How much should my monthly food bill in Spain be?

If you're planning on moving to Spain it's important to know how much to budget for your weekly shop, so you can have an idea of how much you have left for everything else.

Or perhaps you've recently moved here and you’re finding your shopping bills are high because you’re buying lots of imported products and trying to eat and cook the same as you did back home.

That’s fine if that’s the way you want to eat and you can afford it, but if you’re trying to reduce your monthly food bill, it might be helpful to find out what the average Spaniard spends on their grocery shop.

Cost of living: What will be more expensive in Spain in 2025?

In Spain, the average monthly household food expenditure in 2024 was €421, according to data from Financial Food.

This expenditure represents 25 percent of the total Spanish budget, a study by Barómetro Food 2024 has shown.

In Spain, the average household consists of 2.5 people, so this price would be equivalent to what you should be spending per month for for two adults and one child.

If you have more children, they are grown up, or you live on your own your costs would likely rise or fall accordingly.

The study found that nearly four out of ten Spaniards spend between 21 and 30 percent of their monthly budget on food, while 29 percent spend between 11 and 20 percent; 17 percent spend between 31 and 40 percent; and 9 percent spend up to 40 percent on food.

The cost of food in Spain has also been getting more expensive – a total of 3.7 percent more in 2024 compared to 2023, bringing annual expenditure on food shopping to €5,057.

It’s thought that prices will continue to fluctuate this year, but at generally moderate levels than seen in the past few years.

According to Spain’s Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU), the price of the weekly shopping basket rose 0.55 percent in March compared with June 2024, and eggs rose 24 percent.

READ MORE: Spain faces the same 'egg-onomic' crisis as the US

Extra virgin olive oil is one of the few foods that has come down in price – a drop of 6.23 percent.

In real terms this means that a box of six eggs currently costs an average of €2.65 and one lite of olive oil is €7.05. Other current prices include €1.73 for sliced bread, €4.84 for 100g of coffee, €2.21 for a kilo of tomatoes and €9.93 for one kilo of minced meat.

Obviously the cost of your weekly or monthly shop will also depend on your preferences – do you eat meat every day? Do you eat seafood regularly? Do you buy frozen pizzas and other ready meals or do you cook from scratch? All of these can of course affect how much you pay.

It's worth keeping in mind that readymade meals are not that popular in Spain and most people buy raw ingredients.

Spain’s National Statistics Institute showed that in 2023 (the most recent data available) meat accounted for 3.6 percent of total expenditure of the weekly shop; bread and cereals were 2.2 percent; milk, cheese, and eggs were 2.1 percent; legumes, vegetables, and potatoes were 1.8 percent; fish was also 1.8 percent; and fruit was 1.6 percent.

Of course the prices also depend on where you shop and where you live as some supermarkets and even some regions are more expensive than others.

Recently, YouTubers Days We Spend – a couple living in Galicia did a video on how much they spent on a weekly shop for two people in Gadis vs. Mercadona. In Mercadona they spent €86.23, while in Gadis they spent €48.22 for similar items.

This shows that shopping around can really help you reduce your food bill, but of course more local or regional supermarkets may not have the same range and choice as Mercadona, which you can find across the country.

READ ALSO: What are the cheapest supermarkets in Spain?