Grocery Shopping

This is another post about the everyday things in Alicante. Today’s topic, grocery shopping.

We seem to go grocery shopping A LOT. Maybe it’s because we just don’t plan very far ahead. Fortunately, there is a grocery store about a 3 minute walk from us. It’s called Consum (a chain throughout Spain, I think there are about 5 in Alicante) and this is where we do most of our shopping. However, there are a few items we like that we can’t get there so every week or two we venture further to a Mercadona (the largest supermarket chain in Spain, there are about 15 in the city of Alicante alone) or Alcampo (I think there are two in Alicante), or El Corte Inglés (“The English Court”, the largest department store chain in Spain; there are two in Alicante and they both have a grocery section; they are in the center of the city).  All of these stores tend to have a large number of products in their own store brand.

Dennis loves the shopping carts. The wheels are such that they turn every which way; you can do a complete 360 degree turn in place, or move sideways and diagonally. Brilliant!

 

Interesting items you will find in the grocery stores include: bone-in legs of jamón (dry cured ham); a wide variety of alcoholic beverages (not just limited to wine and beer); UHT milk (ultra-high temperature; does not need refrigeration until opened); room temperature eggs (eggs have a natural protective coating and they are not washed before being sold so this is not removed – as it is in the US). 

   

They do not have half and half, light cream, or heavy cream. There is a product called nata (cooking cream) which is somewhat thick. I’ve read that you can create a substitute for half and half by mixing whole milk (the UHT milk) and nata in equal parts. I haven’t tried doing that. Consum sells a German coffee creamer product that’s a reasonable substitute to use in my coffee.

What you won’t find are: cigarettes (these are sold at state licensed stores called Tabacos) or medications (neither over the counter or prescription); these are sold at Farmacías). 

We can’t seem to find dill pickles. Dennis had a favorite brand at Hannaford called Grillos and he was able to find a recipe that mimicked them so has made his own.  He is still in search of a decent cracker.  

Soups don’t seem to be very popular; imagine the soup aisle in your local grocery store, probably the whole length of the aisle – nothing like that here, mostly cream soups (vegetable, asparagus, mushroom, squash), and broths (for making rice dishes).  Also very limited choices of salad dressings (we’ve only seen one brand and it has only yogurt dressing, honey mustard, or caésar). Dennis has made his own blue cheese and I’ve made my own Italian. 

Cottage cheese has been difficult to find reliably as is maple syrup. El Corte Inglés has a gourmet food area where they stock Vermont and Canadian maple syrup.

We have not been able to find food grade distilled white vinegar. In the cleaning aisle you might find a higher percentage vinegar for cleaning purposes; I suppose you could just dilute this?  There are plenty of other types of vinegar – white wine, red wine, apple cider, balsamic.

 

There are some US brands but not many.  Multiple varieties of condiments by Heinz, Hellman’s, and Gulden’s are readily available; also common are Starbucks, Doritos, Cheetos, and Oreos. There are lots of Pringles flavors (including Jamón, and Texas BBQ). The cereal section is much smaller than in US but includes several Kelloggs selections. Philadelphia cream cheese is very popular; we have even seen it on menus listed simply as “Philadelphia” (such as  “Bagel with salmon and Philadelphia”).  

   

LOTS of olives. 

 

LOTS of Coke, a little bit of Pepsi. 

 

Pretty much any canned or bottled beverage can be bought in a multi-pack or you can break them out individually. It irks Dennis a bit to have to fish around for an intact pack. The price label on the shelf will show the individual unit price and the per pack price.

At the grocery store checkout you are asked if you need a bag (which will cost you 0.15 apiece; we always bring a few). There are NO baggers. As your items are scanned you are expected to self-bag. Also, no one is ever in a hurry at the check out. 

Charging for bags is not just at the grocery stores; any store you purchase from is required by law to charge for bags (clothing stores, department stores) and they can’t be flimsy single use bags; they have to be thicker multi-use bags.

Finally, I know it’s not quite grocery store related but, they do NOT used twist off caps on wine; only cork (and no plastic “corks”).

Well, this has been a long post, but now I must be off to the grocery store. 

Salud!