Hi people,

I need advice on shopping for kitchen, food supplies - you know, olive oil, bread, cheese, butter this that :

I noticed that in spain, there is a LOT of ‘neatly packaged’, small amount foodstuffs. For example, there are tiny glass jars of olive paste, which cost ~$1-1.5 eu. Or, flavored, spiced cheese in small packaging etc.

I have an understanding that anything that is in smaller packages is more expensive than anything that is sold in big bulk containers. Especially when they are neatly packaged - calculations i made also show them to be like more expensive, naturally.

But i also know from experience that in every country there is a brand or brands that produce good quality stuff that is sold in cheaper, bulk packages.

But since i dont know enough of spain yet, i dont know which brands are good for that purpose so that we can go and buy 15 liters of olive oil from one.

So i thought i should ask here, for there are sure people who have extensive experience in shopping stuff.

Thank you in advance for your advice !

I’m curious, what country are you coming from? I know Canadians are especially into buying in buik… (being one myself).

Bulk buying isn’t as common in Spain and, frankly, stuff is already so incredibly cheap in some stores like Dia or Lidl that you might find yourself not worrying about saving 25 centimos. And since most people walk to the grocery store to buy their food a few times a week instead of driving once per week, you may also find that buying in smaller quantities (that don’t go bad as often ? keep in my Europe uses a lot less preservatives) saves your back after a few blocks.

Not sure if that helps, but I wanted to highlight the cultural difference first. Hopefully someone else can pipe up with some good brand suggestions for you!

Turkey. We also have the buying in bulk concept there, and almost every major item is sold in big packages as well as small and medium ones. I thought this was a common concept everywhere.

Well, maybe the local grocery store (only a stand in our small market nearby) is a little bit expensive in regard to groceries - or rather maybe the freshness, variety and prices found in turkey is not easy to find here.

My wife also explained me that it used to be like that in spain before, but in the past few decades people started complaining that food was going bad (single people, working people students etc) and companies started to sell stuff in small packages or something.

But i personally think that there must be brands who are trustworthy enough and still sell stuff in big cheaper packages. It is a logic of mass production/marketing in the end, isnt it.

I am producer of extra virgin olive oil in Ja?n, Spain. Furthermore I have a shop specilized in extra virgin olive oil and honey, and if you need help with spanish products, contact me http://www.aceitecsb.es