When did food in France get so stupidly expensive?
Discussion
Yipper said:
France food prices have soared in recent years. There are world food shortages and prices are rising everywhere. A couple of sandwiches and beers in Monaco are often now approaching £70.
Are you seriously pretending to think that those prices are related to food shortages, or do I need a parrot?rdjohn said:
hyphen said:
So when adding up the cost of ingredients, is eating out good value? Or have restaurants also got stupidly expensive.
In France you can still get a 4-course lunch with wine and coffee for €13 at a Routier type restaurant. I honestly cannot see how they do it - obviously lots of frozen stuff. Choice of main always includes steak and chips.But for quality we have a Michelin recommended restaurant offering a set menu for €22. Menu changes every 2-weeks, but always offers quality stuff from local producers. A starred restaurant starts at €43.
At a nearby fish restaurant we can have 6-Oysters, Grilled Tuna main, cheese course and special desert for €28:50.
In the UK we struggle to find anywhere worthy of the description of a restaurant. Most of the stuff on offer is pre cooked souse-vide at best, but probably Brake Brothers, usually sat in a converted pub surrounded by screaming kids, whose parents don't give a damn. Franchises like Rick Stein are a complete joke. Great staff and views, but a very disappointing menu and what turns up is mediocre and well below what we cook at home. The only thing that is special are the prices.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 17th August 12:28
Having travelled extensively in France I can't agree with most of what you say, though our pubs are generally of a poor standard. You don't have to eat there.
Many of the chain restaurants in France are poor at best, the likes of Buffalo Grill and Hppopotamus. I think it would be fair to compare them to our pubs.
Some regions of France are desperately short of good restaurants. I have a (French) mate, has his own bar in the Haute Savoir, used to be a chef over here, who's scathing about what's available down there. "Cheese and potatoes and the imagination to go with it!"
As for the UK, there are plenty of good restaurants if you look. I'm out in the sticks but have 26 Michelin recommended restaurants within an hour or so, including 2 with stars.
As for the general cost out there, it's been noticeably pricy for years. Especially for visitors.
Just came back from three weeks in France in our van and we found the food very expensive, as we did last year but certainly of higher quality.
We are at the lower end of the scale in terms of culinary needs as we are on a very very low budget...think old rusty 80s VW van rather than Motorhome.
We mainly existed on fresh baguettes, cheese and cheap wine and fairly basic evening meals with seasonal cheaper veg.
Meat seems extremely expensive so became a treat once we found something on promotion/marked down.
Its certainly doable but a struggle on a low budget, everytime we walked out of a supermarket etc we seemed to look at the receipt and think hows that come to that much.
Although as a holiday maker doing the whole cheap touring in a van thing using local aires for a few euros a night, it all balances out so we try not to get to hung up on the price of food. Also, the cheap wine, diesel and empty roads make up for it.
We are at the lower end of the scale in terms of culinary needs as we are on a very very low budget...think old rusty 80s VW van rather than Motorhome.
We mainly existed on fresh baguettes, cheese and cheap wine and fairly basic evening meals with seasonal cheaper veg.
Meat seems extremely expensive so became a treat once we found something on promotion/marked down.
Its certainly doable but a struggle on a low budget, everytime we walked out of a supermarket etc we seemed to look at the receipt and think hows that come to that much.
Although as a holiday maker doing the whole cheap touring in a van thing using local aires for a few euros a night, it all balances out so we try not to get to hung up on the price of food. Also, the cheap wine, diesel and empty roads make up for it.
The relative cheapness of UK food plus supermarkets' pricing policies (buy two you don't need for a bit more than the one that you do) results in over-buying which then results in a shameful amount of food being wasted. If UK food prices were a bit more sensible we might buy what we need and eat it, rather than buy too much and bin it.
We had a week self-catering in Brittany in June.
We noticed that food in both supermarkets and local markets was much more expensive than the UK. We went to Intermarche, Carrefour and Leclerc and it was the same story in all of them. Food was at least 50% more expensive than in the UK, even allowing for the crap exchange rate. Had the rate been €1.5 = £1.00, food would still have been more expensive in France.
Aldi & Lidl must be a factor. They have created ferocious competition in the UK, and forced the 'big 4' to slash their margins to the absolute bone and squeeze their suppliers. They haven't yet had the same influence in France.
We noticed that food in both supermarkets and local markets was much more expensive than the UK. We went to Intermarche, Carrefour and Leclerc and it was the same story in all of them. Food was at least 50% more expensive than in the UK, even allowing for the crap exchange rate. Had the rate been €1.5 = £1.00, food would still have been more expensive in France.
Aldi & Lidl must be a factor. They have created ferocious competition in the UK, and forced the 'big 4' to slash their margins to the absolute bone and squeeze their suppliers. They haven't yet had the same influence in France.
Doofus said:
Yipper said:
France food prices have soared in recent years. There are world food shortages and prices are rising everywhere. A couple of sandwiches and beers in Monaco are often now approaching £70.
Are you seriously pretending to think that those prices are related to food shortages, or do I need a parrot?Meanwhile in the real world had a decent lunch in MC for €20.
Yipper said:
France food prices have soared in recent years. There are world food shortages and prices are rising everywhere. A couple of sandwiches and beers in Monaco are often now approaching £70.
Pizza Boutique will drop you off a large Pizza anywhere in Monaco for 12 Euros and it's 7 Euro a pint in the Irish Bar..... Unless you are guesting in the Yacht club where on earth are you managing to spend 80 odd euros on two sandwiches and two beers? Or is this club sandwiches and hotel bar beers?nickfrog said:
I think he is serious, and a little bit "special". Monaco pricing is very representative of the entire pricing in France, everyone knows that.
The French have odd ideas on business though. Couple of examples.
In 1989 there was a bar where I used to live (Amiens) and it was quite cool, and it did Guinness for FF30 a pint - about £3. Ludicrous money but not bad for beer in a bar in France.
The next week it was FF50 (£5) a pint. The owners reasoning? He wanted to attract richer clientele. WTF?
Another example - man weekends I'd drive up to see my friends in Eindhoven. I'd usually buy a crate or two of Grolsch and take the bottles back (deposit) the week or two after. Then I discovered that a little shop maybe a kilometre from where I lived sold it - and cheaper than Holland! Fantastic. However after a few weeks the owners clocked on to this and put the price up. Not a little bit. They pretty well doubled it on the back of me increasing their sales. I never returned.
For me that kind of sums them up - they aren't very advanced businessmen. (And I say this as a confirmed Francophile)
Dog Star said:
The French have odd ideas on business though.
Couple of examples.
In 1989 there was a bar where I used to live (Amiens) and it was quite cool, and it did Guinness for FF30 a pint - about £3. Ludicrous money but not bad for beer in a bar in France.
The next week it was FF50 (£5) a pint. The owners reasoning? He wanted to attract richer clientele. WTF?
Another example - man weekends I'd drive up to see my friends in Eindhoven. I'd usually buy a crate or two of Grolsch and take the bottles back (deposit) the week or two after. Then I discovered that a little shop maybe a kilometre from where I lived sold it - and cheaper than Holland! Fantastic. However after a few weeks the owners clocked on to this and put the price up. Not a little bit. They pretty well doubled it on the back of me increasing their sales. I never returned.
For me that kind of sums them up - they aren't very advanced businessmen. (And I say this as a confirmed Francophile)
That made me chuckle,as you are spot on.Couple of examples.
In 1989 there was a bar where I used to live (Amiens) and it was quite cool, and it did Guinness for FF30 a pint - about £3. Ludicrous money but not bad for beer in a bar in France.
The next week it was FF50 (£5) a pint. The owners reasoning? He wanted to attract richer clientele. WTF?
Another example - man weekends I'd drive up to see my friends in Eindhoven. I'd usually buy a crate or two of Grolsch and take the bottles back (deposit) the week or two after. Then I discovered that a little shop maybe a kilometre from where I lived sold it - and cheaper than Holland! Fantastic. However after a few weeks the owners clocked on to this and put the price up. Not a little bit. They pretty well doubled it on the back of me increasing their sales. I never returned.
For me that kind of sums them up - they aren't very advanced businessmen. (And I say this as a confirmed Francophile)
And they still think that all Brits are rich.
It's always been far more expensive than the UK regardless of exchange rates, and the supermarkets I frequent have much worse food on offer too.
The local adorably bijoux farmer's market where I tend to lurk sells aldi fruit and veg. You see the vendors stocking up in there.
The local adorably bijoux farmer's market where I tend to lurk sells aldi fruit and veg. You see the vendors stocking up in there.
Edited by bloomen on Tuesday 22 August 01:37
bloomen said:
It's always been far more expensive than the UK regardless of exchange rates, and the supermarkets I frequent have much worse food on offer too.
The local adorably bijoux farmer's market where I tend to lurk sells aldi fruit and veg. You see the vendors stocking up in there.
I would disagree that it has always been the case. At the very earliest, it is a change that came in with the introduction of the Euro.The local adorably bijoux farmer's market where I tend to lurk sells aldi fruit and veg. You see the vendors stocking up in there.
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