A little self promotion first! :o) . My new eBook called “Moving to Malta – the essential guide” is now available on Amazon. Yeah!!! It is a small, concise, chock full of information guide about settling down quickly in Malta. Information that would have saved me tons of hours of research online, not to mention loads of money on international phone calls when trying to find out about bringing our pets with us. Up to date info, website linkage too! Okay then, enough of that!
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If you’ve read my previous post about our cost of living, you know that l promised to write a second one with the prices of the most commonly purchased products, as l did in the apples to apples post, and l always keep my promises 🙂 . We use a combination of 2 grocery stores (Mercadona and Dia), vegetable store and the local butcher. It is not uncommon for these parts, and like most, we grocery shop daily.
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Some of the things we buy often, like rosemary and parsley, we have to order from the veggie guy, who gets it from one of the farms for the next day. Does it get fresher than that? I think not! We have yet to be charged for the parsley, he just gives us a big bunch free of charge each time, so l have no clue how much it is 🙂
The prices are in € ( currently €1 = $1.23)
1 kg = 2.2 lbs In $
Tomatoes: 0.99/kilo – 0.50c/lb
Potatoes: 0.33/kilo 0.20/lb
Apples: 1.15/kilo 0.71c/lb
Oranges: 0.99/kilo 0.50/lb
Tangerines: 1.15/kilo (so delicious, and seedless!) 0.71c/lb
Eggs : €2/dozen $2.45/dozen
Chicken breast: €5.50/kilo $3.25/lb
Chicken wings: €3.25/kilo $2.85/lb
Buffalo mozzarella: €1.70/125gm $2.08 (We used to pay $5.99 each at Kroger)
Regular mozzarella: €0.85/125gm $1.04
Orange juice: €0.60/liter (have not seen fresh OJ) 0.18c/pint
Calamari: €6/kilo, often on sale for €4.50 $3.60/lb
Mussels: €1.88/kilo $1.15/lb
Marmalade: €1.10/jar $1.35
Baguette: 0.39-.0.50 cents each $0.47-0.65
Milk (fresh): 0.83c/liter $0.50/pint
Tinto de Verano (The natives DO NOT drink Sangria) ): 0.85-0.99 cents/1.5 liter $1.50/2 liters!!!! for great sangria like wine!!
Spanish wine: €2-3 $2.50/bottle
Nice Italian wine: €4 $5/bottle
Better Italian wine: €6 $7.30/bottle (think like a $30 wine at the grocery store!)
Sparkling Water: 0.39c/1.5 liter (tap water is drinkable) Spanish Evian for like $0.47/2 liters??? yep!
Coke: €1/2liters $1.22/2 liter
Beer: €1.31/ 1.1 liter $1.60/liter
Beer: €2.15- 2.40/6 pack (anything from Spanish to German to French), usually lots on offer for €1.98/6 pack $2.60-3/6 pack
Smoked Salmon: €7.75/385gm $9.51/pkg (the same cost us $13.99 in Houston)
Fresh meat/Spinach/4 cheese/Prosciutto Ravioli: €1.35/250gm $1.65/pkg
Hummus: €1.49/240gm $1.82/pkg
Rib eye Steak: €11.50/kilo $6.50/lb
Spaghetti: 0.50c/500gm $0.61/box
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: €3.50/750ml $4.29/bottle
Toilet Paper: €1.40 (9 in pkg) $1.70/9 rolls
Dog food: €15/20 kilo $18.40/40 lbs!
Shower Gel: €1.45/750ml $1.80
Liquid facial cleanser: €2.50/250ml $3.06
Nivea roll on: €1.85/50ml $2.27
Colgate toothpaste: €1.25/100ml $1.53
Johnson’s baby oil: €2.50/500ml $3.06
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If you choose to have foreign name brands, you would of course find them to be more expensive, like the Barilla spaghetti is €1.26 compared to the Spanish brand. We find the Spanish brands found in the grocery stores to be of great quality, so no problems there..even on the pasta!
Medications are also cheaper. My blood pressure medication is €20 cheaper than in Malta, and €180 (if cash price, but only €40 less than my copay) cheaper than in Houston. Loving that as l pay cash now. I even tried to purchase it when l was back home in Nigeria thinking it might be cheaper. Alas, it wasn’t so. My sister’s pharmacy purchase price was €5 more than my purchase price here.
The one category that is for sure more expensive here are the over the counter medications. A 20 count package of Acetaminophen (Tylenol) costs about €12, my 30 count Vitamin D costs €9 as opposed to $3 🙂 , but you can’t have it all. So, when you visit Spain, bring your own Tylenol, Advil, cough syrup etc..
How does this compare to your neck of the woods? Similar…or way out of the ballpark?
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To be honest, I am not 100% sure. I never got the hang of the euro and we measure foods differently here. Awesome job on your ebook!
Thanks! Put into perspective, we get double the amount of food for a bit less than what you would pay in the U.S.. Lucky us!!!
Err, hard to tell. lol! But I just want to say that ravioli with smoked salmon looked to die for. And congrats on the ebook.
Thank you! I have updated the prices to include the $ amounts so it’s easier to compare. We pretty much kill it on everything, save for the pharmacy over the counter stuff! $15 for 20 tablets of generic Advil or $17 for a 30 count bottle of generic one-a-day vitamin is a bit hard to swallow, but we can’t have it all! 🙂 . I think that’s where they make their profit. You can only get them at pharmacies.
Congrats on your ebook!! I’m sure that people moving to Malta will definitely find it comes in handy. I’m still amazed by the cost of living in Malaga, although you’re right – the OTCs are quite pricey. But you save so much money on everything else!
Thanks Dana! Yeah, l can’t complain about the OTC product prices, small price to pay 🙂
How does this compare to my neck of the woods?
Items like milk, tomatoes,milk, oranges, meat are cheaper (since they are sourced locally) but the rest of the stuff baby gels, facial cleansers, spaghetti, wines etc are much more pricey (probably coz they’re imported).
I would love a cost comparison between America, Malaga and Nigeria 🙂
I suspect your prices are probably similar to Naija, but as you know, unless you go to a “proper” supermarket, all prices are just “suggested”..lol! You haggle till you find a middle ground, be it spaghetti or whatever… I always get the foreigner price, especially once they hear me speak!!! 😉
LOL! don’t tell me you’ve got a foreign accent? You know that will ALWAYS get you ‘foreigner price’ anywhere in Africa 🙂
Yes l do, big time! You know it’s bad when l go to a department store to buy a novel, and the cashier is charging me more than the price stamped on the book, and they are conversing among themselves assuming l wouldn’t understand..lol! My accent is a mix of Boston/Cali hybrid..sigh.. I always get the foreigner price.. 🙁 , to start..
Great information, as always, and I really loved to read about it. Just seeing that price of the Extra Virgin Oil makes me wanna cry – we pay double per liter here (of course, it’s all imported).
Congrats on the launch of your ebook, too! I am sure that a ton of people will find it extremely useful!
Thanks C! I hope it helps people. I could have used it then 🙂 . You made me laugh at the olive oil..sounds like you pay through the nose for it!!!!
Congrats on the book! I will share it on my twitter! I love that you keep such detailed records to share with us all. I think I will do this for a week and write a post about it. 🙂 I am pretty sure that most of the things are cheaper here, but I am often surprised so we shall see!
Thank you..and thank you 🙂 . It would be interesting to see your comparison, I have been keeping the details for a while hoping to do a comparison. It surprised me how much cheaper though than Malta. As for the U.S? Holy smokes…our monthly costs were in excess of 5 grand..so loving it!!! 🙂
I agree that the US has always been the most expensive destination for us.
Yep! Glad we’re through with that for now..
That ravioli looks and sounds like a plate of cuisine heaven, Kemkem! HUGE CONGRATS on your e-Book…that is so awesome! I know those are lots of work…great job. I liked the food part of your shopping list…dinner at your house would be yummmmmy. I also liked that I noticed dog food…that put a smile on my face from one dog lover to another 🙂
Thank you Mike! Now you see why we rarely eat out. It is always a huge compliment to him when we have friends over and everyone eats every last bite..even Italians 🙂 . This friend one time said.. oh l don’t eat meat..blah blah.blah..and then she saw the lamb shank and changed her mind..lol! Her boyfriend was so disappointed because he loves, loves to eat and was looking forward to eating her share..lol! She finished everything. Her plate was so clean..we all had a good laugh! Oh those dogs rule the house..sigh.. 🙂
Congratulations on your E-book kemkem! You’re so talented that it wouldn’t surprised me if you had a book tour one of these days. Very innovative. I’ll be sharing this piece on Twitter too LOL!
I’d say that seafood and slabs of meat would be cheaper in Spain than in Germany, but for basics I’d say it was the same and as for quality alcohol, I’d say Germany was cheaper LOL!
Thank you, you flatterer you.. 🙂 . I agree with you on the alcohol prices. It is truly dirt cheap in Berlin. I remember saying l would be an alcoholic for sure if we lived there.. 🙂 🙂