Fridge Food Check

DBK said:
We've found a shop in a French supermarket costs about the same as it would in the UK. Some things are cheaper, some things more expensive.
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Really. Been here going on 6 weeks and it is definitely more expensive in France shopping.
We mostly shop at Aldi Lidl at home and prices here in same shops don’t compare with home at all.
 
Fragle said:
Really. Been here going on 6 weeks and it is definitely more expensive in France shopping.
We mostly shop at Aldi Lidl at home and prices here in same shops don’t compare with home at all.
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They have Lidl and Aldi in France.
 
chaser said:
Apart from the Yorkshire puds I think you will find the other stuff.
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English style bacon (streaky, back, smoked , unsmoked) was impossible to find on my last trip out. Le Mans 24 hour race was not the same without bacon butties at breakfast!
 
Hook of Holland/Harwich earlier this week.

No check of the fridge.
Cursory glance in through the windows to ensure we were not fully loaded with stowaways.
(Had I but known, I could have got at least a dozen in the lockers and paid for our trip! ;))
Verbal confirmation that the gas was off was OK.

Passport stamped for Dutch exit and they asked each of us individually for our arrival date
(even though it they could see the Dutch entry stamps).
So they really are ensuring you don't go over your 90 day allowance

Bottom line is your ham sandwich is probably safe, but if you are leaving on the 90th day of your allowance you can expect trouble.

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DDJC said:
I don't worry. I love shopping in France. I eat anything.
However, my boys are extraordinarily picky eaters. They eat the same things for every meal, 365 day as year. Try buying Yorkshire puds, battered chicken or streaky bacon in leclerk!
The happy world of autism!!
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Would a doctor's letter help?

I don't know why whenever this type of topic comes up there's a few replies on the lines of 'don't you know you uneducated idiot that they have supermarkets'.
The answer is, of course we know BUT some of us like the occasional bacon and English sausage, gravy, custard. Doesn't mean that for most of the time we also like shopping and cooking 'continental grub'!
Irritated rant over.
 
StephandJohn said:
Would a doctor's letter help?

I don't know why whenever this type of topic comes up there's a few replies on the lines of 'don't you know you uneducated idiot that they have supermarkets'.
The answer is, of course we know BUT some of us like the occasional bacon and English sausage, gravy, custard. Doesn't mean that for most of the time we also like shopping and cooking 'continental grub'!
Irritated rant over.
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Agreed.
Same with the budget for us. If I know it’s a higher price in France. I’ll take it with me. Breakfast cereal is an example. I love breakfast cereal any time of day If you can get it it’s probably double the price if not more. Just cause I’m in France doesn’t mean I have to eat a croissant for breakfast.
Planned 3x wheatabix a day for 89 days simple might even have a croissant as well.
They also never bothered checking the van when we came over
 
StephandJohn said:
I don't know why whenever this type of topic comes up there's a few replies on the lines of 'don't you know you uneducated idiot that they have supermarkets'.
The answer is, of course we know BUT some of us like the occasional bacon and English sausage, gravy, custard.
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Messing about 3.jpg

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Isn't this very similar to if someone from another country posted on how UK laws were enforced so they knew what the likelihood was of getting caught or punnished? I wonder how those breaking these rules and swanking off about getting away with it would react to an article saying our laws were being broken.
 
We complied with all the rules so frustrating when the powers that be don’t.
 
The Wino said:
Isn't this very similar to if someone from another country posted on how UK laws were enforced so they knew what the likelihood was of getting caught or punnished? I wonder how those breaking these rules and swanking off about getting away with it would react to an article saying our laws were being broken.
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Really. Let’s be honest here. Our laws are being broken on a daily basis. Our bit of food is nothing. There are already thousands breaking the law far more often by coming into this country illegally and they brag about what they get when they get here and we can’t do anything. As yet.
Me taking my breakfast to France. Is obviously the biggest problem though
I wonder why :unsure:
 
Fragle said:
Really. Let’s be honest here. Our laws are being broken on a daily basis. Our bit of food is nothing. There are already thousands breaking the law far more often by coming into this country illegally and they brag about what they get when they get here and we can’t do anything. As yet.
Me taking my breakfast to France. Is obviously the biggest problem though
I wonder why :unsure:
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Our laws being broken by others, not British, is what would get the Express/Mail readers ranting! You know, like the whole immigrant thing! The racist point of view is why we have Brexsh1t! Farage stirred it, the ERG let him rant and used it to stop themselves getting taxed to the hilt, putting money into the NHS (£350 million? Seems to have gone missing!) and other services. There was absolutely no need to bring this up in a conversation about taking food into France!
 
chaser said:
Apart from the Yorkshire puds I think you will find the other stuff.
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The streaky bacon is awful, made the mistake of buying it a couple of times and it's more like lightly salted pork, not bacon. In the end when we were desperate we bought some of their dry cured ham and fried that!

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Fragle said:
Planned 3x wheatabix a day
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OMG!!!!! I've never heard of anyone who actually ate that many ... Bet you can move mountains! 😄
 
Zero interest in our fridge in three trips.
Also zero check of beer,wines and spirits.
Calais Wine superstore here we come on our next trip!
 
VXman said:
English style bacon (streaky, back, smoked , unsmoked) was impossible to find on my last trip out. Le Mans 24 hour race was not the same without bacon butties at breakfast!
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Last time we took bacon with us we ended up throwing it away. Wife not keen on it and I've gone off English breakfasts.
 
MIKEANDSUE said:
Not easy to find vegan cheese in Calais. But then Vegan cheese is not dairy 😊
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Vegan cheese isn't really cheese either!
Definition of cheese - a food consisting of the coagulated, compressed, and usually ripened curd of milk separated from the whey.

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I suspect we are like many others, in that we take what's in the home fridge rather than chuck it. Swmbo loves French supermarkets and we find the only things we find difficult to find is bacon and suitable dog food.
We don't take the British sausage( aka the cereal filled gristle tube) as we much prefer the continental ones.
 
For bacon, go to the proper butchers or the ones on the market preferably, and ask for poitrine fumee for perfectly good smoked bacon.
 
chaser said:
For bacon, go to the proper butchers or the ones on the market preferably, and ask for poitrine fumee for perfectly good smoked bacon.
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Yes, I've done that, but it is not that common. In butchers, I usually ask for "Poitrine fines tranches" or "poitrine de porc fume" and if they have it, it looks like bacon! Needs a ten minute soak in water though as it is much saltier than UK bacon.

Herta do a streaky and a back and most big hypermarkets stock one or the other.

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But Yorkshire pud? Chicken gravy? British-style sausages? Battered chicken fillets ? Tommy K? Baked beans?
 
Reallyretired said:
My reading of the rules is that food for the consumption of 'crew and passengers' can be carried. As far as we are concerned swmbo and myself are crew and the dogs are passengers.
The much quoted ham sandwich was probably some over zealous official and shouldn't have been confiscated as obviously for consumption by the driver.
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I'm sorry, but your reading of the rules isn't accurate. The rules are very clear and food for 'consumption by crew and passengers' is not given as a caveat. 'Personal consumption' exemptions on food importation into the EU were tightened up 10 years ago after the foot and mouth crisis.

It's clear from this and other threads that very few people are having their fridges checked. However, if you're one who does, you run the risk of having your food confiscated. You also run the risk of a potentially quite large fine. One family were fined (it was shown on a TV programme some time ago) but they were bolshy with the customs official and were obviously trying to hide large amounts of milk. (Which does seem a weird thing to try to smuggle.) I might risk it on the basis that I could manage if my dairy and meat products were confiscated, and I would hope that my non-confrontational and calm demeanour (and the fact that hopefully the customs official wasn't having a bad day) meant I wouldn't be fined. Or I might not risk it.
 
Tonks said:
I'm sorry, but your reading of the rules isn't accurate. The rules are very clear and food for 'consumption by crew and passengers' is not given as a caveat. 'Personal consumption' exemptions on food importation into the EU were tightened up 10 years ago after the foot and mouth crisis.

It's clear from this and other threads that very few people are having their fridges checked. However, if you're one who does, you run the risk of having your food confiscated. You also run the risk of a potentially quite large fine. One family were fined (it was shown on a TV programme some time ago) but they were bolshy with the customs official and were obviously trying to hide large amounts of milk. (Which does seem a weird thing to try to smuggle.) I might risk it on the basis that I could manage if my dairy and meat products were confiscated, and I would hope that my non-confrontational and calm demeanour (and the fact that hopefully the customs official wasn't having a bad day) meant I wouldn't be fined. Or I might not risk it.
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I would try something like "Je suis désolé mais mes enfants sont autistes et ils mangent la même chose tous les jours", and hope that he hasn't had a row with the missus the day before ::bigsmile: ::bigsmile:

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