# Products you miss in Spanish supermarkets



## Gerdien Visser

My name is Gerdien Visser. I am doing a research and I hope you are willing to help me. Are there products you are missing in the Spanish supermarkets you really love?


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## xabiaxica

Gerdien Visser said:


> My name is Gerdien Visser. I am doing a research and I hope you are willing to help me. Are there products you are missing in the Spanish supermarkets you really love?


What is the research for?


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## Gerdien Visser

For school


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## xabiaxica

Gerdien Visser said:


> For school


Do you have a link to a questionnaire?


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## Gerdien Visser

I can make one. This is for business school and I am interested in expats. How easy or dificult is it to move to an other country.


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## Retired to Basque country

Gerdien Visser said:


> My name is Gerdien Visser. I am doing a research and I hope you are willing to help me. Are there products you are missing in the Spanish supermarkets you really love?


 Bear in mind that I live in the Basque country, where there are fewer "ex-pats". 
wine from countries other than Spain
rapeseed oil (maybe still wary since 1981 with the rapeseed oil scam)
Cadbury's chocolate
produce from other countries such as poppadoms, pickles (including Branston!!)
smoked mackerel
gang plugs that have both a switch and can be wall mounted


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## Gerdien Visser

Retired to Basque country said:


> Bear in mind that I live in the Basque country, where there are fewer "ex-pats".
> wine from countries other than Spain
> rapeseed oil (maybe still wary since 1981 with the rapeseed oil scam)
> Cadbury's chocolate
> produce from other countries such as poppadoms, pickles (including Branston!!)
> smoked mackerel
> gang plugs that have both a switch and can be wall mounted


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## Gerdien Visser

Thank you so much for your reply!


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## MataMata

The only thing I can honestly say I miss about UK is the pubs, however hard they might try nothing in Spain can compare. 

Yes I do buy a few items from English shops but only because they are there and if I'm passing by, it certainly wouldn't bother me at all if they all disappeared tomorrow.


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## Gerdien Visser

Thank you very much for your reply!


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## Overandout

Retired to Basque country said:


> Bear in mind that I live in the Basque country, where there are fewer "ex-pats".
> 
> wine from countries other than Spain
> rapeseed oil (maybe still wary since 1981 with the rapeseed oil scam)
> Cadbury's chocolate
> produce from other countries such as poppadoms, pickles (including Branston!!)
> smoked mackerel
> gang plugs that have both a switch and can be wall mounted


This survey is too vague. 
As RtBc says, there are areas in Spain where the supermarkets sell very different products, not just because of the expat community but because of the market demand. I work in the Basque Country on a regular basis and certainly notice that the offer is different to that in Madrid where I live.
I can walk into a Spanish (non-specialist) supermarket in Madrid and buy a jar of Branston Pickle for example, but that is also true about Tortitas de Camerones which are as Spanish as paella.
Things I can't get in Madrid, for example suet or Bisto powder are probably easily available in normal supermarkets on the coasts where there is more demand.
The idea of "Spanish supermarkets" all being the same in terms of offer of international products is not a good startig point.


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## Gerdien Visser

Thank you for this extra information. You’re right I have to focus on for example the coastal areas. Thank you for your input.


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## tebo53

You can get all of those items you mentioned in Benidorm from local supermarkets or Chinese warehouses. 

A large variety of English products in all our larger supermarkets. 

Steve


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## Gerdien Visser

So you don’t miss anything? Thank you for your reply


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## xabiaxica

When we first moved here, it was almost impossible to get British food products without paying an absolute fortune.

Over the years, local Spanish supermarkets did start to stock some British foods, even though the British population of the town was diminishing.

A 'British' chain supermarket then opened a branch in my town, more than 10 years ago now - perhaps even 15 years ago.

There are a few products - very few - that aren't available in the Spanish supermarkets. We do occaisionally buy them. Not because we miss them, since they aren't anything that we would have eaten in the UK, but simply because they are different. 


Most British products are in fact cheaper in the Spanish supermarkets than in the British chain, or there is a better (IMO) Spanish version.


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## Gerdien Visser

Thank you for your reply!


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