Extortionate food prices - any tips?

Just for reference, I pay:

€ 1.50/kg apple
€ 1.00/kg pear (seasonal)
€ 1.50/kg orange
€ 1.00 big head of lettuce
€ 1.00/kg potato
€ 1.50/kg carrots
€ 1.50/kg tomato
€ 3.50/kg italian grapes

For me the expensive one are bananas. € 2.00/kg is expensive because I love it

Cheers

Food is very expensive in Malta. Especially quality food, veg, fruit. It's still cheaper than the UK though so...

We used to spend about 600-750/month on food for two people. We spend about the same in Spain but eat twice as good lol (meat, lots of fresh fish, loads of fresh veg and fruit). Buying from local butchers and veg vendors is not going to be any cheaper than going to a bigger supermarket (in Malta). Many "local" vendors are going to rip you off big time so beware.

Edit: I'm not being overly negative btw - it really is that bad in Malta. Almost every green grocer and butcher is going to rip you off - at least the first five or so times you shop with them. In the end we found a honest vendor in Gozo (one of the guys behind the main bus station in Victoria) and it's ridiculous how much more you get for your money when they don't rip you off. It's a real shame as well, because we were so excited about "supporting the local economy" at first - lol.

Edit 2: I remember this one time we were walking back from Arkadia on a Sunday and my girlfriend was like "damn it I left all change at home but would really like to buy a pomegranate..." I was like err I have like 2 euros on me - I don't think that's going to be enough (...ridiculous but true - only in Gozo). Then we saw this one guy loading boxes into his van getting ready to leave (all other vendors had gone home by then) and asked him if he had any pomegranates. Paid less than a euro/piece. That has never happened before - I was like woah you didn't overcharge us! So we bought from him for the next eight months...

Thanks to you both for your honest opinion and sharing your food prices / monthly costs! It seems for many people it's the norm to pay over €400 or even 500 a month in order to eat well. That's obviously not going to reduce our costs but makes me feel slightly better, i.e. I'm personally not doing anything wrong!

I'm the same about supporting local businesses especially in your area but if they continue like this I will have to stick to Lidl.

@pmichelazzo: same for us we love bananas and they are quite expensive but I think that's in most countries hopefully I will find a greengrocer soon where I can get similar prices to yours!

@blackangelheart you'll get people telling you that you can eat well on 250/month. It's all bs - trust me.

At one point we literally had no money left (moved to Gozo totally broke) and we really struggled with 10/day on food. I mean rice/noodles, some veg and bread+ricotta with some drinking water thrown in lol. Like 7-9 euros/day if you eat like that. Then you can buy meat maybe once a week and add like 150g into a meal that you split into four portions or something. That's not what I'd describe as "having a good diet".

P.S. platanos (practically bananas but slightly richer in vitamins & minerals) cost nothing in north Tenerife. Like 30 cents a kilo in-season. Sometimes you can pick up 50 for 2 euros from a local farmer. (you do have to cook them - normally - depends on sub-type)

We live healthily on not much more than €300 using our green grocer/grocer three times a week,
Lidl and local supermarkets, maybe Malta is different to Gozo.

Hey blackangel where are you living ? I live in marsascala and I bought a kilo of bananas from shop for 1euro a kilo - there is some great value fruit and veg vans situated in most town these are better value than any shop and you build a rappor with the owners , find out where things are from etc and you can make some grey at savings too
It's seasonal though so what you might get now cheap won't be in a few months but you change what you buy to match them

Also worth helping out the fruit and veg stalls plus fresh fish  at the marsaxlokk market - again be prepared to get to know who to buy from and don't but from the first stall you see but it will help save money from shops

You need to shop around don't buy everything from one place - frozen food like meats etc I would get from miracle foods , fresh meats from lidl or the local butcher 
Also check out pavi - it has some good value things but remember not everything is


I don't spend more than €250 euros sometimes less and we eat fairly well - I know people will say it's bs but it's all about making the most of offers , joining loyalty schemes and being prepared to spend the time looking for things .


Biggest thing I learnt is that don't buy stuff you would normally but in the uk but buy like that Maltese do

i have never had any strange looks buying reduced meat or food in lidl and i will stock up especially when chickens get reduced etc  stick them in the freezer

Totally agree with everything Rob has said, it does pay to get to know your local mobile
greengrocer/grocer, ours is very good and if there is something we need and he
has not got it in stock he will have it on his next visit, we actually received a
christmas gift from him, also its worth getting to know your local shopkeeper
ours is very good.

I find food expensive as well, but we're still learning.  It's not just the expense, it's trying to find the stuff as well. We came from France where it was a lot cheaper to eat fresh fruit, veg and meat, so we've really struggled here. 

For meat we shop at Miracle foods.  I've given up with fresh because nothing tasted right and the hygiene in some places looks a bit iffy to me. We only buy meat from there now, either frozen or from their defrosted section.  I don't know whether it's any cheaper, but the quality is a lot better and the meat goes further.  Like a chicken from there can do a couple of meals and they're really tasty, much better value than a cheaper Lidl chicken. 

For veg, we've tried loads of places and still can't find the perfect place.  You really do have to shop around, there's not one shop for it all.  Some days Arkadia can be good, but a lot of the time it's probably overpriced if it is good.  Most of the time we get our veg from Greens.  They seem the most reasonably priced for the quality so far and they do deliver. We live in Swieqi so it's easy for us to see what they've got and their prices though, I don't think I'd trust a delivery of fruit and veg.

Our fruit and veg + milk is all bought from our local roundsman who now actually stops at our door. He comes 3 times a week and all the local, seasonal stuff comes from his own land cut/picked that morning. Definitely no rip off here!
A typical day might be 2 L milk. 2 or 3 Kg potatoes, a few bananas,carrots and onions, all for around €5 to €10.

I guess there are a few people who have not been here long or ones who only stayed a few months who have not quite got the hang of things!
(And as for French talking of Hygiene!!!)

Ray

You can literally buy more fresh fruit than you can carry for €10 (in season) in some places... In Gozo all we used to get for around €10 was a few apples, a few bananas, half a kilo of grapes, a couple plums, two lemons and maybe some lettuce/salad. That's not a lot of fruit - to me it's half a meal.

Most locals do not eat healthy. We always shopped among locals and holy crap they eat fatty/cheap produce most of the time. Because fresh stuff is either not available (meat, fish) or very expensive.

It definitely takes some adjustment is all I'm saying. If you eat a kilo of apples, two kilos of bananas and some kiwis, oranges, lettuce, berries, pomegranates, grapes... as a snack every day like I do - it's going to cost you an arm and a leg in Malta. And then you have regular meals (pasta/rice, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, meat/fish, fresh bread) on top of it all. It adds up quickly.

Standing in a queue I'd see plenty of local Gozitans stocking up on chips, crisps, ham, eggs, ricotta and bread+nutella. That's in a local, heavily residential area of Victoria... meh. I've never met another foreigner in that shop actually - just locals. And they really do love their crap foods. A lot.

I still remember the smile of the face of this obese local kid, maybe four or five years old, holding a huge bag of UK-branded chips at the meat counter... waiting for his mum to buy some ham. That smile haunts me lol.

Edit: oh and coke/fanta. They drink bath-loads of that stuff. Literally buy it in packs of 6x2l...

"Eat like a local" - what a joke.

I didn't say eat like a local - I said shop like one there is a difference

We don't live in Malta yet, but on our previous visits (the last one last February) we always got fresh - and good - vegetables from one of the vegetable vans - and quite affordable, I think. My wife always went there while I was waiting in the car, so I don't know how she did it, but she usually got 2 bags full of good stuff for about 7-10 Euros. (The veggie van was in Gzira in one of the small streets off the Strand). When she went with our son (3 years old at the time) they would sometimes even get something "extra" for free, like an apple or so.. (I realise it's not really for free as the guy made up the prices as he liked anyway, but it was a nice gesture.)

As we don't eat that much meat anyway, and we were on holiday, we didn't really try to find any place where meat was cheaper - we only bought meat once at GS in Naxxar. We also bought fish there - it was not so cheap, but good, and definitely cheaper and much better than any fish that you can get here in Austria. But we once were in a fish shop in Gzira (near Sparkle Image) that sold fish at really affordable prices. Be warned, though, that cats will be following you after you've been in that shop for just a minute - the smell in there is extreme...

We cook a lot of pasta (sometimes twice a day - there are many kinds of pasta ) and rice - I just checked the LIDL Malta website, they have 1 kg of pasta for 69 cents (I usually take 200g of pasta for 2, or 250g for my son and my wife and me), so 1kg means 4 meals. I always cook fresh sauce from vegetables, maybe some ham, some olives... it's relatively cheap, but good (I think). Definitely cheaper in Malta than in Austria (the pasta costs more than twice as much here, which is why we usually do our shopping at Lidl in Italy every month or so...)

As for the small grocery shops - now they tend to rip you off, particularly when you're not Maltese... I remember one of those shops in Gzira, I bought ONE tangerine for 1,20 EUR! My Maltese friend got a bag full of tangerines for 1,50 EUR. We were there at the same time - the shopkeeper didn't realise we knew each other, and he told my friend the price in Maltese (probably so I wouldn't understand...).

@ mantasmo: I definitely agree that, in general, the Spanish eat better than the Maltese. But of course, there are exceptions everywhere, and I know a lot of Spaniards who are obese (as a matter of fact, I shared a flat with two Spanish girls and a Spanish guy when I lived in mainland Spain during my studies, and when I saw what they were cooking/eating, my stomach turned... They used more oil than my Classic Mini ) I have to agree that, particularly on the Canary Islands, when it comes to local fresh fruit and vegetables, you get a lot more for your money than in Malta.

It's really interesting how much food prices differ in countries across the EU! Austria sounds expensive, and I know that France isn't cheap for groceries either. The cheapest country that I've ever been to has to be Poland... couldn't believe the prices there.

Spain is somewhere in the middle I think with Malta being on the pricier side.

Also absolutely agree that there are definitely exceptions everywhere. But there's a reason that the Maltese are mostly obese/overweight or at least really out of shape (go to any beach in October...).

Another funny story: we were super starved after gym on our way back home via Victoria (Gozo). We stopped to buy some pizza slices (we were desperate lol) from one of the vendors near Victoria bus station. There was this enormous Maltese girl in front of us ordering pizza. She bought everything! The entire stall - there was nothing left. Pizzas, pastizis, everything. And the other vendors were all out as well. I know that it's just a funny coincidence and she could have been buying food for her entire family or a group of friends... hilarious nontheless.

<3 you rob - I wasn't referring to you in my previous post btw. I like your posts and have come to respect your opinion over time. We have very different lifestyles but I think that as long as we're both happy - that's all that matters in life.

mantasmo wrote:

You can literally buy more fresh fruit than you can carry for €10 (in season) in some places... In Gozo all we used to get for around €10 was a few apples, a few bananas, half a kilo of grapes, a couple plums, two lemons and maybe some lettuce/salad. That's not a lot of fruit - to me it's half a meal.

Most locals do not eat healthy. We always shopped among locals and holy crap they eat fatty/cheap produce most of the time. Because fresh stuff is either not available (meat, fish) or very expensive.

It definitely takes some adjustment is all I'm saying. If you eat a kilo of apples, two kilos of bananas and some kiwis, oranges, lettuce, berries, pomegranates, grapes... as a snack every day like I do - it's going to cost you an arm and a leg in Malta. And then you have regular meals (pasta/rice, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, meat/fish, fresh bread) on top of it all. It adds up quickly.

Standing in a queue I'd see plenty of local Gozitans stocking up on chips, crisps, ham, eggs, ricotta and bread+nutella. That's in a local, heavily residential area of Victoria... meh. I've never met another foreigner in that shop actually - just locals. And they really do love their crap foods. A lot.

I still remember the smile of the face of this obese local kid, maybe four or five years old, holding a huge bag of UK-branded chips at the meat counter... waiting for his mum to buy some ham. That smile haunts me lol.

Edit: oh and coke/fanta. They drink bath-loads of that stuff. Literally buy it in packs of 6x2l...

"Eat like a local" - what a joke.

If you eat that much fruit a day I would think your biggest expense would be toilet rolls!

On a more serious note, I have lived in Gozo for 3 years and the thing that stands out most with locals shopping, is the amount of fresh fruit and veg they buy and  bags full of fresh fish and I mean fresh, from the likes of Bugejas and Xureb's. €20 - 30 euros on fruit and veg and €40 - 50 on fish is not unusual.
We still spend a lot less for 2 than we did in the UK when we would easily spend £80 - £100 a week in Sainsbury's and another £20 - £30 on milk, bread eggs etc during the week.

Ray

F0xgl0ve wrote:

On a more serious note, I have lived in Gozo for 3 years and the thing that stands out most with locals shopping, is the amount of fresh fruit and veg they buy and  bags full of fresh fish and I mean fresh, from the likes of Bugejas and Xureb's. €20 - 30 euros on fruit and veg and €40 - 50 on fish is not unusual.

Maybe it depends on where in Gozo you live/shop. We lived in a pretty "cheap" part of Victoria.

Veg/fruits - local greengrocer, Yes, you have to change 3-4 of them until you find someone who wants to trade, not to rob you

Cheaper option (if you have a car): market in Ta'Qali and in Marsaxlokk. If you are close to last hours (around 1-2pm) you can get some bulk amounts for low price

Meat: either Pavi for fresh or Miracle Foods for frozen. Actually, foreign frozen meat is  of better quality than local fresh.

Fish: either tough trading in Marsaxlokk early morning on Sunday (really early I mean), or small shops like Rita Fish shop. Avoid Azzopardi - the quality is good but overpriced for many items in a list.

Wow, I was gone for just a few days and just saw how many of you have contributed to this thread! Thanks so much to everyone - for your advice or even an opinion. I'm sure it'll help many others who are just starting out in Malta, just like us :-)

I find it interesting that there's hardly any middle ground: either people say it's expensive or reasonably priced! Big difference between the north and the south it seems (Marsascala sounds super cheap to me, Rob, you certainly chose the right area! ) and obviously Gozo and Malta.

Taking all your advice on board I ventured out again with a positive mind and ready to get chatting to locals. I'm happy to report that I finally found a fruit & veg place that did not rip me off!!   

I got a kilo of apples for €1.80, kilo of bananas for €1.50 and oranges for €1.50 as well. There are prices displayed everywhere which makes shopping so much easier and also locals seem to pay the same as I do. Very friendly and helpful, too. If anyone is interested, it's called "The Fruit Tree" and is in Triq L-Imraden close to Miracle Foods in Naxxar.

Thanks Rob, Sam and Spiridonov for recommending Miracle Foods and your opinion on the freshness and quality of the meat. We were always put off by this shop because it seemed like an overpriced Iceland. But since we've bought a massive bag of chicken strips, frozen mince and mixed peppers and it's so convenient and will last us a while!

I even noticed that some prices were cheaper than Lidl such as frozen mushrooms (450g €1.29 in Lidl, 1kg €2.39 in MF) or the mixed Mexican or Oriental veg. That surprised me and I will keep an open mind as Lidl might not be the cheapest after all.

We still have a long way to go but it's a huge relief not being ripped off every day and being able to eat healthy on a normal budget

I do agree with Mantasmo though in regards to the eating habits of the Maltese. I obviously can't speak for the whole population but from what my partner says when he goes for lunch with his colleagues (Maltese company so 99% Maltese) they eat loads and mostly unhealthy stuff like huge lasagnas, burgers + chips, etc. all washed down with coke. And this every day!

That is not very catholic to rip someone off because he is foreign.  Maybe is Ireland a better place to live.  Do not go to Belgium.  It is extremely expensive for food.  Thank you for honest comments on life in Malta.

For vegetable and fruit > farmers market in Ta Qali every Saturday morning.. requires car to get there, but good selection and prices

About 'cheapest Lidl' - it's not completely true. Meat is expensive in Lidl, for example. Yes, there are many positions in our grocery list where no other shop can beat Lidl like Greek yogurt or mascarpone or some simple household goods, but overall Lidl is not the cheapest option on the island

Good prices and fresh ( local ) vegetables, Saturday Ta Qali.. I think also Tuesdays.. but not  sure.. But a car is need it..
Also in the same area you can find vans with other , non-local, fruits/vegetables.. ( banana 1 Euro.. vs, 1.5 Euro in Naxxar local fruit/veg shop.. )
Lidl for dairy products ( Milk, yogurt.). the same prices like  local products, but  more tasty in my opinion.