Where do you shop for best value?

Sounds like its far from you too, but Pama in Mosta is like a real supermarket and well worth looking at, though people complain about the price.

Hi, I figure you live somewhere in Sliema, Gzira, St. Julians? In the more touristy areas this is probably not an option, but we find the smaller shops are not that bad when it comes to value for money. We buy meat in the local meat shop - always good quality, and reasonably priced. The fish shop is great and not expensive at all, for fruit and veg we use the vans, and go to the Ta Qali farmers  market every Saturday (and after that to Lidl for the weekly shopping, but we've got a car..) But we're up in the north in Mellieha, where you are it might be different. Towers is ok, but the layout a nightmare, I agree. Tigne is too expensive in my opinion.

volcane wrote:

Sounds like its far from you too, but Pama in Mosta is like a real supermarket and well worth looking at, though people complain about the price.

Yes, we like pama, too. And it depends on what you buy, but I find the prices ok.

I find that Scotts Supermarket is even more expensive than Towers- though they do have offers and plenty of range. Frozen foods seem very overpriced.
Arkadia is good for its stock but again expensive and not many stores.
For meats, frozen foods I would suggest Miracle foods, and also find for cheeses, hams etc try your local convenience store as works out a lot cheaper

Towers in Sliema IMO is the worst supermarket! Park Towers on Psaila Street on the other hand is very nice, doesn't smell funky, has a much better layout and looks rather fancy Like most people on the island we shop at various places due to price but also quality reasons. Meat we buy from our local butcher, fruit & veg from our Greengrocer. Anything frozen comes from Miracle Foods. Maypole does great bread and other bakery items. Lidl is great for cleaning stuff, toiletries, canned food and alcohol - it's cheap and good quality. We sometimes go to Scotts or GS to buy the above but only if we're too lazy to venture to one of the Lidls.

We tried some fresh beef burgers from Miracle foods. The miracle bit seemed appropriate, as we were not quite sure what manner of livestock the meat came from. I am told that their frozen stuff is OK though.

Our first visit to Pama is likely to have been our last. We get better prices in many small family run shops and prefer to support the locals wherever possible.

Yes for the people with a car you are lucky. I definitely need to make a trip to the farmers market this Saturday actually as I have heard good things about it. To be honest I don't find the local vegetable shops to be cheap and sometimes the quality of their produce is really bad. It could be more local than what is in the supermarkets but who knows.

I will have to check out Miracle foods too, I have passed it a few times thinking it was like a wholesale shop for businesses or something.

We buy our meat at Chefs Choice in San Gwann - same butchers as Pavi & Pama and they also have their own supermarket in Marsaskala/Zabbar. We found it much better value thank Miracle Foods to be honest.
Fruit & Veg in Ta'Qali farmers market, but if we don't get a chance to go there, we use the St Andrews farm in Swieqi - still local, more expensive than Ta'Qali, but still much cheaper than supermarkets.
Lidl for coffee/milk/canned items/cleaning products/basic items like salt & pepper and also cheese & natural youghurt, water & some wine.
Othewise Savemart in San Gwann, sometimes Pama when coming back from Ta'Qali, Greenes (which is the nearest one to us).

Just found this article on the topic: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/data_ … 9xlbZh97IU

Have you tried maltasupermarket.com? I mved here recently and i find it a lot easier and most of the time cheaper to shop online. They deliver for free if you spend over 75eur.

we buy from the small shops and i find when we go to the big ones like Smart and Towers santa venera we spend so much more and thats usually due to the lay out, to find the affordable brands takes a looong time in those places.
for our everyday needs though we buy from small shops, we live in hamrun so majority maltese population + low property prices keeps the prices down,
not to be a negetive nancy but you want to live in a place that charges high living prices expect the shops to cash in and charge an arm and a leg too, also keep in mind their rent is higher than regular villages. higher running costs higher prices. thats economics.
in terms of fruit and veg we always buy from a van or a grocer and have never found it expensive, sure if something is going out of season the quality is a bit crap but one must not forget we live on an island, we dont produce that much locally and what we dont produce we arent its first stop in most cases... i would try some other vans in your area maybe the one you have been too is ripping you off.