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The Cost of Food


Gardian
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With it being too cold to do any work outside yesterday afternoon, I thought that I'd sit down and furtle away at something that caught my imagination the other day.

Saturday's Telegraph publishes a 'Real Cost of Living Index' and since I'd always told myself that it's cheaper over here, I thought that I'd plug the UK and French prices in to a spreadsheet and see whether I was deluding myself.  I was.

I left out 2 or 3 items that we never buy and added in a couple (one was wine!)  Of the 18 items, just 6 are cheaper in France and of those 5, only one by a significant amount - wine of course. It amazed me that milk and butter were both dearer (+32% & +35% respectively). I then 'weighted' the spend to take account of the frequency of consumption, i.e. an item which is 35% more expensive isn't terribly relevant if it costs €2 and you only buy it monthly.

Conclusions:

  • On that 'basket' of items, our spend is just 2.74% less than it would be in the UK, but largely thanks to the wine
  • Fruit & veg is actually quite pricey here, even if bought on the market
  • We spend loads more on bread than we ever did in the UK - but like so many other things, the quality is a world apart
  • Drink more wine and you reduce your comparative spend
  • It needs to warm up a bit so as to stop me doing pointless exercises like this
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Hardly at all scientific but a 1/2 filled trolley or 3 bags of shopping from Aldi cost me around €65 whereas I was paying more like €45 3 years ago.

One can also add that my trolley no longer contains packs of beer and bottles of wine as it did then, I have also pretty much finally stopped buying those usefull (not) promo items that used to push up my bill, the house is already full of un-needed tat!

I also now only get 1.18 euros to my pound wheras before it was 1.45.

As I said hardly scientific but I am much more aware of prices now and things seem to cost a lot more.

On the positve side I a probably eating better now without the alcohol.

I am sure that the cost of crude oil is much lower now than when I moved here but diesel is €1.08 whereas I am sure that I was paying 90cts back then.

Another positive, the costs of car/house insurance, taxes foncieres and habitation, water and electricity have hardly risen for me during that period, I wish that I could say the same for my UK property.

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"the costs of car/house insurance, taxes foncieres and habitation, water

and electricity have hardly risen for me during that period"

I find car insurance much higher here, or would do if I wasn't priced out of car ownership

Taxes foncieres and habitation are about 1200 euros for small flat.

Water 75 euros a month

Electricity 80 euros a month.

I have been able to cut down, but don't know any more how that compares with the UK

The cost of food I can't compare, but it certainly seems to be hurting the French

see here  seen on another Forum

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[quote user="NormanH"]"the costs of car/house insurance, taxes foncieres and habitation, water

and electricity have hardly risen for me during that period"

I find car insurance much higher here, or would do if I wasn't priced out of car ownership

Taxes foncieres and habitation are about 1200 euros for small flat.

Water 75 euros a month

Electricity 80 euros a month.

I have been able to cut down, but don't know any more how that compares with the UK

The cost of food I can't compare, but it certainly seems to be hurting the French

see here  seen on another Forum

[/quote]

Yikes 'Water 75 euros a month ' we pay 150 euros a year for water ( we payed £1200 a year ~ 6 years ago in the U.K. for water, fixed rate and no chance of getting a water meter)

Electricity is 150 euros a month and the cost of food, well I would say it's risen by 10% a year for the last 3-4 years. If I had to earn a French wage of say 40,000 - 80,000 euros a year, I would say it would be far cheaper to live in the U.K. given French taxation.

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Norman - does the cost of your water include mains disposal including sewage? That would explain the high cost compared with those of us who have  fosse or equivalent. Plus you must live in an expensive area.

I've worked out some figures comparing supermarket shopping in Sept and Oct. 2002 with the same months this year. There was a 12.5% increase.

But I've no idea how this compares with UK prices.

 

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Well, if we're going to be allowed to talk about the price of other things besides food, here is what I paid for 2 items from the chemist's today.

1 hotwater bottle just over € 13.  I was told it would last a long time as it was made entirely of rubber.  Indeed, last year, I paid a couple of euros for hotwater bottles from the supermarket and all 3 that I bought have deteriorated.  So, I thought OK, bite the bullet; it's bloody cold, just buy the damn thing.

Second item; dental floss costing over 5 euros (sorry lost my French characters bar).

Therefore 2 very  mundane and necessary items costing 19 euros!

When I queried the bill, the man checked for me and it was all correct and he smilingly handed over my change of 1 euro from my 20-euro bill.  Yikes, indeed! 

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I moved out here 3 months ago.  With regard to food, I think it cost's the same as the UK for a family of 4.  I know I put a bit more wine in the trolley, but then considering, you can get two bottles of decent wine here for the cost of one in the uk.  I shop at the market for Fruit anf veg, but then, that all adds up.  I have even tried, doing a mini shop at Lidl and then the rest at Intermarche, but it still come to around 135E total plus the market.  I used to spend £120 a week in the UK.  Not much different.

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Just the standing charge alone is 65euros a year.

Yes I am in a small city, and there are all sorts of local taxes to pay + Tva on taxes etc.

Basic price per cubic metre around 3,2 euros, then all the rest on top

Plus there was an underpayment from last year..when I had some spendthrift 'friends' in the place while I was away for 3 months..

Présentation simplifiée

de votre facture annuelle détail au dos

VOTRE CONSOMMATION 176 m3

m3 Prix moyen*

du m3 Montant TTC

Abonnement 62,35

Consommation 176 3,16 556,75

TOTAL 619,10

Solde antérieur 371,29

Sorry for taking the thread away from food...

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You are right sweet 17, in that the one area where the UK is significantly cheaper, are Chemists. The reason being is that the regulations in France protect the small independent Chemist and have prevented any national chains such as Boots establishing themselves and the French supermarkets from selling medications such as aspirin.

One of the reasons I believe you see large Boots stores airside at airports like Gatwick, are that passengers load up on their cough cold and other remedies at prices that a fraction of those in countries such as France.

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Yes, chemists are significantly more expensive in France, but I do understand the reasons why and do quite agree with them, as a consequence it is very easy to find chemists in even the smallest villages.......and very knowledgeable and helpful they are.

Mind you, I always brought a supply of things like paracetamol with me from the UK.

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But chemists are also very knowledgeable and helpful in the UK.  Their qualifications and helpfulness have nothing to do with the restrictive practice of making it an expensive requirement to buy even a simple paracetemol at the expensive local chemists.  Not everyone has the possibility of chosing to import from the UK. Most of those who have low incomes here are stuck with the expensive system whether they agree with it or not.

Back tot he original posting, I've never thought food was particularly cheap here.  As we are not great drinkers the wine part of our bill is minimal and the rest has always seemed as expensive or more so than UK.  As we are on French wages the real cost in terms of percentage income is MUCH higher - and sadly the French wages have not increased anywhere near in line with the price of food.

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From the link in my first post above:

l'institut Ipsos a sondé la consommation des Français au cours des six

derniers mois, avec une attention toute particulière pour les habitants

du Languedoc-Roussillon. Résultat : le pessimisme ambiant se traduit

effectivement par une évolution sensible des habitudes, notamment

alimentaires : 74 % des habitants de la région disent avoir réduit leur

consommation de viande, 69 % mangent moins de poisson, 51 % moins de

fruits et légumes, 37 % moins de produits laitiers.

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Norman.

The point I was making was that we have not suffered the huge unrestrained 30%+ hikes in utility bills (because they are still thankfully public companies) and council taxes.

In the UK I have to pay £930 council tax for the privelege of sleeping in a garden shed! and the electricity rises take my breath away, mind you EDF bought the local electricity board so I am in effect subsidising my consumption here.

Richard.

Are there really "French wages of say 40,000 - 80,000 euros a year" around you? The average household income in my local town is €12,000.

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[quote]

Norman.

The point I was making was that we have not suffered the huge unrestrained 30%+ hikes in utility bills (because they are still thankfully public companies) and council taxes.

In the UK I have to pay £930 council tax for the privelege of sleeping in a garden shed! and the electricity rises take my breath away, mind you EDF bought the local electricity board so I am in effect subsidising my consumption here.

Richard.

Are there really "French wages of say 40,000 - 80,000 euros a year" around you? The average household income in my local town is €12,000.

[/quote]

Norman,

I was using "40,000 - 80,000 euros a year" for an example and there's money in these hills that's for sure, given the number of new cars in the village, many of which fall into the luxury 4 saloon bracket (Aude/BMW etc.). AND no I'm not just down the road from Nice, but in rural Aude (Corbieres).
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