Shopping in supermarkets in Croatia

Grocery shopping abroad is always fun! What is it like to shop in supermarkets in Croatia? Yes, if you visit the biggest supermarkets you will find most things, but there is still a lot that differs from Sweden ... By the way, look carefully at the top picture in the post and find an "error"!

Table of contents

This is in abundance

Paprika, paprika, paprika! In Croatian supermarkets, paprika seasoning is sold in one-kilo bags and the shelves of ajvar (paprika sauce) and pickled peppers are low. In addition, you can buy all sorts of products already flavoured with paprika: chips, cheese, liver paste... and of course the domestic paprika-spiced minced meat dish pljeskavica.

Pleskevcka från affären (ovanligt liten) med ajvar och lite andra tillbehör som vi råkade ha hemma — Pljeskevica from the shop (unusually small) with ajvar and some other accessories we happened to have at home.

READ MORE: Shopping for food in the Balkans
READ MORE: Is there caviar abroad?

This is missing

We have found that large Konzum stores in Croatia are really good. Here we also find rare products like broccoli, avocado, saffron, crème fraiche, garlic sauce and Asian products like sambal oelek and wok sauce. If we are missing something, it is shellfish - so far we have only found prawns. Other things that we can't find (ready-made potato salad, chèvre, noodles and white beans in tomato sauce) we can perhaps live without.

This is tricky to understand

Everything is tricky to understand when you don't know the language. Does the jar at the milk counter contain cream, crème fraiche or cottage cheese? Not easy to know... Meat is also cut differently, so it is difficult to recognise the cuts in the meat counters. But occasionally, unexpectedly, it says ... in Swedish!

Ibland är det svårt att förstå vad som är i paketen, och ibland finns det översättning! Men å andra sidan - vad är Sultanens soppa...? — Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is in the packets, and sometimes there is a translation! But on the other hand - what is the Sultan's soup...?

Here's what we like

Fresh tuna fillet is really cheap. You can't order it in a restaurant, because they ruin it by frying it into a dry and boring shoe. But you can buy it and cook it yourself! We also like all the little packs of chicken paste - mild and tasty! And no, ajvar isn't that bad either!

Ikväll blev det tonfiskfilé i husbilen - självklart ska tonfisken vara röd eller rosa inuti! — Tonight we had a tuna fillet in the motorhome - of course the tuna should be red or pink inside!

READ MORE: Facts about Croatia - 30 things you might not know

01 October 2015 22:45

Croatia, Food and drink

exotic food, food and drink, shopping

Helena

Administrator

17 Comments

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Maggan and Ingemar says:

Check the picture but only find that one of the pies is 5 g less than the others 🙂 .
It's always exciting to shop in other countries. Towards the end of our trips, I always long for Swedish food and to shop in Swedish stores, even if it is Ica, Lidl or Netto. See that you found mushrooms anyway 😀.

01 October 2015 - 23:04

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Mr Steve says:

It's exciting to shop in unfamiliar stores, even if it's a bit like buying a "pig in a poke" sometimes.
Well, you don't seem to be in any trouble.
Wishing you tasty meals whatever ends up on your plate!

01 October 2015 - 23:18

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BP says:

Can't help but laugh:-))))
The error in the first one is clearly - chicken paste in Swedish. Bingo, at least you know what was in the jar;- ) Love EU and the organisation's "mistakes":-)

I actually love Pljeskavica. Can recommend a place near you - well, when you are home again;-)

Oh ready-made potato salad and white beans in tomato sauce and that Sultan's soup you can definitely live without, but not chèvre and noodles.

Glad the tuna is affordable! Oh it should look just like your picture!

01 October 2015 - 23:30

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Frankie & Co says:

Discovered this 'historical' soup the other year, made Sten Broman's soup and it was really good for home cooking, what Sten meant that the soup helped the Sultan with, one can wonder 😉 .

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=1602&artikel=1860898

But there are probably more sultan soups than the eccentric Swedish Sten Broman's version!

02 October 2015 - 7:50

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Camilla says:

Took a while before I connected, haha..stared for a long time at the picture! But fun it is in Swedish! 😀 And I agree, I love going to food shops when I'm abroad!

02 October 2015 - 8:32

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Comment by post author

admin says:

Maggan and Ingemar, we realised that one of the pies is written in Swedish - quite unexpected 😉 Yes, we have found mushrooms, it hasn't been that difficult actually. However, it has often been difficult to find broccoli and avocado... It is fun to shop abroad, but we miss some things in Swedish stores now ....! 😉

Steve, it's a bit of a "pig in a poke" sometimes. Sometimes we've bought a product that we really didn't like and had to throw away, but that's rare. Most of what we have bought has tasted good - even if it has sometimes been something else than we intended. (This morning, for example, we opened a salmon paste that we thought would be spreadable, but it was more like a sliceable sausage... haha ;)).

BP, it was a bit odd that it was written in Swedish!??? But it made it easier for us 😉 I don't know if I have eaten pljeskavica in Stockholm, but Peter says he does it sometimes. You can recommend the place later! 🙂

Frankie & Co, haha interesting to know! We haven't tried the soup yet, bought it a while ago. Understood that it would be some kind of vegetable soup... (Most of the powder soups here are pasta soups and it's not my favourite, but there are others if you look a little).

Camilla, wasn't it unexpected that it would be written in Swedish? We love botanising grocery stores abroad, and you could say that we got our fill of it during this trip 😉.

02 October 2015 - 10:11

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Ama de casa says:

Always exciting to see what you get when you open the packaging... Sometimes you don't even realise what it is/was when you've finished it... 😉.

Pljeskavica is soooo good! Haven't eaten it in a long time though.

The fact that the chicken paste (oh, how talented I am with languages! 😉 ) weighed 5 grams too little, that was already discovered... But I might win something anyway? 😀

02 October 2015 - 10:34

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Only British says:

BP, this has nothing to do with the EU's mistake at all. It is the companies that design their own covers (it has nothing to do with tables of contents) and this is because the product is sold in Sweden. Take a look at Citygross.

My guess is that restaurants overcook fish because there is some local tort law if they don't heat it up enough to kill any worms. Or that it is simply a tradition to grill them a lot for that reason. Often fish is frozen and thawed before it is sold as food even in Sweden for that reason.

02 October 2015 - 10:56

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Marina says:

Exciting with food that you don't know what it is, but can only guess. The fact that it is written in Swedish on some products is almost a bit of a cheat 😉 As for that soup, we can only hope that it is made for the sultan and not for him ...

02 October 2015 - 11:10

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Ditte says:

I see in the picture that the one on the right says "chicken pie". Guess that's it...
It's nice to get some extra information about the selection in the food stores because I also like to browse in them when I'm abroad. And you can get some surprises. I remember that this happened quite often in China, where you didn't have a clue what was on the packaging. I made many mistakes when buying flour to bake bread... Rice flour is not very good for that.
Understand that you may miss seafood, wondering why it is not available. And what about the fish selection?
But from what I can tell, you are doing well in terms of food.

02 October 2015 - 12:53

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Annika says:

So fun and exciting to shop in stores where you do not have real control. Always fun to check out grocery stores in other countries, and you have to visit them to get food in your stomach, hihi!!!!
FUN with the chicken paste and soup. Surprising, haha!
Wishing you a great weekend!

02 October 2015 - 14:42

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Comment by post author

admin says:

Ama de casa, it is a bit difficult when you do not know what it is when you eat, but it happens... Pictures of the packages are otherwise the best! 🙂

Only British, interesting to hear that Citygross sells that paste! I don't usually shop there, so I didn't recognise it... Maybe it could be something like that when it comes to fish, but tuna gets really boring when you fry it straight through. But you mean that freezing beforehand helps? If so, maybe that's a good method? We have several times frozen the tuna beforehand, and it has tasted just as good as completely fresh.

Marina, haha, there are some pictures of vegetables on the soup so I hope that's what it is! 😉

Ditte, yes exactly, it was the Swedish that surprised us! 😉 Understand that it is not so easy to shop in China! The range of fish in the shops here is so-so. In large stores there is often a fish counter and then there is mainly dorada, maybe some salmon and tuna and some other fish, sometimes some shrimp.

Annika, yes we shop in supermarkets all the time, and have done so in quite a few different countries now 😉 Thank you, wish you a nice weekend too!

02 October 2015 - 15:29

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Maria says:

I found "chicken pie" in like 2 seconds 🙂 .

02 October 2015 - 16:09

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Comment by post author

admin says:

Maria, haha, you should get a prize! 🙂

02 October 2015 - 17:43

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Veiken says:

It's an adventure to go shopping for food when you don't understand any of the language or the alphabet! Sometimes you hit the jackpot and other times you might as well starve! That's the beauty of discovering the world! 🙂

02 October 2015 - 18:00

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JoY says:

That it is written in Swedish in the middle of everything else hahaha Good thing you are not allergic to peppers then, my brother's girlfriend would have problems with it.
There's an abundance of milk, yoghurt, cream, etc. and it's just as exciting what you've actually brought home!
Hugs

02 October 2015 - 18:56

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Comment by post author

admin says:

Boy, can it be an adventure! Of course, when you don't know the alphabet, it's even more difficult. (But we have actually learnt the Russian alphabet - at least somewhat - and that helps in some countries anyway ;))

JoY, if you're allergic to peppers here, you might want to watch out in the shops and restaurants - it's really their favourite spice! (Although of course there are other spices as well).

02 October 2015 - 23:00

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Shopping in supermarkets in Croatia

This is in abundance

This is missing

This is tricky to understand

Here's what we like

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17 Comments

Maggan and Ingemar says:

Mr Steve says:

BP says:

Frankie & Co says:

Camilla says:

admin says:

Ama de casa says:

Only British says:

Marina says:

Ditte says:

Annika says:

admin says:

Maria says:

admin says:

Veiken says:

JoY says:

admin says:

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