# Cost of Living Information



## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

People are often asking about the cost of living differences and here's a useful comparison of prices in Spain v UK:

Guest Info-graphic: Cost of Living in Spain vs UK- Spain Buddy

Prices obviously vary from area to area but it serves as a rough guide and eye-opener!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

A brave attempt at a near-impossible task! It's a shame she didn't leave the Spanish prices in euros, rather than convert them to sterling, because as soon as the exchange rate changes they will all be wrong.

The rental and property prices are based on Moraira/Javea, which appear to be a lot more expensive than in my part of the country.


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

Yes, I can't quote price per price but several of them were much higher than where I live. At the moment I buy oranges at 3 kilos for one euro,a cauliflower for one euro and same with broccoli.
Likewise, rents vary on what they have or there is generally a difference if the flat is on the 3rd floor with or without a lift.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Local cheese is far cheaper here than quoted on the website and our prepaid mobile tariff is 8 cents a minute. Other prices which show Spain as being cheaper are also, mostly, even cheaper here. Of course, apart from occasionally checking Tesco/Ocado home delivery sites for my own comparisons I can't be certain of the UK prices they are quoting. What I can say is that everyone who visits us from UK are astonished at how cheap a supermarket shopping experience here is compared to UK.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

thrax said:


> Local cheese is far cheaper here than quoted on the website and our prepaid mobile tariff is 8 cents a minute. Other prices which show Spain as being cheaper are also, mostly, even cheaper here. Of course, apart from occasionally checking Tesco/Ocado home delivery sites for my own comparisons I can't be certain of the UK prices they are quoting. What I can say is that everyone who visits us from UK are astonished at how cheap a supermarket shopping experience here is compared to UK.


Our visitors always say the same. I sometimes price compare some items from Asda, where I used to shop, and for the vast majority of items their prices are much higher than Mercadona where I mostly shop now.

The prices for fruit and vegetables must be very difficult to compare as everything is so seasonal here, and prices when things are in season are so low it's almost ridiculous. I buy nearly all mine from the indoor market or fruteria rather than the supermarket, and I know I never ate so many strawberries or cherries when I lived in the UK, despite having a good salary coming in then! The same goes for fish and shellfish, I just love prawns and they are a regular feature on my shopping list here.

When we first moved here, in late 2006, we began drawing €70 in cash each week to pay for our food/household sundries shopping (not including wine). Over 7 years later, we are still drawing the same amount - some weeks there's nothing left over at the end of the week, some weeks there's a surplus of €20 depending on what we've needed to buy. Our shopping might be cheaper than most people's as my OH is vegetarian so we don't buy much meat, but given the price of cheese, maybe not!

The internet prices quoted in the link seem rather high for both countries. The 20mbps cable internet we recently changed to is €18 per month and I thought most people in the UK paid a lot less than £20 per month for broadband?


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## el pescador (Mar 14, 2013)

Yes 6mb broadband in the uk would be a few pounds.
Rent a 1 bed flat is the odd one.

Must have picked a poor area to get that figure in the uk and a more upmarket one in Spain.

Reverse the selections and your looking at 300 quid a week for a studio flat in London.
200 euros a month for a 1 bed in the sticks in Spain.

And the overall other costs will be cheaper too.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

To be fair in some areas broadband here is ridiculously overpriced in comparison. 6Mb is 30 euro here and I thankful as hell we have it.
Add in data caps for those with no other options and the price on broadband on average would skyrocket.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

For me, and it obviously depends on where one is located, those Spanish prices are, on average, about 20% over the top.


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

Lynn R said:


> Our visitors always say the same. I sometimes price compare some items from Asda, where I used to shop, and for the vast majority of items their prices are much higher than Mercadona where I mostly shop now.
> 
> The prices for fruit and vegetables must be very difficult to compare as everything is so seasonal here, and prices when things are in season are so low it's almost ridiculous. I buy nearly all mine from the indoor market or fruteria rather than the supermarket, and I know I never ate so many strawberries or cherries when I lived in the UK, despite having a good salary coming in then! The same goes for fish and shellfish, I just love prawns and they are a regular feature on my shopping list here.
> 
> ...


Well, when my daughter visits she says the opposite about the food shop!
It's a bit of a myth that Spain is superior in price and quality and freshness all the time.
Strawberries have little or no flavour. Cherries- some sweet and lovely, others tasteless.
The fresh veg and fruit available is no better or cheaper than Tesco's or Asda's.A lot of it is from Spain anyway, and doesn't seem to have suffered in quality from the air miles, and because supermarkets buy in bulk, it is usually cheaper. 
Prawns are hideously expensive-where do you get yours so cheap?
Spanish cheese that I've tasted is not as good as English cheese, (though that is literally a matter of taste) and it's not that cheap, either.
Pork,chicken, eggs are cheaper, lamb is extremely expensive;I've heard people say they buy it cheaper at Mercadona;must have been an off day when I looked at it then, it was scrawny, and the stewing pieces had a large amount of bone.
Don't even mention steak, it's a rare treat.
There are lovely fish to choose from (with the exception of panga) but it's not particularly cheap, especially salmon
No, I don't do my shopping in English shops. I use Mercadona, Uppers, Lidls, sometimes Eroski and Carrefours if I am in Cartagena. market,(which sometimes is dearer than the supermarket) local shops, same as the Spanish do around here.
Wine, yes that's cheaper, but it wouldn't bother me if I never had it again.
I expect that someone will write that they have a little grocer, butcher, fruit and veg man in their village with stuff that is high quality freshness, superior taste etc, or someone leaves bountiful baskets on their doorstep,but don't knock UK supermarkets- for sheer variety, freshness and value, it's hard to beat them!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

extranjero said:


> Well, when my daughter visits she says the opposite about the food shop!
> It's a bit of a myth that Spain is superior in price and quality and freshness all the time.
> Strawberries have little or no flavour. Cherries- some sweet and lovely, others tasteless.
> The fresh veg and fruit available is no better or cheaper than Tesco's or Asda's.A lot of it is from Spain anyway, and doesn't seem to have suffered in quality from the air miles, and because supermarkets buy in bulk, it is usually cheaper.
> ...


We usually do most of our shopping in Lidl or Mercadona and I have to disagree with you. The Spanish strawberries one gets in UK are tasteless having been picked green but those we get here are quite good but not like English strawberries which are a completely different variety - the Spanish ones require sun to ripen whereas the English varieties ripen even on a cloudy day they just require warmth.

The salmon we get here in Spain is invariably fresher and has less fat (the bit that goes rancid and makes he whole piece taste that way). Buying a chicken here is far better value because it is cleaner, there is no wad of fat stuffed in the cavity and it isn't pumped full of water and sodium polyphosphate to make it heavier. Pork is of excellent quality except that the gammon is not usually sold but goes to make the excellent jamon serrano or iberico. We usually buy a complete "cinta de lomo" and cut steaks the thickness we prefer (the Spanish have theirs thin to be able to flash-fry) after cutting off two or three joints, which, occasionally I cut in a spiral so that it can be stuffed with some delicious dried fruits. As for lamb, I have never ever liked it I think it fatty, bitty, and a waste of money - a lamb chop, if you are lucky, has about two mouthfuls of meat on it.

Cherries are also excellent - we grow lots here and have Cherry festival in the third week of June. Invariably it means three to four weeks pigging out on them as well as freezing, bottling and making them into pie fillings or jam. We also have peaches, so many that they also get bottled or dried, apples, pears, caquis (persimmons), nisperos (loquats), almonds, habas (broad beans), oranges (eaters/juicers @ 5kg €2; Seville/bitter type for marmalade are free) and much much more. 

If we (three of us) were in UK we couldn't live on my OAP and still have enough for a holiday or two each year. Now that we have two dogs (rescues), our monthly outlay has crept up to about €650 tops.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

extranjero said:


> Prawns are hideously expensive-where do you get yours so cheap?
> 
> don't knock UK supermarkets- for sheer variety, freshness and value, it's hard to beat them!


I buy my prawns (well langostinos actually, I prefer the flavour) from Mercadona, currently €8.95 per kilo. I haven't seen a price remotely comparable to that on a UK supermarket website for shell-on prawns. I've just checked the Tesco website and they have 175g of raw king prawns from Thailand (so they'll be farmed and imported, just as Mercadona's are) for £3.25 which is equivalent to £18.58 per kilo - that's quite a difference.

I don't knock UK supermarkets, in some ways I miss them for the much wider range of products available, especially pre-prepared meals. I always visit a couple when I am back there on a trip to stock up on things to bring back, but I only buy things that either I can't find here or what is available but much more expensive as it's imported. I can spend as much on a couple of bagfulls of "treats" as I do on a full week's shopping here.


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## el pescador (Mar 14, 2013)

What about the peppers


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> For me, and it obviously depends on where one is located, those Spanish prices are, on average, about 20% over the top.


I found the same in looking into the prices of living in Spain. It's the old saying that only three things matter - location, location and location.

I found a really helpful website that shows the cost of living in different cities and towns in Spain. It's an international site too, so you can compare different countries. You can also use different currencies on the site to show the prices. So this is great for expat wannabes like me who still think in their home currency. I double checked this with some of the forum members when I joined, and the overall consensus is that this is correct, but some living costs are not included. I also double checked this with the cost of living that I know here at home, and it seems correct to me. So without further ado, here is the website that other expats may find helpful. I have this set to Spain, but you can change the country on the top of your screen.

Cost of Living in Spain. Prices in Spain.


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> We usually do most of our shopping in Lidl or Mercadona and I have to disagree with you. The Spanish strawberries one gets in UK are tasteless having been picked green but those we get here are quite good but not like English strawberries which are a completely different variety - the Spanish ones require sun to ripen whereas the English varieties ripen even on a cloudy day they just require warmth.
> 
> The salmon we get here in Spain is invariably fresher and has less fat (the bit that goes rancid and makes he whole piece taste that way). Buying a chicken here is far better value because it is cleaner, there is no wad of fat stuffed in the cavity and it isn't pumped full of water and sodium polyphosphate to make it heavier. Pork is of excellent quality except that the gammon is not usually sold but goes to make the excellent jamon serrano or iberico. We usually buy a complete "cinta de lomo" and cut steaks the thickness we prefer (the Spanish have theirs thin to be able to flash-fry) after cutting off two or three joints, which, occasionally I cut in a spiral so that it can be stuffed with some delicious dried fruits. As for lamb, I have never ever liked it I think it fatty, bitty, and a waste of money - a lamb chop, if you are lucky, has about two mouthfuls of meat on it.
> 
> ...


Baldilocks-I said that chicken is cheaper- we are in agreement! Pork is also good, no argument there.
The Spanish strawberries are tasteless whether in UK or here.Do you remember the taste of Royal sovereign? Spanish ones sprinkled with sugar and cream are tolerable, even pleasant, but I have never eaten one with much flavour, andI'm sure they're the same, whichever Lidless or Mercadona you buy them in.
Lemons grapefruit are cheaper, because we grow them, but other fruits are not superior to those in UK.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Prices in Spain vary so much for almost everything, from region to region, province to province, town to town and areas within towns...so it's pointless trying to make a general comparison.
Overall I think we spend roughly the same as we would if we were still in the UK. But tbh I don't look at prices as we buy what we enjoy and that doesn't include caviar and champagne, just quality fruit, veg and mainly fish as OH eats no meat, doesn't drink alcohol either.
I think one can go OTT about the quality of Spanish food. Yes, it's good...but one can shop and eat equally well in the UK if you don't have to watch every penny and even then it's possible with a little effort and DIY in the kitchen.
What I will say though is that in the UK a lot depends on location. It's bleedin ' obvious that you'll find greater variety and better quality in more affluent areas where people have more spending power.
I think a lot of pretentious tosh is sometimes talked about non-British food. Not everyone in the UK relies on the microwave.
In our house, the shopping bill is increased massively by our two dogs who feast on best quality meat, dry kibble and doggy treats. OH also feeds eight stray cats in the village and gives treats to all the neighbours' dogs!
Incidentally, Spanish strawberries are superb. And the onions, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines and olive oil we get from our neighbour/ friend beat anything I grew in the UK.


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

extranjero said:


> The Spanish strawberries are tasteless whether in UK or here.Do you remember the taste of Royal sovereign? Spanish ones sprinkled with sugar and cream are tolerable, even pleasant, but I have never eaten one with much flavour, andI'm sure they're the same, whichever Lidless or Mercadona you buy them in.


Funny you guys should be talking about strawberries, because my Serbian friend and I were talking about just that yesterday. She said she's never found strawberries in Canada like she ate in Serbia, where she grew up. Where I grew up in Canada (Ontario), we had wild strawberries in the fields around us that were tiny, but oh so tasty and sweet. Ontario grows strawberries and the strawberries we bought in the grocery store were to die for. Imported strawberries were also fab back then. But they just aren't the same anymore. It's about pollution in the soil, air and water, as well as genetic modifications to make the strawberry so big and perfect looking that your eyes pop out. But my taste buds don't react like they used to. So what if they look perfect when the flavour and texture are lost? I'd yearn for those strawberries of my childhood. That's one of the sad things about growing older - these points of comparison. :hurt: :violin:


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

There is a local and really tiny shop that for a few weeks of the year sells wild strawberries. OMG!!!!!!!!! They are so delicious. But otherwise we find the strawberries here far superior to those imported in UK and the home grown variety are forced into ripeness without the water required to produce the natural sugars so are often, but not always, sour to the taste. One thing I have noticed around here is that the quality and taste of pears has gone downhill. When we first started visiting this region the pears were wonderful, many varieties and all delicious. Not so any more, although you can still get them. I splashed out a few weeks ago and bout a Welsh leg of lamb for €23. About 2.5kg it was, of course, really good and lasted for several meals. But from Mercadona or Eroski we buy leg or shoulder for around €7.50 a kg and it is pretty good. Supersol chicken seems to be pumped with water just like Tescos and Asda but Mercadona is pretty good. We use local butchers for steak since the Spanish are unaware it would seem of the delights of a medium/rare chunky bit of beef!! Having said that, a restaurant in Torre del Mar in the summer has a BBQ and the steak is probably the best I have ever had. In the winter though it reverts to something that perhaps had a distant cousin that was a cow. Someone said peppers. I love them here, and especially those prepared and sold in jars. Wonderful.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I wish more people would buy and eat what's in season, then half these complaints about prices and flavour would vanish!

Strawberries grown in Huelva, SW Spain, have been in the shops since the end of January. They have very little flavour at the moment but come April when they have had a bit of sun they will be delicious and very cheap.

Nothing can beat sun-ripened English strawberries in July, but the season is very short so if you want them in March or November they will have been grown somewhere else in the world and been packed in gas which retards ripening during transportation.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

thrax said:


> There is a local and really tiny shop that for a few weeks of the year sells wild strawberries. OMG!!!!!!!!! They are so delicious. But otherwise we find the strawberries here far superior to those imported in UK and the home grown variety are forced into ripeness without the water required to produce the natural sugars so are often, but not always, sour to the taste. One thing I have noticed around here is that the quality and taste of pears has gone downhill. When we first started visiting this region the pears were wonderful, many varieties and all delicious. Not so any more, although you can still get them. I splashed out a few weeks ago and bout a Welsh leg of lamb for €23. About 2.5kg it was, of course, really good and lasted for several meals. But from Mercadona or Eroski we buy leg or shoulder for around €7.50 a kg and it is pretty good. Supersol chicken seems to be pumped with water just like Tescos and Asda but Mercadona is pretty good. We use local butchers for steak since the Spanish are unaware it would seem of the delights of a medium/rare chunky bit of beef!! Having said that, a restaurant in Torre del Mar in the summer has a BBQ and the steak is probably the best I have ever had. In the winter though it reverts to something that perhaps had a distant cousin that was a cow. Someone said peppers. I love them here, and especially those prepared and sold in jars. Wonderful.


I've just discovered that our local chorizo factory sells steak from the local _retinta _cattle. The factory shop is on an industrial estate and I only found out about it through Facebook! Yesterday I bought a massive entrecote for €7, ate half of it last night and am just about to eat the rest. They also sell _tacos de venado_ (venison fillets) which are deliciously tender, €10 per kg. 

Most butchers have a dead cow hanging up somewhere and will cut you off a steak but you have to ask for the cut - entrecote, filete, solomillo, chuletón or whatever, and tell them how thick you want it.


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