 Poster: A snowHead
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What's the latest on bringing a cooler full of ski-food in to France? I presume it's still technically against the rules.
Pre-Brexit I always loaded the car with frozen lasagna, chilli, etc and padded the meals out in resort.
But then I started reading about how ham sandwiches were being confiscated at the border to make a point.
Are they still checking that sort of thing? Be a bummer to lose a weeks worth of food but it's a minor pain to rustle it all up after a full day on the slopes.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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No idea, but if not, do you have a slow cooker? Pack that instead. You can still bring the basics, and just pick up some meat and veg on the way though France. Put it on in the morning, stew/chilli/curry cooked by tea time. Might even make enough for a couple of days, depending on how many you are feeding.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@bpirkle, no technically about it...its against the rules. People on here have reported taking stuff over and not getting caught
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I do, good suggestion ... in the old days that would've worked better than it would now that half of my kids have decided they're vegetarians. I can deal with cooking in the chalet it's just an additional task at the end of a long day.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Meat and dairy are out, but fish and (strangely) eggs are OK. Vegetables are also OK.
So swap the frozen beef bolognese for a spicy tomato tuna sauce. Leave the ham sandwich at home and take smoked salmon with margarine.
...or just take whatever you want and hope you don't encounter a team of French border chefs armed with a bunch of microwaves.
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Last year we didn't change what we do, that is to take stuff like rice, pasta, whatever fruit or veg is leftover before we leave.
Generally don't take meat or dairy as it might not survive the journey too well but have taken a frozen first day meal before.
But we weren't asked/checked and I don't think they are being zealous about it.
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We've travelled over several times in our motorhome with a freezer full of meat and so have hundreds of other motorhomes on the forum I read. No one has ever reported being searched for food let alone quizzed and/or having it confiscated, and motorhomes would surely be the softest target.
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@Bergmeister,
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On another technicality.... Surely it's "taking" food to France? You can "bring" it only if you are already in France.
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Technically I think you are wrong here. Bringing normally refers to the act of bringing something with you. You may ask some to "bring a bottle" for instance or don't forget to bring your kit etc. So bringing food with you to France seems to be very valid use of English. Taking would also be fine.
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@bpirkle, we were anxious first trip after Brexit, but then soon back to usual routine of electric cooler box full of frozen prepared at-home meals.
They cover the days when we can't be bothered or don't have time to cook.
Never been searched or questioned.
We also have Slow Cooker. We use it just as Scarlet suggests.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'd heard rumours people took pre made food with them but thought these were just stories lol.
Why would you not just go to the supermarket when your there and buy fresh produce??
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| andy n netty wrote: |
I'd heard rumours people took pre made food with them but thought these were just stories lol.
Why would you not just go to the supermarket when your there and buy fresh produce?? |
They're talking about taking pre made stews, spag-bol, lasagna. Yes you can cook these from first principles in resort, but it takes time, whereas bunging a premade meal in the microwave, or 30 mins in the oven to warm up is a lot less effort - particularly if you arrive early evening after a 12 hour drive.
We take sausage, bacon & black pudding with us - never been searched or asked. Occasionally get swabbed when driving - not sure if it's for explosives or drugs, but either way the swabs don't detect pork based breakfast products.
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As others have said, we've been back and forth a dozen or so times since Brexit, and have taken anything that was left in our fridge. Plonked in a coolbox on the front bench seat in our van, no one has ever taken any notice.
We'll be doing the same again in a couple of weeks too 
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You know it makes sense.
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@andy n netty Well, first because there are often things you like that may be hard to find, such as your particular brand of tea, biscuits or breakfast cereal. We always carry some bars with us when skiing just in case, and again, people often have a preference. So it's just easier to add to your usual shop, pre-trip, and bring them along in the car. Once you do that, then you might as well add your staples like rice and pasta, sugar etc. to the trolley, and anything else you can think of that's not fragile/perishable. We usually shop en route in France for coffee, wine and beer and some nice cheeses if we have the time, as these will be cheaper than in the resort, which is also when we'll add some milk, yghurts and bread as well. Having all this in the car on arrival means there's no rush to dash out to the supermarket, and we can relax and just do our first shop at the end of the first day's skiing. We also have a small electric car cooler box so that we've got cool drinks for the journey and can keep the cheese cool as well. What some people here do on top of that is to prepare and freeze complete meals that would otherwise need time in shopping for ingredients and cooking in the apartment/chalet, on the basis that this saves a lot of time, expense and trouble. Personally, we don't go quite as far as this, but in recent years we certainly have done the main 'holiday shop' before we left home and brought it with us.
My only word of warning is if you're driving to Switzerland - they are fairly vigilant at the border about applying the limits to personal imports of meat, alcohol and dairy products. The rules aim to deter Swiss from bulk shopping cheaply over the border and then reselling in CH, but they apply to non-nationals just as much. This shouldn't usually be a problem if the food is only for the people in the car, but if one car is carrying all the food for a much larger party, it'd be easy to go over the limits. The official customs body FOCBS have a useful app ('QuickZoll') and explanatory web pages outlining the rules. If you're quizzed at the border by a guard it's much easier if you can cite the sum of what you've bought (especially Kgs meat and Litres of alcohol) clearly, rather than a lot of um-ing and err-ing, with an awareness of what the ceilings actually are.
Also, if you enter France from Switzerland, the reverse applies, and you may be quizzed in relation to import allowances into the EU. Although we've found this to happen less than when going the other way. But again, it's useful to be aware of what the allowances are and be able to say you're well below them.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Wed 23-11-22 11:37; edited 6 times in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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This is good to know. First time driving down to the 3V in Jan and planning on taking things like rice, pasta etc from home. Will stop in France to get things like meat, diary etc.
We have also just purchased a slow cooker so will be bringing that with us!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Bergmeister,
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Like bringing the dog for a walk or me saying to a taxi driver, "bring me to the station" |
No, not like those, but still valid in its own right. I can give you another dog analogy which does work: "do come and stay and you're very welcome to bring your dog". One size pretty much never fits all in English. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Fridge03 wrote: |
This is good to know. First time driving down to the 3V in Jan and planning on taking things like rice, pasta etc from home. Will stop in France to get things like meat, diary etc.
We have also just purchased a slow cooker so will be bringing that with us! |
Save the space and buy the dried stuff there too - its the same price. We usually do a carrefour click and collect now- v easy to do and saves HOURS in the supermarket.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Fridge03 If it's your first time driving down, I wrote a blog piece on Self-drive for people driving to our apartment in Switzerland, aimed at getting ready and set up for a trip. Most of the advice is generic so applies as much to France. There are links to the likes of the Crit'Air site, RAC checklists, tag retailers, GHIC, useful apps etc.
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| LaForet wrote: |
| @Fridge03 If it's your first time driving down, I wrote a blog piece on Self-drive for people driving to our apartment in Switzerland, aimed at getting ready and set up for a trip. Most of the advice is generic so applies as much to France. There are links to the likes of the Crit'Air site, RAC checklists, tag retailers, GHIC, useful apps etc. |
Thanks LaForet. Will have a read. I'm very used to driving in France as I have relatives who live there. And done the drives from Geneva, Lyon, Grenoble before to the mountains.
We are leaving Friday afternoon/evening, stopping somewhere near Dijon for the night and finishing the drive early on the Saturday morning aiming to get into resort mid morning. Hoping that will mean missing the worst of the changeover traffic in the PM trying to get into the mountains.
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Experience from at least 5 car crossings via the tunnel to the 3V in the last 18 months- they just don’t check. We empty the fridge of everything, including milk, cheese, ham, and stick it in a cool bag, otherwise it would just go to waste. Sometimes that may include a bag of frozen bolognese sauce or the like. Our car is usually loaded up with other bits and bobs but the only checks at Eurotunnel outbound seem to be the security explosive swabs. It may be a bit more stringent with the ferries.
I know some people stop en route to do a supermarket shop, but it is just so nice to get there as quickly as possible without the faff, though admittedly we are only 1 hr 15 mins from the tunnel (12 hours door to door, and leave stupidly early to get to St M at around 5.30pm).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Jonpim, 
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@Jonpim, from me too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Perty, we have friends who were checked, had food confiscated (including a large bag of pet food) and warned of the consequences of travelling with banned foods. It was on a ferry crossing to Santander though rather than a Tunnel or short ferry trip and they were in a motorhome. I do accept that such tales are rare though. I'd rather not throw away a £50 bag of dog food though. We take enough for our journey and make sure we stop at the earliest opportunity to stock up. If they confiscate what we are carrying it isn't the end of the world.
Personally, the thought of smoked salmon with margarine instead of butter or cream cheese fills me with dread. We used to take a picnic to eat in the train when we were crossing at lunchtime, chicken drumsticks, pork pies and chipolatas for the dogs. We did try a seafood selection from M&S but it wasn't as successful and I couldn't guarantee there was no dairy in there. A jambon fromage baguette and a coffee from the garage at the other end of the tunnel was our last répas.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I go fishing to France twice a year. The first time food including meat, egg and fishing bait went through OK, they simply looked inside the cool box and closed it. The second time we had everything confiscated and we where told we're lucky not to land a fine. Losing the food was OK but the bait cost a bloody fortune
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@Hells Bells, interesting to know that it does happen, though it would be good to know if that has happened using the Tunnel. At least our standard on the road sarnies are tuna and sweetcorn, so they can't have any issues with those!
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You know it makes sense.
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| Perty wrote: |
| At least our standard on the road sarnies are tuna and sweetcorn, so they can't have any issues with those! |
Any mayo in those?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The irony is it seems different depending on mode of transport. Like above, Eurotunnel, hide the stuff amongst other cases out of obvious view and I think "unlucky" would be the phrase if caught. However we go to paris on Eurostar a few times a year, and normally buy a jambon-beurre for the journey from Paul at St. Pancras and brazenly carry it through in the bag and they don't give a hoot.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Traveling Flexiplus on the tunnel Dover Calais, in the lounge you're almost actively encouraged to take a goodie bag of food with you as you depart, almost as many sandwiches as you can carry, so work that one out!
Most recent trip out three weeks ago I took 6 X 24 cases of beer with me, and was paranoid that I'd be stopped and have the whole lot confiscated, as I was traveling via DFDS ferry instead of the tunnel, but as usual no issues.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Weathercam, You were only going for 6 days?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Unfortunately this is the issue of the ridiculous cost of food in the French mountains, never see a thread of “ can I take food to Italy or Austria “
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@ribblevalleyblue, I think the issue is more one of saving time and effort on self-catering holidays, which are less common in Italy and Austria than in France. And of catering for picnics on long road journeys, where again it is more common to drive to France than it is to Italy or Austria.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'm taking smoked paprika to Austria.. can't get it anywhere apart from flangesax's house via amazon
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@Hurtle, that maybe so, but why is food so expensive in the French mountains?
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| ribblevalleyblue wrote: |
| Unfortunately this is the issue of the ridiculous cost of food in the French mountains, never see a thread of “ can I take food to Italy or Austria “ |
I think most going to Austria or Italy from the U.K. would have to take it to France first then drive to A or I. It’s an EU issue,
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| ribblevalleyblue wrote: |
| @Hurtle, that maybe so, but why is food so expensive in the French mountains? |
Do you mean in the shops? If so, it isn't. As for mountain restaurants, you simply need to know where to go (and where not to go) though I grant you that eating on the mountain in Italy is in a different league.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@holidayloverxx,
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I'm taking smoked paprika to Austria.. can't get it anywhere
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That's extraordinary, it's not as though you don't get goulasch everywhere in Austria and Hungary's kinda next door. 
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@Hurtle, indeed...when the gang came round for my halloumi and canellini bean special it was only by chance I mentioned it to Ange and they kindly gave me some otherwise it would have been a bit bland. Its the smoked paprika that you just can't get
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