soft, or be any sort of health hazard. Remember it will all be cooked anyway. We are 4 weeks into an 8 week trip, our freezer compartment is still half full of stuff we bought from home!  I am still alive to talk about it as well!!

 

Andy

Edited June 10, 2018 by Mr Plodd

[fred]

10 minutes ago, Mr Plodd said:

 

Little point, it will stay cold enough for many hours (12-18 no problem) so faffing about switching to gas for a short period is pretty pointless really.  

 

 

 

Andy

 

I’m not sure the 10seconds it takes to switch to gas counts as faffing in my book.  

[Durbanite]

8 hours ago, robf1234 said:

i was thinking about taking some bacon,, steaks, ,but thought its going to defrost on the ferry overnight, ,but you say it  doesn't will the fridge still work on 12v while on the ferry ? never had to think about this before as its our first time ?   

We always take sausage and bacon with us when going to France.   We freeze it and then in the ice box in freezer.   Seems to stay frozen for the duration of the trip.   I think I will also take a breadmaker with us this time.

[664DaveS]

A breadmaker? Coals to Newcastle?

Sacre bleu,baguettes are cheap and delicious we like to get one for breakfast or with evening meal!

[shipbroker]

Ian. ..is that tongue in cheek time? or is it like the couple in Catterick Caravans last month who had spent £480 on a coffee machine but said a new awning was too much!

 

geoff

[fred]

 I must admit we take 2 fridges to France.  One inside and a fridge in the awning for beer and particularly smelly cheese bought at random at French markets.  As someone once said as I gave him a sample of the cheese we had bought.  He said, I know what type of cheese this is it’s minging cheese.  

[Stockcroft]

2 Croissants and a  Pain au Chocolate (.....they were whoppers) cost me 2. 60 Euros down here in the Gers this morning which I thought was pretty good.    17 Euros for a good 3 course meal in a restaurant in the village also seemed good value - as was the excellent wine at 6 Euros for a half litre carafe.    Best value to date was the Euros 9 we paid each for 12 plump Oysters, wine and fresh bread whilst sitting in a small shack in the sun in the middle of the salt flats on the Ile de Re a couple of days ago.    Memories are priceless!

[Guest]

8 hours ago, matelodave said:

The fridge will only work from 12v when the car is connected and the engine is running.   Flicking it to battery power will have no effect on the fridge.

 

I didnt know that I have been changeing mine to 12v thinking thats how it worked

will not bother anymore