I Shopped at France’s Poshest Supermarket… Was It Actually Frugal?
Video Overview & Insights
Stepping into Grand Frais feels less like entering a conventional supermarket and more like walking through an immaculate, upscale covered market—replete with misted displays of peak-season produce, artisanal cheeses, butchery counters, and rare ingredients from around the world. While its gourmet atmosphere and sleek layout give it a reputation as France’s "poshest" grocery chain, a price comparison against hard-discounters like Lidl and Aldi and even local food stalls reveals a surprisingly nuanced story about frugality. For staples, pantry goods, and household paper items, budget giants like Lidl and Aldi still easily claim the lowest price tag. Ultimately, while an all-around cart at Grand Frais costs more overall, focusing strictly on fresh ingredients turns the store into a surprisingly frugal option—delivering significantly higher quality and variety without the expected gourmet markup you might expect.
Living in the mountains Grand Frais in the town about 45 minutes away is my supermarket of choice for fresh product . If you buy the courgettes and Aubergines in the nets like the peppers they work out very cheap and last as they are super fresh. As we are a tourist area our local produce market is super expensive and makes Grand Frais look cheap 😀
Frugal Queen in France
We are a British couple living in the south of France on a budget.
Everyone deserves a treat - i think you both did brilliantly !! Thanks for the window into life in France
Frugal recipes, days out, home renovations and day to day making do in France.
We’ll give you hints, tips, advice and an insight into our life in France.
Would love to see you cook the tomato tart 🍅🍅🍅. Treats are what they say they are and they are needed every so often to keep you on track.
Discounts Available: Power Stations
We Use Power Station/Banks by Allpowers by using the code 'Frugal Queen' you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase. Allpowers Link: https://iallpowers.eu/?ref=tfbpo4zd
Maybe the cost of the cool a/c was in the price of the food. A little higher, but a much more pleasant shopping experience.
We also use AFERIY Portable Power stations specifically the AFERIY P310
By using this link here : https://eu.aferiy.com/?ref=FRUGALQUEEN and the coupon code FRUGAL QUEEN you can get an extra 6% off the purchase price.
Everything looks fresh and delicious!
We have used both these products for several years now and recommend both.
Flexispot chair used by Mike when editing: Sentinel Chair: https://tinyurl.com/FrugalQueeninFrance
Your produce is beautiful!!!! Here in US iceberg lettuce is recalled because of parasite. Alot of people now buying local produce. Do you freeze your peppers for later cooking??? They looked fantastic!!!!
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😂🤣"Yes, you can" 😂😅. The price on your red peppers was wonderful!! I usually pay about $1.50 ea!!
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❤❤ Olá Jane e Mike, engraçado o nosso pastel de natal estar à venda aí, acho que o Mike ia gostar de vir a Portugal e provar os nossos bolos.😘😘
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We are lucky to have markets around us. I like grand frais but before I moved from my old town I avoided it because I would buy way too much.
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The air con explains the slightly higher prices. Luxury can be expensive😉.
Editing : iMovie on a Mac mini
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Good deal on those beautiful red peppers. They are sooo expensive here in the US.
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I shop at Grand frais at least once a month. We dont have a local market to buy fruit and veg from. I find that what I buy from Grand Frais will last a lot longer than supermarket fruit and veg. I normally spend between 25-30 euros in GF, but everything will get eaten. No waste!
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Hy Jane , I love your video - 👍 - I do the shopping too and i know how it s difficult to find the good things, when the budget is limited - I m Eric , french , and my husband Deano is English and we ve lived in Carcassonne for a short time - We know all those problems with prefecture too :-) I will follow you 🙂
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I recently learned red peppers (instead of green peppers) are a good source of Vitamin C! Also, beets are a good source of nitric oxide (not nitrous oxide), which helps prevent dementia. What a healthy haul.
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Being in Australia I'm used to the hot. I take an esky with an ice brick for fresh produce.
More User Perspectives
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@JRobert-b2wThe vegs look fresh
@colleencusack7942Are you near the wildfires??!!
@marymiller5829Hi Jane, gorgeous produce! I’m so happy that you got it. ❤️. Good shopping.🛒
@SausalitoVickiFirst off... The you can make it and your come back of yes, you can! LOLOLOLOL Anyway are those large tomatoes considered heirloom? Here in Arizona they are soooo expensive 5.99 a lb. I don't buy them because of the cost. Now tell me what is the difference beside price on cucumbers. Spain vs France. Why is France cucumbers more expensive? Looks like your Husband is like mine and has a sweet tooth.
@TheDesertCasitaI love going in Francy super markets with an Open mind. They have some great stuff discounted on saturday afternoon. I only get what is worth it and work with that. They also have "too good to go" boxes that are nice
@Ray-pt5biBet the aircon made it worth the extra 🥵
@lifeativycottageI love any French supermarkets. They are the best in Europe. I'm now going to Lidl's more but you remember that anyway Jane. Forest fires in France. Watch out. I'm in a Suffolk hotel. The floor in the bathroom is wet and there's no air conditioning and no instant coffee 😢❤
@Beth-j4r4wmost people (myself included) cannot make the buckwheat flour galettes as thin and lacy as the store-bought ones. My husband is from Brittany and loves these so I make them often - "complet" for him ; no egg for me just blue cheese and onions. Once made up and cooked they freeze very well adding the sunny side up egg only when ready to eat. I usually buy them at leclerc or carrefour but lidl recently sold them in packs of 8 for 1.79 € . sorry to say the price you paid was high. Bravo for splashing out today; you deserve a reward for completing administrative duties
@aaac1561Enjoy your pastel de nata, here in Portugal it's tradicional to dust the top of the cream with cinnamon and drink an Expresso.
@isabelserrano6018"yes you can!" grow them, make them 😂 Thanks for that. Haul looks fantastic and I agree with others here, totally worth it. I've found that sometimes there are better offers at the higher-end markets, whereas places like Aldi don't really have deep discounts. Enjoy!
@jessb1065My Lidl is selling vintage and extra mature cheddar again….yours might be too?
@LouisePiercey-n7j👍👍👍
@sophiawolthof1238Hi Jane and Mike, I really hope you aren't affected by the wild fires, take care Angela x
@m.r.safetytraining9975Value looks good ! I’ve been fishing up the mighty Fitzroy river in WA 🇦🇺 and it was 46c all you feel like is beer and something cold and salty like dips and crackers. We are having a hotter dryer winter here in WA so I’m putting in a big spring garden early. Enjoy all the fresh produce! Our fire risk is massive every year but I only evacuated once x
@LittlepermieHi Jane, thank you for the videos, it's always interesting to me. I wondered if you are Coeliac, as I noticed you have mentioned gluten free flour a few times and the bread is only for Mike? I wondered if you could give us some idea of the cost of decent gluten free breads or pasta etc in a future video? Here in Perth, West Australia you are looking at 2 - 3 times the price of regular bread and pasta if you want edible quality GF breads or pasta - and much smaller quantities too. Hope your heatwave is over soon, I can empathise! 🙂
@alicraig979I love 'lange du chat' biscuits! Apparently, it means 'cats tounge' they are very much more vanillia in flavour, compared to shortbread biscuits. Yes, it was worth going to this supermarket IMO, thinhs in there that wouldnt get in the 'discount ' supermarkets, which is fun. But only once in a while, if you are keeping to a strict budget!
@lynnoorman2144Produce is beautiful. You do not always feel like making everything from scratch. Especially in the heat
@julieemig432I often buy basics and fresh produce from M&S. So long as Im not tempted by the treats and collection range I find prices not too different based on current prices elsewhere and much better quality.
@carolinem5539Good choices
@MarcJacquet-g2hLovely peppers it’s all cheaper than uk supermarkets even though you say it’s high end, we get the puny veg here too!
@annebarden4179We've just got a Grand Frais in La Roche sur Yon, you've answered my question ok once in a while but not every week. A heads up for you if your LIDL is nearby, they've got the good English cheddar in at the moment on their Deluxe range.
@blaire85It’s a bit like shopping at Waitrose or Ocado. Some items are also surprisingly cheaper as well as paying more for other things . Must be something in the air because I’ve has a difficult time of things lately and went to Lidl and bought whatever I felt like, within the limits of needing to stay on a healthy diet. I bought a lot of fresh produce and fruit, including two punnets of different fancy tomatoes. I usually only get the cheapo salad tomatoes. I can eat a punnet of good tomatoes all to myself I love them so much.
@OrganisedPauperThose veg look good, especially the carrots, they wouldn't last long here. I saw it converted to 107.00 aussie dollars, just looking at what you got I think it would be more here. Cabbages are expensive everywhere, all veg and fruit is expensive and we are in winter, have no idea what will happen in summer. Even having a big veg garden may not help us if the weather is too hot or windy.
@barbarafarquharson4826Ooh Jane, next time you’re doing a cooking video could we have the recipe for the tomato tart 😍😍. I can just smell those delicious bakery treats and tomatoes xxx
@PaulaBrockhurst-oj2ip❤❤❤
@BarneybudgetsGreat to have a change, nice fresh produce. We use chiller bags with ice blocks in Australia 🇦🇺 to get otherwise the frozen goods are pulp.
Enjoy the treats after a hot shopping trip and drive.
Thank you both for the video, have a good rest. ☕️🐾🇦🇺
Seems like a good price haul, compared to Australia. Especially the bakery items.
@catherineH4785Do you have a coolbox where you can bring stuff back?
@mrsmifflinWell the first thing I see is that all the products look high quality. They are big, fresh and colorful. Wich indicate hig nutritional value. Lidls products are ok for cheap food. But thats all. My experience in Sweden 🇸🇪 from eating lidl vs ICA/COOP is that it tastes a bit better and fills you up more. It's more substance for the money. (Not always, not all the products but in general).
@user-wj3yr7xr2fMy parent used to grow chives, we used to sneak and eat it as kids. We could never work out how they knew, but we must have stunk 😂
@mrsmifflin👏👏👏
@lorrainewilby2085I bought myself a treat this week, raspberry jam, expensive brand, half price. I make my jams, but ive always wanted to try this one. Its nice, will finish the jar amd keep it for my next jam cook. But i like mine better.
@barbarafarquharson4826I'm excited to try chickpea flour! Love your channel, thanks.
@var4983Great that you treated yourselves for a change.
@FrugalKiwi57