The cities where it is cheaper and more expensive to make the purchase according to the OCU: the cases of Yolanda and María

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Yolanda and María del Carmen are separated by 1,200 kilometers and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The first lives in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz); the second, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This distance is also notable when it comes to paying at the supermarket. Jerez is the cheapest city in Spain to fill the shopping cart. Las Palmas, on the other hand, is the most expensive, With Getxo (Biscay).

This is demonstrated by the annual study of supermarkets by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), which was presented this Wednesday in Madrid. The organization has visited 1,103 establishments in 65 Spanish cities. Andalusia and Levante do well in this report. The archipelagos, the Basque Country and Catalonia, not so much.

In Yolanda’s house they live three people and spend close to 170 euros per week in food and other supermarket products (drugstore and basic household items). “The basket is more expensive for my son who has celiac disease and I have lactose intolerance. So it gets much more expensive ”, assures this Jerez woman in a telephone conversation with this newspaper.

Interior of the Alcampo de Murcia, the cheapest supermarket in Spain, according to the OCU.

Interior of the Alcampo de Murcia, the cheapest supermarket in Spain, according to the OCU.

To field

The cost is somewhat lower at the house of María, the Canarian, who spends about 150 euros a week. This difference is because there are only two at home. If we extrapolate these figures to spending per person per week, in Jerez an average weekly purchase costs 56 euros per person (with celiac disease and lactose intolerance included). In Las Palmas, that figure increases to 75 euros per person.

Jerez and Canarian habits are quite similar: homemade food, little ultra-processed product, few soft drinks or energy drinks, and both go to various supermarkets or stores. “What paper is (home, clinic, napkins) I buy at Mercadona. Also canned cockles and mussels, because the value for money at Mercadona is incomparable, ”explains María, also by phone, from Las Palmas.

“At hyper dino [cadena canaria de supermercados] I buy the fat ”. Taking a look at the OCU figures, Las Palmas Hiper Dinos are listed as generally expensive supermarkets. For example, in the one on Sagasta Street, a basket of basic products can cost 8% more than in a Mercadona de Jerez, according to the OCU study. “For fruit and vegetables,” Maria continues, “I go to a man who has a small shop near my parents’ house.”

The entrance to a Hiper Dino supermarket, in the Canary Islands.

The entrance to a Hiper Dino supermarket, in the Canary Islands.

Finally, María also indulges herself in the gourmet area of ​​El Corte Inglés: “In the El Corte Inglés bakery there is a specific bread that I love.” However, your usual Hiper Dino is increasingly implementing these products for demanding palates: “What I was going to look for at El Corte Inglés, Hiper Dino has more and more.”

The most expensive cities to make the purchase, according to the OCU

1. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Getxo (Vizcaya)

2. Palma de Mallorca

3. Barcelona

4. Alcobendas-San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid)

Yolanda, on the other hand, does not indulge herself as “necessity” implies that her shopping basket is more expensive than the average. Gluten-free and lactose-free products are generally expensive. Also in Mercadona, although there is an image that it does not. What Juan Roig did since he set up his supermarkets is to distinguish very well which products have gluten and which ones do not. But the prices are similar to other chains. There was an urban legend that said that the businessman’s daughter is celiac, but it seems that it is just that, a myth.

Yolanda mostly buys from Mercadona, although she has a trustworthy butcher and fish shop. Your fridge is never short of Coca-Cola (the price of which has risen a 15% compared to 2020, according to the OCU) and gluten-free beer. Its star dish, as expected, is the the stock market is cut. “It comes out very rich.”

The cheapest cities to make the purchase, according to the OCU

1. Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz)

2. Almeria

3. Catellón

4. Puertollano (Ciudad Real)

5. Real city

6. Zamora

Both women also appreciate the difference in prices when they go to other cities. For Yolanda, everything is more expensive abroad; for Maria, quite the opposite. “When I have been in Madrid I have seen that everything is much more expensive. The fruit, the fish market and all that, ”says Yolanda. “I spend the summer in a small town in Asturias, in Villaviciosa, because my husband is from there, and the difference is abysmal. Especially in the supermarket, during the day, with fruit and vegetables. And I have many more options in town. Here I can buy rich, but I have to pay it”, Laments María.

Entrance to Alcampo de Telde, the most expensive supermarket in Las Palmas, according to the OCU.

Entrance to Alcampo de Telde, the most expensive supermarket in Las Palmas, according to the OCU.

And what both women also agree on is that prices have risen, as a general rule. These exorbitant prices of electricity that do not stop marking a “historical record” – this Thursday comes another: 221 euros megawatt-hour– They also make the shopping basket more expensive. Because all products, to a greater or lesser extent, require energy and fuel to arrive packaged and peppers on the supermarket shelves.

“Something has come up, yes. I keep spending almost the same as when we were one more [su otro hijo vive ahora en Madrid]. In Mercadona it shows, it has risen a lot ”, regrets Yolanda. “Before with 50 euros you would fill a cart. Now it is impossible to lower than 100 euros with the basics, the normal. It is impossible. What you used to do with 50 now you do with 100”Concludes María.

Reference-www.elespanol.com

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