Rosemary

I cook fresh food too so I can buy the vast majority of my needs in my local shops. However, I only like fresh skimmed milk and Tetley tea which I have to go to Mercadonna (10 kms away) for so do buy other things there too but nothing British. Out of the list that you have quoted I would only be interested in the back bacon.

Rosemary

Retired in Euskadi

Ah, back bacon reared from outdoor pigs. Wonderful. Something they don't seem to have cottoned on to much here. Bellota is fine, but not for frying.
Meat is too lean generally in Spain.

jimenato

I quite like Spanish bacon but you have to use about 10 rashers per person as it shrinks so dramatically in the pan.

Domino

will be at one tomorrow afternoon so will have another look, but pretty sure they only stock Lord Nelson which does have a different taste but is a bag on a string .

Chiclanagir

Much prefer Oscar Meyer bacon than "English/Danish" you don´t end up with a frying pan of white water either.

Chiclanagir

I see Mercadona have a big notice up saying more fresh fruit and vegetables from Tuesday. Wonder what will be different.

Lynn R

I buy the La Selva smoked streaky bacon from Mercadona - I like my bacon crispy (well, cremated actually) and it's good for that. As you say, you don't get that horrible white liquid leaching out of the Spanish bacon.

fionamw

Reason? Water. Added. To make you pay more.
Spanish aren't the only culprits.

Lord Nelson is Lidl's teabag brand, unless I'm much mistaken.

jimenato

Yes - I like that too. However I was disappointed to learn that it is part of a vast American conglomerate. Nothing to do with Spain...

andyrich666

where is best, i found I dont like Carrefor food, nor mercadona, not tried eroski yet but I did like Mas y Mas, im thinking if you don't drink its cheaper to eat out as here all of the foods are big packs, at least in Coop you could just buy a pack of 2 pork chops, here they are about 8 or 10 in a pack !!

Rosemary

If you want things in ones and twos it is best to go to the butcher, actually it is best no matter how much you want.

Rosemary

andyrich666

I think I might start to do that, I tried Iceland but I never liked Iceland in UK let alone here, but its good you can get your crisps and things you slowly give up as it makes it kind of normal until if you can adjust, Cheeto's is the only Spanish crisps Ive found accpetable so far, I like my hula hoops, monster munch etc

Domino

fully agree. A walk down the butcher doesn't take me long, the prices are less than any supermarket, they cut direct from the joint for you. Although I did cause a fuss when i asked for a piece of solomillo to be minced, but once stuffed in fresh yellow peppers it made a really good meal and although €6.99/kg instead of the €4.99/kg for the cheaper stuff it only added a few pence to the cost of the meal. And less fat.

Find that the freezer helps if I arrange for a week/10 days of meat from the butcher, although I could go every day and eat fresh, the fruit and veg shop is in totally the opposite direction and further to walk.

Can get some decent cuts from Dia, but ours is all fully pre-pack and there is still a different taste. Mercadona have fresh counters for meat and fish as well as pre-pack but the cheapest alternative is Alcampo, although many things there are still dearer than the local butcher. But they do a huge range of fresh fish which we probably eat more now than we did back home.

Like anything it is all a learning curve, and my policy of going where the locals go has paid off, our butcher has a huge following with shops in 2 other villages and a delivery service to bars, restaurants etc. so they have the volume to remain cheap.

Domino

careful Andy, trying out all those alternatives will have you piling on the weight

I have a thing for the Artisan Crisps, come in large packets but can be a bit greasy.
things are different, but you soon get used to them and remember that things like Corn Flakes, Co-Co Pops and other breakfast cereals are also available out here.

jimenato

The butchers (there are three) in our village are seriously expensive. It is worth the hour round trip once every couple of weeks to go to the big shops to get what we want. Of course it might only be expensive to foreigners but - whatever - I don't use them.

I also like to select my own vegetables rather than have them picked out for me which is what happens in the village shops. I can choose what I like and it takes half the time because you don't have to wait in a queue.

We have a new small Dia in the village which has pre-packed meat and loose vegetables you can select yourself but they haven't got the stock replenishment right yet and the shelves are often empty.

I would like to shop local and was hoping we would be able to when Dia opened but it hasn't happened yet.

Re: Carrefour, we bought a Hoover from there last week, after an hour's use it gave up. I put it back in the box and went to get my money back and was told that it had to be looked at and possibly fixed by tecnico. Not only would they not give me my money back or exchange it (which is what any decent place would do) but they wouldn't even take it from me, demanding that I take it home and clean it before tecnico would look at it. Ok, it was a bit dusty but I was expecting them to just bin it and give me another.

I should have stuck it ...