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We’re often asked by people staying in villas, or those who are planning to be on the island for several months: “Where do locals do their food shopping?”
The resorts are populated with small supermarkets where you can get most of the essentials, but they are relatively expensive and lack a good range of products, so you won’t find residents food shopping at them. We also don’t have huge hypermarkets in Lanzarote, so getting everything you need in one place isn’t always an option. That means that we need to visit several places to get the best of what we’re looking for.
It calls for some organisation, so we try to write a menu plan each week, and from that we can produce a shopping list. We’ve adopted the Canarian way of eating, which means we hardly ever used pre prepared foods, and enjoy fresh produce all the time, with each meal prepared from the base ingredients. It takes time, but food is an important part of life here!
Typically our weekly food shopping will look something like this:
Fresh meat, fresh vegetables and salad – Congelados Roper
Ropers is on the industrial estate at Playa Honda, opposite Deiland. They have a fabulous fresh meat counter there, manned by competent butchers who will cut and trim your meat as required. Their fruit and veg is excellent, and they have a good selection of fresh herbs as well. There is also an interesting cold counter, with some unusual cheeses and cold meats.
Av. de la Playa Honda, 1, Playa Honda, San Bartolomé
We also like Tías Fruit for a wonderful selection of fresh fruit & vegetables, they are situated on C/ la Luchada 3, by the football ground in the centre of Tías. You can also buy dried weighed goods here and some gourmet products.
Main Shopping – Mercadona and Eurospar
Mercadona is relatively new to the island and there are four stores, two in Arrecife, one in Playa Honda and the newest in Puerto del Carmen. They have a big range of product, and are great value for money. The only issue we find is that their pre packaged goods tend to be “family” sized, so for example if you buy chicken breasts there, you’ll get enough for four. Their Hacienda range is popular as an alternative low cost to main brands.
We occasionally use the Eurospar in Arrecife, there are also stores in Costa Teguise and Macher. Eurospar stores always have an excellent fishmongers and butchers. The staff will prepare fish and meat to your preference.
Eurospar Calle León y Castillo corner (just off the Tahiche road LZ-1), Arrecife
Mercadona Calle Tenderete, Argana Alta, Arrecife
Other stuff – Lidl, Aldi and Ikea
We’ll also generally call in to these – they are close to each other. Ikea meatballs are a staple, as are their excellent range of crispbreads. Lidl is the best place on the island to buy good bread, shellfish (the big boxes of prawns are fabulous) and dairy produce like yoghurts, creams and cheeses, and Aldi has an interesting range of stuff, including over 600 locally sourced lines. They also have special promotions featuring produce from destinations such as Italy, USA, Asia, Greece, UK etc.
Lidl Pol. Ind. Altavista, Calle Océano Atlántico, 10-11 Arrecife
Ikea Polígono industrial Altavista II, Carretera de los Mármoles, Arrecife
Aldi Calle Rambla Medular 58, Arrecife
There are also two further Lidls on the island – one in Puerto del Carmen, and one in Playa Honda.
Specialist Markets – Indian, Asian, UK etc
The main UK produce stockist is Overseas in Playa Honda, on the industrial estate LZ-301 road towards San Bartolomé. They have a smaller branch in Playa Blanca on C/ Las Palmas by the Mirador Papagayo hotel. We mainly buy British style bacon and sausages here!
We use Poonam at Yash Minimarket to purchase our Indian produce, situated on C/ Anzuelo 30 in Puerto del Carmen.
Suko is where we buy our Asian food products (such as crispy duck & pancakes), located on C/ Escotilla 35 in Arrecife. It is a cash & carry and open to the public.
Deutscher Supermarkt stocks German & English products, situated on C/ Guanapay in Puerto del Carmen.
Queso Project is the place for cheese, located in the centre of Arrecife on C/ José Molina.
As you can see, shopping would take a long time if we did this each week, but we tend to alternate between the main shops, so that we visit each once or twice a month to top up on what each is good at supplying. It means we’ve always got great quality food in the house!
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