to comment on some of the posts above ...

Salad cream is available in all the supermarkets in France near the Basel border (St Louis, Sierrentz and Mulhouse), as is marmite, HP sauce and Hellman's mayo. And the prices are fine.

UK to CH adaptors are expensive and not needed .. just change the plugs. CH plugs available in Coop and Migros for a couple of francs each. We have made do with 2 adaptors since we moved.

Nappies DO BUY! And as many as you can anticipate needing. They are screamingly expensive here. We buy own brand from the French or German supermarkets and still way pricier than Tescos or Sainsburys own brand .. or the big brands when on special offer in the UK. Same for milk formula or any pots of baby food (although these are a better price in France and Germany).

Finally, do buy over the counter medicines. After 5 years, this is the only thing I keep going back for. Everything else I have managed to source elsewhere or am happy doing without (well the bacon alternatives aren't up to much) but these are in my experience irreplaceable.

The reason being not just that they are so cheap but to get most of them here (or their equivalents) necessitates a trip to the doctor .. (or in the case of my nephew's conjunctivitis, a trip to the emergency children's hospital clinic in Basel on a Saturday morning as our town does not have children's doctor cover .. just to get antibiotic eye cream that is available over the counter in the UK). You just don't want to have to tripping off to the Dr everytime you need some decongestant etc. This goes as much for the adults as for any kids you might have.

I'm not sure about prices in the UK, but I always stock up on razors (or ask my family to send me some) from the US. Gillette razors are unbelievably expensive here. I think around 20 francs for 5....

A sense of humour!

CH is a great place to begin cooking almost everything from scratch which is of course healthier for you and your family.

But if you must, bring your favourite brand stuff as even if they're available here, they'd be pretty expensive.

Bed linen, towels and curtains.

Contact lens solution.

Soft brown sugar, yes. Forget about self-raising flour - you can make it by adding baking powder and a bit of cornflour. Also forget about baking soda/powder - relatively cheap here, unless you need truckloads of it for goodness knows what reason.

Enjoy trashing all the things you don't need anymore! It feels great to have fewer possessions after your move.

Glad someone else feels the same as me!


Thanks Sbrinz. We lived in Zurich for 3 years, so I did try lots of stuff from Müller. Sadly it doesn't even nearly match up to Boots in quality and variety

Tea bags, i.e. PG Tips, Typhoo etc. In England you can buy 240 tea bags for £4, in CH you can buy 20 Liptons (worst tea in the world) for CHF 5 or so.

Teabags definitely, espcially if you have a favourite brand or variety as there is far less choice here.

Ibuprofen is available over the counter in both 200 & 400 . Several brands available

Buy a 4 gang extention courd & change the plug is a better soloution, adapters are not very good & many make a poor or no earth contact.

good idea

and if you're going to continue using UK plugs, remember to get spare fuses as you probably can't get the right type here

yeah and have you seen our bills for:

- Transport UK -> CH?
- Duty/Import Tax?
- VAT?
- Staff Salaries?
- AHV?
- BVG?
- Insurances?
- Rent?
- Internet/Telephone?
- Hosting/Server?
- Credit Card Transaction charges?
- Marketing?
- Accountant?

Once all the bills are paid we also have to make a humble living from this business. As much as we like running this shop it is not just a hobby.