judybos Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Just a housewife query, how do all you ladies manage your food shopping,without running out of the necessities,we shall shortly be moving to a small village near Champagne Mouton, luckily a Bolangerie 1 Kl away, but main supermarkets 20klm, silly really but its one of my main worrys ! (not the renovation work !!) I am so used to popping to the corner shop, maybe just disorganised ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 If the roads are OK go to the supermarket. Just make sure you have a big fridge/freezer.But there must be other shops closer, surely? Why not use them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 I am not quite as isolated as you, however, the boulangeries aren't usually open 7/7 days either. I make my own bread, but if I am buying (which sometimes happens) I tend to buy those huge pain de campagne and cut them up into useable pieces before freezing. The baguettes and flutes freeze less well and tend to lose their crusts. I always have lots of long life milk in. I freeze butter and generally am well stocked up. I don't like shopping anyway, so I prefer to have enough in, to avoid doing it so often. You are going to have to get organised, but as long as you remember to replace what you've used it shouldn't be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Common sense in getting what you need for at least a week/month ahead in "heavy" things like detergents,loo rolls,cat food,litter etc and buying in bulk for the freezer. I've never had the luxury of close shopping until I moved to France and now I am spoilt for choice with a village supermarket,another 2.5km away and big ones a bit further,but I still only shop once a week and make sure I have lots of staples indoors at all times and the freezers are kept full. Its all a matter of re-adjusting your lifestyle and live according to your budget if you are on one especially with petrol/diesel the highest it has ever been that I can remember here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeb Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Hi Judybos and welcome!You are lucky - you definitley won't starve. Champagne Mouton has a small supermarket where you can buy all the basics, it also has a very good butchery department. It's closed on Mondays though and also for the usual two hour lunch.You will also find excellent supermarkets at Civray and Ruffec (open all day) - not too far away surely? Then for big (or at least more interesting) shopping there is Geant or Auchan at Angouleme.We live near Champagne Mouton and once I'd got used to the hours (no 24 hour shopping here), found it just as easy to shop in France as in a UK village. If you have major problems with weekly shopping - the Coop in Champagne Mouton delivers!! Modern or what!best wishes............sure you will get used to it all!helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 I freeze fresh milk - can't bear (sp?) that UHT stuff. I do keep one UHT spare just in case I forget to defrost milk the night before!Deby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard-R Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Lucky you, only 20 kms, our main supermarket is 50kms away on b-roads.Once a months we both fill a trolley each but pck up bits and bobs on days out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 A freezer is the answer. Not one of those huge things where various disgusting items emerged from the depths 3 years out of date, but a modest one where you can keep tabs on what you have. I always shop once a week, I did that in then UK as well. Bread goes in the freezer, I find I can get fresh milk with a sell by date of at least 2 weeks ahead, but I have frozen it successfully. Fruit and veg lasts a week although we sometimes top up mid week. Meet gets frozen, I'm a specialist in picking up half price free range chickens in our local hypermarketI also find that there are many frozen food delivery people who are forever ringing me up to try and persuade me to buy, I don't do this as there are only 2 of us but I know my neighbours with large families find it very useful. Liz (29) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 I'm surprised that there aren't more travelling shops in France. When we had our house in the Scottish highlands we had a fresh fish van and a greengrocer once a week. There are so many little villages around us with no shops. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 Our next-door neighbour (she is in her 80s) has a couple of vans every week, they don't seem uncommon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobc Posted October 2, 2004 Share Posted October 2, 2004 What on earth does this thread have to do with House Renovations?!Bob Clarkehttp://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 This was the poster's first post - and people are often unsure of the structures of the forum until they have a little experience. I don't think there's any need to sound quite so offended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 Buy in bulk at places like Netto (part of the Mousquetaires/Intermarché bunch). They do 5kg bags of pasta, huge bags of rice, giant tins of tinned stuff.French people do buy a dozen baguettes at a time for the freezer, but only for use within a day or two. After that it's not nice.And don't forget airtight containers for flour etc, or you'll get beasties! If you do, don't worry, they're not treated with the same horror here as they are in the UK, they're just a nuisance. You can get sticky patches to attract the moths, they seem to work quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patter Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 its easy, my husband has taken over the job off cooking since we moved here, i am now getting good meals and its his job to do the shopping.i dont have to worry about it, my main job is the ironing, i never seem to have time to do it, tricia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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