Summary
The recent rise in grocery prices has led us to slightly change our grocery shopping habits. In the past, we would just buy all our groceries from the closest/most convenient supermarket since the price were low in general and the price differential was negligable.
Recently, the prices of our commonly purchased items became more noticeable. In turn, we started to monitor the prices at two major supermarket chains here in Valencia and adjusting our shopping behavior accordingly.
- Mercadona, a Spanish supermarket chain headquartered in Tavernes Blanques.
- Consum, a Spanish supermarket cooperative headquartered in Silla.
Below is a summary of our findings as well as detailed tables, in the hopes that it may be helpful to you too. An important note: price may be only one of the many factors you take into consideration when purchasing groceries. Please feel free to take into account other factors including store cleanliness/conditions, customer service by staff, and produce quality on a particular day.
Beverages (Overall Winner: Tie)
For store brand bottled water, Mercadona comes out slightly ahead by offering a 6 L jug of bottled water versus Consum’s 5 L jug of bottled water at a lower price per liter.However, Consum comes out ahead on name brand bottle water and name brand sports drinks, given its occasional offering of discounts on these products.
Fruits & Vegetables – Packed (Overall Winner: Mercadona)
Potatoes and onions are key ingredients to many Spanish dishes. On these items, Consum offers slightly better value compared to Mercadona for the 5 Kg bag mesh bag of potatoes, 2 Kg mesh bag of onions, and the 1 Kg mesh bag of onions.However, Mercadona is much cheaper than Consum for almost everything else, especially grapes and berries, making it the clear winner in this category.
Fruits & Vegetables – Picked (Overall Winner: Tie)
Consum offers better value compared to Mercadona for freshly picked tomatoes and peppers, key ingredients to many Spanish dishes. In addition, Consum is cheaper than Mercadona for freshly picked tropical fruits such as kiwis and pineapples, as well as grapefruit.However, Mercadona is slightly better price-wise for freshly picked cabbages, eggplant, and broccoli. In addition, freshly picked apples, banana, and pears are cheaper at Mercadona compared to Consum.
Other Food (Overall Winner: Consum)
Consum has more variety in its egg offering, allowing it to slightly edge out Mercadona in this category. That said, Mercadona offers better value compared to Consum for its tomato sauces and pastas largely, though this is due to its the latter’s slightly smaller portion size. Both Consum and Mercadona have the same prices for their store brand extra virgin and virgin olive oil.
Cleaning Supplies (Overall Winner: Consum)
Consum edges ahead with its cheaper offering of store brand 100L garbage bags, dish soap, and laundry****detergent which we use far more frequently than Mercadona’s grease****remover, window****cleaner, bathroom****cleaner, and cooktop****cleaner.
Other Household Goods (Overall Winner: Tie)
While Consum has a more extensive offering of toilet****paper, aluminium****foil, and alkaline****batteries as lower prices for saran****wrap, Mercadona has lower prices for wet****wipes, earplugs, and freezer****bags.