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LIVING IN FRANCE

6 things that are surprisingly cheap in France (and 5 that are shockingly expensive)

From washing powder to paint, books to electricity, here's a look at what is expensive in France and what is comparatively cheap - and the reasons why prices fluctuate so much.

Published: 5 January 2023 17:39 CET
Updated: 26 February 2024 13:20 CET
6 things that are surprisingly cheap in France (and 5 that are shockingly expensive)
Books in a bookstore window in France. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

When travelling from your home country, the following items might be worth stocking up on to help save you a few extra euros when shopping in France.

Things that are surprisingly expensive

Washing powder

If you ever visit Andorra, the small country found in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France, you might come across droves of French people stocking up on washing powder. Many French people go to Andorra to shop – as sales taxes are very low or non-existent, especially for luxury items and things like alcohol and tobacco. Cleaning products, like washing powder, are also at the top of many French people’s shopping lists when crossing the border.

A large part of the reason washing powder is so pricey in l’Hexagone is because the TVA (value-added tax) is 20 percent for all cleaning products. It’s getting more expensive too – from 2006 to 2015, detergents and cleaning products increased in price by up to 44 percent in some cases, according to Familles rurales. 

When compared with the UK, a study by Which.UK found that the most expensive laundry detergent cost on average 40p per wash, with the cheapest coming out to 8p per wash. In comparison, the cheapest per cycle in France was €0.15 and the most expensive was €0.50.

Light bulbs 

While light bulbs were once something that foreigners may have packed in suitcases to bring to France in order to avoid high prices, the growth and advent of LED lights has meant that the bulbs have a much longer lifespan. An LED lightbulb’s projected lifespan is 25,000 hours.

Nevertheless – lightbulbs are more expensive in France than in the UK, though French prices are quite average when compared to other European countries, like Germany.

In 2023, at Monoprix, you would be able to find a two-pack of standard 60w LED light bulbs for €12.50, but for the exact same product at Sainsbury’s in the UK you would pay £5.

Towels 

In the United States, you can go into Target and buy a standard bath towel for $3 to $10. However, in France, if you were to attempt the same purchase at Monoprix, you would struggle to find a bath towel for under €8. Most bath and shower towels on the Monoprix website were listed for about €13. 

If you shop at Ikea in France you will likely have to pay between €8 to €10 at minimum for a shower/ bath towel (which seems to be the standard price for Ikea stores in other EU countries).

Paint

Many Brits have noticed over the years that paint tends to be more expensive in France than the UK. Several bloggers have shared that paint was one of the top sources of frustration when renovating their French homes. 

A litre of paint is typically sufficient to cover one wall (depending on size), and in the UK you can expect to find budget paints that could be available for as little as £2 to £3 per litre, while the more established brands sell paint for between £5 and £20 per litre, if not more.

However, in France, however, while the average cost of paint is typically calculated by metre squared, and you can expect to spend between €5.5 and €13 per metre squared, if you go to a website like Leroy-Merlin you can see that a simple 1L of white interior paint costs approximately €30. 

Books

In France, whether you are buying a book in a bookshop (librarie) or online, you will still end up paying more than you might expect to in a country like the UK or the US – the average price for a paperback book is €11.50. 

This is because the French government has set up specific protections for independent booksellers. In 2016, France banned free book deliveries, and in 2022 the country took steps to set up a minimum delivery fee that anyone selling a book must abide by. These actions were intended to help small businesses compete with large tech firms, like Amazon. 

It also means that French consumers pay higher prices than their anglophone neighbours when buying the latest best seller – but at least their local town probably has an independent book store. 

Here are the things that are surprisingly cheap in France

But it’s not all bad news, there are plenty of things in France that are cheaper than you might be used to. 

Condoms and contraception

People under the age of 26 have benefitted from free birth control since January 1st, 2023.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced in December 2022 that the country would offer free condoms to people aged 18 to 25, available in pharmacies. In addition to free condoms, France also made all contraceptive methods for women and girls under 26 free of charge.

Museums visits 

Many people can enjoy the permanent collections at France’s national museums for free – in fact 40 percent of visitors to the Louvre in Paris do not pay.  Temporary exhibitions are not free of charge, but discounts are typically in place for groups such as students or the unemployed.

Members of certain professions in France can also benefit from free museum visits in France – like public school teachers and journalists.

Do you qualify for free museum entry in France?

Many cities also offer days when museums are free for everyone. In Paris this happens on the first Sunday of every month.

Bread

This may not come as a surprise – particularly after the baguette received UNESCO heritage status – but bread is quite affordable in France. A baguette is typically around €1 and considering the fact that over 9 out of every 10 Parisians lives within a five-minute walk from a boulangerie, they are not very hard to come by. 

Wine

Once again, wine being affordable in France may not come as a huge shock – obviously you can pay hundreds or even thousands of euro for rare vintages, but the average cost of a bottle of wine is €6.50, while it’s possible to get a vin de table for as little as €1.50 per litre (if you take your own container).

In France, the vast majority of wine consumed is French wine, meaning you’re not paying import costs.

Wine – the most consumed alcohol in France – also has a special advantage – it is taxed at less than one percent. In comparison, other alcohols in France can be taxed at over 50 percent. The reason for this is to protect the French wine industry, which is worth around €20 billion a year. 

Electricity

When compared with the rest of Europe, France benefits from relatively low household electricity prices – and this was particularly marked in 2022 and 2023 when the French government froze costs for households to protect them from spiralling energy prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

READ MORE: Explained: How is France keeping its inflation rate (relatively) low?

According to Eurostat, in 2019, at €0.1765 per kWh, the average cost of electricity in France was still 26.5 percent cheaper than the EU average.

This is in part due to the fact that France is less exposed to energy shocks than some other European countries due to its nuclear sector. The country is unusual among European nations in the size of its nuclear industry – and around 70 percent of electricity comes from its own domestic nuclear power plants.

In 2024, French households will still see their electricity bills go higher, but prices rises are capped at 10 percent.

Cell phone plans and roaming charges

According to data from the American Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average phone plan in the United States costs about $114 per month or $1,371 per year. In comparison, for French consumers, the average cost of a basic mobile package – with at least 10G of data – was about €16 to €20 per month in 2022. In 2021, the average price paid per month by French consumers was €17.75.

As most French phone plans offer unlimited roaming within the EU, holidaying with a French cell plan can also be quite affordable. 

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SCHOOLS

Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

School children in France are entitled to a lunchtime meal of three, or even four courses – but what if you prefer to provide meals yourself? 

Published: 22 May 2024 12:24 CEST
Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

French school meals are, famously, pretty good – children get a three or even four-course meal of properly prepared dishes and the menu (including cheese course) is usually published in the local town newsletter so everyone can see the types of meals being served.

The concept of a proper meal at lunchtime is an important one. “The diet of a school-age child is essential for their growth, mental development and learning abilities,” the French Education Ministry says in a preamble about school meals on its website. “It must be balanced, varied and distributed throughout the day: for example 20 percent of total energy in the morning, 40 percent at midday, 10 percent at four o’clock and 30 percent in the evening.”

And it’s not all about nutrition, the social aspect of sitting together and eating a meal is also important – the ministry continues: “Mealtime is an opportunity for students to relax and communicate. It should also be a time for discovery and enjoyment.”

All schools provide meals in a canteen and most pupils take up the opportunity – however it’s also possible for pupils to go home at lunchtime so that they can eat lunch with their parents.

The idea of taking in a packed lunch (panier-repas) is much less common in France – but is it actually banned?

The rules on lunch

At écoles (up to age 11), the local authority or établissement public de coopération intercommunale (EPCI) is responsible for providing quality school meals. This generally involves meals being provided via a central kitchen, and then delivered to the school’s kitchen, where it can be kept warm, or reheated as necessary.

The system is slightly different in collèges and lycées (attended by children aged 11 and up). In those establishments, catering falls into the purview of the wider département or region – and is routinely managed directly by individual establishments, which will have catering staff on site to prepare meals. Often, meal services are outsourced to private businesses, which operate the kitchens.

There are various rules and regulations in place regarding what food is offered, and how long a child has to eat – which is, in part, why the school lunch period is so long. Children must be allowed a 30-minute period to eat their meal, from the moment they sit down with it at the table. 

Then, they’re given time to play and relax before afternoon classes start.

READ ALSO What you need to know if your child is starting school in France

At a minimum lunch must include a main course with a side dish, a dairy-based product, as well as a starter and/or a dessert. Meals must also, the government says, be composed of 50 percent sustainable quality products (including 20 percent organic).

Some local authorities go further and serve only or mostly food that is organic, locally sourced or both.

Water and bread must be freely available, but salt and condiments can only be added in preparation – no sauce bottles or salt and pepper on the tables. 

Daily menus are generally available to view on school websites and many town newspapers or newsletters also publish them.

Parents pay a fee for the school lunch, which is calculated according to income and can be free in the case of low-income families.

Packed lunch

But what if your child doesn’t like the school lunches and you don’t have time to pick them up, cook a full lunch and take them back in the afternoon everyday? The obvious solution would seem to be to send them in with a packed lunch, as is common in the UK and USA.

In theory this is possible, but only in certain circumstances and with very strict rules and caveats. 

The Ministry, in a written response to a Senator’s question in 2019, said: “The use of packed lunches [home-supplied meals] by primary school students can provide an alternative to school meals. This method of catering is authorised in particular for children with a medically established food allergy or intolerance, requiring an adapted diet.”

READ ALSO How to enrol a non-French speaking child in school in France

It added: “the preparation and use of packed lunches in schools must follow certain rules. First of all, it is important to respect the cold chain”.

The cold chain is a term applied to food handling and distribution – it’s usually used by food-preparation businesses, but in the context of a packed lunch it means that food prepared at home must be kept in appropriately cool conditions until it is ready to eat. It would be the responsibility of parents to ensure that the food is delivered to school in containers appropriate for the job (ie an insulated cool bag).

Once at the school, it is up to whoever manages the kitchen to ensure that food is properly reheated. This becomes the sticking point at which many parents’ requests to send their children to school with a packed lunch, rather than go to the canteen, or eat back at home, are refused.

The reheating concern suggests that schools are also expecting parents to prepare a proper meal – rather than just throwing some sandwiches and a cereal bar into a bag.

Unless there’s a genuine and proven health reason for your child to eat a home-prepared meal, most parents will probably find the school won’t budge on this – even in cases of a strike by kitchen staff or lunch monitors.

READ ALSO Just how much do private schools in France cost?

The Ministry’s written response explains: “[A]s this is an optional public service, the municipality can justify its refusal to admit the children concerned by objective material and financial constraints, such as the need to equip itself with additional refrigerators, or for additional supervisory staff to supervise them during lunch.”

As well as the practicalities, for some schools this is an equality issue – because of the varied fee structure for school lunches what happens in effect is that richer parents are subsidising a good quality lunchtime meal for poorer students in the class; if everyone brought in a packed lunch and therefore stopped paying the fee, the lower-income kids would miss out. 

What about allergies or other health issues?

Children with allergies or other health issues that require a particular diet must be accommodated. An individual meal plan – known as a projet d’accueil individualisé (PAI) can be set up. More details (in French) are available here, on the government’s website.

It also becomes easier for parents to provide home-produced meals in such instances. As ever, it is up to the parents to ensure any meals are appropriately packaged and transported to school.

Not all schools

Some individual schools in France do permit pupils to bring in meals from home. They must be taken to school in an appropriate cold-storage container, and they will be stored in the kitchen area until they are needed, when meals will – if necessary – be reheated.

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