Food and drink supplies
Discussion
? We bring a bit of stuff to last us the first night and following morning. First chance we get, it's off to E Leclerc in Arnage for a big shop. Then we cycle to the boulangerie in Arnage most days for fresh baguette and croissant.
It could well be cheaper to bring stuff from home, but I like going in the French shops, all part of the experience.
As for beer, I only drink lager, so there's not much difference to the stuff we have at home.
It could well be cheaper to bring stuff from home, but I like going in the French shops, all part of the experience.
As for beer, I only drink lager, so there's not much difference to the stuff we have at home.
We used to head off to Carrefour and do a mammouth shop when we arrived. Since getting a bit older and wiser, we now bring all our stuff from home, because it is significantly cheaper. The fact we have a twin axle caravan, three fridges and a Range Rover between three of us does help!
Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys usually do a summer deal where you can get about 40 cans of cooking lager/cider for £20. We stock up on this and it does us. Can't stand those little bottles of French beer, two mouthfuls and it's gone.
We bring bacon sausages and all the usual breakfast stuff from home too. Last year on the Sunday after the race we had a full roast dinner!
All depends on how much space/weight allowance you have. My personal choice is bring it from home, especially the way the £/€ is.
Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys usually do a summer deal where you can get about 40 cans of cooking lager/cider for £20. We stock up on this and it does us. Can't stand those little bottles of French beer, two mouthfuls and it's gone.
We bring bacon sausages and all the usual breakfast stuff from home too. Last year on the Sunday after the race we had a full roast dinner!
All depends on how much space/weight allowance you have. My personal choice is bring it from home, especially the way the £/€ is.
The french supermarkets (Carrefour etc) have got most stuff covered. It's not that expensive. We usually bring some tinned stuff from home for the first evening/morning and as a backup if we run out. Tescos, Waitrose etc do some surprisingly tasty tinned curries and stews that don't need to be refrigerated, as keeping stuff cold can be a hassle if you don't have a cooling solution sorted.
As for the beers, local stuff tends to be 33 or Kronenbourg (not 1664). Personally I'd go with the 33. It's perfectly palatable if cold, and cheap as chips - about 7 euros per case (cases are either 24 or 30 bottles usually). We got through nearly 2,000 bottles of it in 2009 (a labour of love for the purposes of building an immense beermountain) and didn't get sick of the taste of it, so it can't be that bad!
As for the beers, local stuff tends to be 33 or Kronenbourg (not 1664). Personally I'd go with the 33. It's perfectly palatable if cold, and cheap as chips - about 7 euros per case (cases are either 24 or 30 bottles usually). We got through nearly 2,000 bottles of it in 2009 (a labour of love for the purposes of building an immense beermountain) and didn't get sick of the taste of it, so it can't be that bad!
We generally take a couple of halved pre seasoned and frozen chickens for the BBQ, 2 x kilos of frozen chilli, 2 x kilos frozen stuff and as many packs of frozen bacon and susages we can fit in the remaining space in the cool boxes, then buy all the veg / salad / giant bucket for filling with water and ice / beer / garlic / extra seasoning / pain au chocolat etc from Carrefour when we arrive and thats it for the week then. Occasionally nipping into a shop when / if we are near for french stick re-supplies
Just to add, if you are getting there early enough you can pick up other stuff at the supermarkets that you may not have thought of, e.g.
BBQs
Plastic chairs
Bins to fill with water and ice to keep the drinks cold
All of it can be bought for peanuts and left for the wombles to collect to save you lugging it there and back if you're tight on space.
BBQs
Plastic chairs
Bins to fill with water and ice to keep the drinks cold
All of it can be bought for peanuts and left for the wombles to collect to save you lugging it there and back if you're tight on space.
-Lummox- said:
Just to add, if you are getting there early enough you can pick up other stuff at the supermarkets that you may not have thought of, e.g.
BBQs
Plastic chairs
Bins to fill with water and ice to keep the drinks cold
All of it can be bought for peanuts and left for the wombles to collect to save you lugging it there and back if you're tight on space.
Oh brilliant did not think they would sell all that stuff there, even better.BBQs
Plastic chairs
Bins to fill with water and ice to keep the drinks cold
All of it can be bought for peanuts and left for the wombles to collect to save you lugging it there and back if you're tight on space.
Iv decided to get at few crates of beer and breakfast stuff in the UK, the rest will buy over there (unless the plan changes).
Thanks for the reply fella.
We tend to shop at super u on the d323 (the ringroad) as it is quieter and quite close by to Houx Annexe a 'flic' told us about it...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&am...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&am...
va1o said:
Yes they have plastic chairs in France, who'd have thought it!? 
I know, I know... What I was getting at is that a lot of people spend a tenner or so on one of those folding chairs that will probably break before the end of the holiday, and lug it to France taking up space (which can be an issue if you have a 2 seater car or 3-4 people in a normal car) when you could buy one from the supermarket for about a fiver and not have to worry about bringing it back again. Great Dane said:
We tend to shop at super u on the d323 (the ringroad) as it is quieter and quite close by to Houx Annexe a 'flic' told us about it...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&am...
No wonder that Super-U is quiet, it's halfway back to the boat!http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&am...
The Super-U at the top end of Arnage never seems to get especially busy and is only a 5min drive from the Maison Blanche/Camping Bleu area.
There's also a big supermarket (Auchan?) in the ZI Nord as you come off the autoroute into LM and we often call in here to collect urgent supplies (case of 33Export, pistachios, 'Gout' flavour crisps, Carumbars) to assist during pitching camp.
We always take everything but have almost always had a back-up van. If you are a bit low on space try these "Look what we found" range of fresh packed food. Will keep perfect withoit the need of a fridge/cool-box. You will need 3 x packs for 2 blokes and a pack of rice each. Small, light and tasty the chilli-con-carne is v-good.
Rs2oo said:
We always take everything but have almost always had a back-up van. If you are a bit low on space try these "Look what we found" range of fresh packed food. Will keep perfect withoit the need of a fridge/cool-box. You will need 3 x packs for 2 blokes and a pack of rice each. Small, light and tasty the chilli-con-carne is v-good.
what happened to this?????
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff