Food Shopping along the Costa del Sol

Grocery shopping can become a life style here in Andalucia. Luckily, I love to shop! However, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for 24/7 bargain hunting.

Humans come in all shapes and sizes and many are shopping intolerant. Working adults may prefer going to a local shopping centre and getting it over with in one fell swoop.

Some prefer to shop in their local village tiendas; they may pay more, but it is convenient and builds good will locally.

People with air conditioned vehicles tend to shop in a more erratic pattern which is based on food preferences. You know, all those imported yummies which aren’t always available at the local shop: PG tips, Patak sauces, lime pickle, hot sauces, German dumplings, seedy breads and fresh milk.  

I confess, I shop around. In the course of a week, I pop into numerous stores. I try to combine it with other errands or business.

The Corte Ingles specialty markets basically carry everything; the quality is good although they are pricey. The seafood selection is rather amazing. They have maple syrup and Lyle golden syrup, good imported breakfast cereals and a knock out wine selection. Sadly, their birthday cakes are all decoration and no taste.

You can buy online at www.elcorteingles.es and arrange delivery; the webpage is very Spanish intensive.

The chain stores, Eroski, Hipercor and Carrefour often have interesting sale items and carry most staples, but they are a bit too super size for my taste.

Al Campo in la Cañada delivers and the perk is that you can leave small children in their Rik Rok play area.

Forget the food; the Cañada has over 150 stores - bolt out and go clothing shopping for an hour.

Al Campo sells all sorts of sauces and they have a nice selection of cheese, seafood and meat. In the heat of the summer, be wary of purchasing frozen meats, as the deep freezers are open air, the rest of the year it is no problem.

There are many German bakeries along the Coast that carry seedy and robust breads.

There is one directly in front of al Campo.

Supersol has a nice assortment of edibles and carries certain Tesco products, e.g. muesli, curry paste, icing sugar, baked beans, nice sliced bread and Chinese noodles.

DIA is good for cheap basics; animal food, condiments, light bulbs, crisps and some biscuits. Their frozen foods can be rather scary and their fruit and veg are all from hot houses and tasteless.

LiDL is also good basics such as cleaning products, drink and their advertised special sale items such as waffle irons and wetsuits. It can be hilarious to watch the stampede at 10 am on Mondays and Thursdays when there is an especially good deal.

Generally speaking the quality is higher if you purchase meat at the butchers, seafood at the fish shop, bread at the bakery and vegetables/fruit in a specialised shop. Fantastic fruit and vegetable are the weekly markets, but the best quality/price comes from the produce wholesalers.

In Coín, on the Málaga road there are a few distributors that sell to the public. You can buy as little or as much as you wish and they will special order produce for you, such as mangoes, papaya, mint, fresh coriander, ginger, huge pumpkins, etc.

For those who do not want to make food shopping a way of life, Mercadona has a webpage and you can order online: www.mercadona.es. Price/quality is reasonable and for a nominal fee, they will deliver it to your home. Most of the supermarkets and discounters in Spain offer free home delivery for purchases over 60 €.

All that said, I do love the alternative lifestyle of living on tapas!