If the weekly supermarket shop feels increasingly painful, where you live and where you fill your trolley can make quite a difference.
The study compared prices at 690 supermarkets in 38 towns and cities, as well as online stores, and found that choosing carefully could save an average household €1,310 a year.
Santa Pola among Spain’s cheapest
Torrent, in Valencia province, recorded the lowest average supermarket prices in the study, with an OCU price index of 100.
Villarreal and Santa Pola followed with an index of 101, putting the Costa Blanca town among the cheapest places surveyed in Spain.
The Valencian Community also performed well more broadly. OCU identified it, alongside Murcia, as the cheapest autonomous community for supermarket shopping among those studied.
However, the amount you can save by switching supermarkets varies considerably.
In Santa Pola, the annual difference between the cheapest and most expensive stores surveyed was €447. In San Vicente del Raspeig, it was €454. That is relatively small compared with some Spanish cities because supermarket prices in these areas sit closer together.
Which supermarket chains are cheapest?
Local Andalusian chain Dani tops OCU’s national chain comparison, but it is not an option most Costa Blanca shoppers will encounter.
More familiar names also appear towards the cheaper end.
Family Cash has a price index of 102, Alcampo 103, Lidl 105, Mercadona 105, and both Consum and Aldi 107. OCU uses the cheapest chain, Dani, as its index of 100.
Alcampo remains the cheapest major national chain overall, while Lidl has made particularly strong gains this year. OCU found Lidl was the cheapest option in 60 of the locations it analysed, compared with just 18 last year.
Mercadona has also become more competitive. Its price level fell by 5.6% compared with the previous study, while Lidl fell by 4.7% and Aldi by 1.7%. Consum was another chain where OCU recorded lower prices.
Food bills are still rising
There is a sting in the shopping receipt.
OCU found its overall basket was 1.8% more expensive than in its 2025 study. That is the smallest increase in five years, but food prices remain historically high.
Fresh food rose considerably faster, increasing by 4.7%. Fish recorded the biggest rise at 8.6%, while meat increased by 3.7% and fruit and vegetables by 3.5%.
Looking further back makes the difference even clearer. OCU calculates that its shopping basket now costs 39.5% more than it did in 2021.
Shopping around can still pay
Across Spain, OCU puts average annual household food spending at €6,602.
Its researchers calculate that choosing the cheapest supermarket available instead of the most expensive could save the average household €1,310 a year, equivalent to around 20% of that annual grocery bill.
The potential saving depends heavily on where you live. In Madrid, the gap reached €4,381 a year, while Santa Pola’s €447 difference shows that shoppers there already benefit from relatively close competition between supermarkets.
So while there is no single cheapest supermarket for every Costa Blanca household, the latest figures suggest this is one part of Spain where shoppers are starting from a fairly favourable position.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- OCU compared prices at 690 supermarkets in 38 Spanish towns and cities.
- Santa Pola was one of the cheapest places surveyed, with a price index of 101.
- The Valencian Community and Murcia were the cheapest autonomous communities in the study.
- Alcampo remains the cheapest major nationwide chain.
- Lidl and Mercadona both have an OCU price index of 105.
- OCU says choosing the right supermarket could save an average household €1,310 a year.
- Its shopping basket has risen 1.8% since last year’s study and 39.5% since 2021.
- Fresh food prices increased by 4.7%, with fish up 8.6%.
