A day trip shopping in France can be a great way to touch some of the delights that this unique country has to offer and best of all it can be done in one day! With just 26 miles of water separating the Uk and France you can arrive for shopping in France in less than 2 hours.
Shopping in France can be a real feast for the senses. From the bustle of French food markets where you can buy fresh, local, seasonal home yield together with vegetables, fruits, meats, jams, breads and pastries to the aroma of roasting chickens, cherries in season and powerfully pungent yet appetizing and appetising cheeses.
In increasing to glutton foods and culinary treats, France is also sublime for its huge hypermarkets such as Auchan, Carrefour and Leclerc. The size of football pitches and situated in Centre Commercials on the edge of towns, these ample French hypermarkets stock thousands upon thousands of products from electrical and white goods, clothing, household items, food and of course fine wines and beers. With many items economy than in the Uk it is inherent to make critical savings when shopping in France.
Shopping in FranceShopping in France and occasion hours
Shop occasion hours in France differ to those in the Uk with virtually all shops and shop in France terminated on a Sunday. Occasionally there are exceptions to this rule and some hypermarkets e.g. Carrefour have special openings. While the rest of the week most of the larger shops and hypermarkets are open all day with some smaller shops and businesses closing for lunch in the middle of midday and 2.30pm. On French national and collective holidays all shops, banks and businesses are closed.
Best buys when shopping in France
French bread
While French bread tastes delicious, it is made with little or no preservatives and can therefore go stale quite speedily particularly While the summer months. One tip to retain freshness is to use a bread bag or to wrap the bread in a tea towel. French bread is best bought from a boulangerie. Look out for those boulangeries which appear busy or where there are queues. Be ready to pay a little more for your French bread here than you would in a supermarket.
Water
Although commonly ok, tap water in France is rarely drunk with most French people preferring to drink eau de source for everyday use. Cheap and palatable, eau de source is mostly bought in 1.5L bottles. Well known brands such as Badoit, Evian and Perrier come under the banner of eau minerale naturelle and are often considerably economy to buy than in the Uk.
Cheese
As you would expect in a country that has at least 365 cheeses to its name, French supermarkets sell a wide option of cheese and they will often have samples for you to try. If you adore cheese, then possibly a better option would be to visit a French specialist cheese shop called a fromagerie. The most sublime fromagerie in Pas de Calais is Philippe Olivier at rue Thiers in Boulogne sur Mer, 30 minutes from Calais on the A16. Boulogne sur Mer is also the home of the "World's Whiffiest Cheese" - Vieux Boulogne as named by scientists at Cranfield University. Philippe Olivier sells local, regional and national varieties of cow, sheep and goat's milk cheeses.
French food markets
Your first stop to buy fresh fruits and vegetables should be a French food market. Open for enterprise from around 8am and closing around noon most French towns will have a market taking place on Saturday. commonly seasonal, lots of yield for sale is local and regional with fruits, vegetables and meat direct from local specialist suppliers and farmers. Best buys from French food markets comprise seasonal vegetables and huge bundles of smoked garlic for a fraction of what they would cost in the Uk.
Calais has two food markets, Place D'Armeson on Wednesday/Saturday morning plus Place Crèvecoeur on Thursday and Saturday. The food market in Boulogne sur Mer takes place on Wednesday and Saturday mornings in Place Dalton just off the Grand Rue.
Fresh seafood right off the boat
The pretty town of Boulogne-sur-Mer also happens to be France's largest fishing port. For fresh seafood and shellfish right off the boat pay a visit to the harbour - Quai Gambetta. Here you can buy the day's catch of fish, lobster, crab and mussels from a range of shops in the fish market or direct off the fishing boats. Someone else perfect place to shop and eat seafood is Aux Pecheurs D'Etaples situated on the Grand rue in the centre of Boulogne. A highly praised bistro and fishmonger, Aux Pecheurs D'Etaples is run by a local fishing co-operative.
Wine, beer and spirits
France's hypermarkets are second to none when it to comes to price and option of wine, beer and spirits. In most French hypermarkets a huge area of floor space is dedicated to just aisles upon aisles stacked high with international and local beers, wine and champagne. Top tip: two trolleys are better than one if you plan on doing a major shop at a French hypermarket and don't forget to have abundance of turn as French trolleys need a one Euro coin.
Take your own shopping bags to France
Taking your own reusable shopping bags to France will ensure that you won't have any nasty surprises when you arrive at the till with some heavy laden trolleys. Due to concerns over the impact of non-biodegradable plastic bags on the environment, supermarkets and shops in France have whether phased out plastic bags at the checkout or are in the process of doing so. Instead, many French supermarkets and shops now give you the option of buying a reusable bag or brown paper bags and boxes.
Keep your shopping cool and fresh
Having a cool bag or cool box is critical when shopping in France. For one, there are all those ever so tasty but oh so whiffy cheeses to reconsider plus it is always a good idea from a food security point of view to keep meats and dairy products cool especially if your shopping is going to be "resting" in the car boot for a while.
A good time to shop
A good time to shop in France, especially on a Saturday is in the middle of 12:00 and 14:30. At this time most people in France are having lunch and therefore the hypermarkets and shops are less busy allowing you abundance of time and room to whiz around the aisles.
shopping carts for saleRecommend : Best DELTA DP300L CHEAP iPad Sale! Mitsubishi WD-73638
No comments:
Post a Comment