When some members of my family first came out to Bulgaria on holiday, one of the few complaints they had was that they couldn’t get hold of any decent food and there was a point when I agreed with them. On the contrary, a group of our friends came out to stay with us and raved on and on about how great the local food was, both in the supermarkets and in restaurants. I have had mixed experiences here so far, and having been here a little while I have learnt how and where to shop for food. This guide may or may not help you if you are a holiday-maker. Finding good food is often down to luck, finding the right restaurant or supermarket, but hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

A general point before I begin is that more often than not you will be better off shopping in a more traditional method – think England minus 30 years. This means going to different speciality shops for the different things you require. There is no such thing as the out of town supermarket here, although I imagine that with time big international chains such as Tesco will move in to fill that requirement as affluence and consequently things like car ownership increase (I can’t imagine many people willing to take their horse and cart 40km out of town just to take advantage of the latest BOGOFs at Tesco…).

Having said this, there are hypermarkets dotted about the country. Our nearest, Metro (a Europe-wide chain, the brand in the UK is called Makro), is in Rousse. We usually go there once a month to buy bulk staples: flour, dried meats and cheese, milk (which we have yet to find in any other form but UHT unfortunately), butter, pulses, toilet paper, washing powder, beer and wine. To shop at a shop like Metro you will need to bring some ID and be part of a registered Bulgarian company.

Beware when shopping in hypermarkets such as Metro as you often can’t get single items;
so think carefully before you buy that 10,000 pack of flying saucers because, like BOGOFs (that’s ‘buy one get one free’ offers to the uninitiated), you may find that you consume a lot more than you would otherwise, thus you actually make very little saving. But for staples such as toilet paper etc. that you actually need it is definitely the place to go, as long as it is worth the petrol cost. Be careful as well that some products, such as eggs, aren’t cheaper locally. Furthermore, from the perspective of quality the hypermarket is most definitely not the place to get some products. Fresh meat is usually relatively poor. It is worth trying your local butchers (all of them!) to find a decent source, from which the meat hasn’t been frozen and appears fresh.


Fruit and vegetables are best sought at the local market – I imagine this applies in any country really. You get a lot for your money here – usually you can also buy things like honey, walnuts, pulses, herbs and spices too, not to mention clothes and shoes. This is also the place to get plants and trees when the time comes – fruit trees appear in the winter so if you are planning to plant them then this is the time to hunt them out. Live animals (chickens at least we have seen) are also often sold here. Our local market is in the nearest town to our village and there are often car-boot stalls too if you’re into that sort of thing.

Small supermarkets and cornershops abound in little towns and villages. We have found that in the deep winter stocks have been dwindling – I am not sure if it’s because deliveries are less frequent or because people have been bulk buying as a result of the unexpected cold.

Although we have adapted quite well to the ingredients on offer here, making use of cheap seasonal ingredients, it is still a major bummer not to be able to get hold of certain things such as decent cheese (the cheese is generally very mild here although you can get some soft European cheeses such as Brie and Edam you would be hard-pressed to get strong hard cheese such as cheddar), a good variety of herbs and spices (I miss bay leaves a lot and will be stuffing a small tree into my hold luggage next time I go to visit the UK), risotto rice (maybe not the top of everyone’s list), cider, Guinness (you can buy Guinness in cans but it’s REALLY expensive as it’s imported), real ale. We are also planning on brewing cider once we have the house in a little better order as it is pretty easy, so stay tuned.

Thank you for this its a real eye opener to those who don't know any better and its always best to shop locally if you can and the markets offer far better produce than any of the supermarkets and at a better price too, But lets not forget that very often you can also buy from the people in the villages whether you live there or not I have often gone to other villages and bought stuff and in some cases it was pulled from the ground while I was there and the same goes for Poultry its always fresh.

Yes - It does take a while to find the food products we have used in the past. This was mainly trial and error for us!!! Now I can get just about everything, including good beef from a butcher in Yambol. To date all of my visitors have said that food tastes better here than in the UK..or is that my cooking????? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Also with (until very recently) no ready meals to fall back on - (and it will be a LONG TIME before I dare try another "
gristle packed"
one here) you just have to cook from scratch. I do often double up favorite dishes - and stick half in those metal trays with a lid that you can get in Metro for a "
lazy night-ready meal"
. I used to use curry sauces when I was in the UK for a quick meal - now I make my own.... and I do prefer them. It is worth the few extra minutes.

We struggled to find broccolli, one of our favorites, so what I do now is when I see it in Kaufland or wherever, I buy 2 or 3 kgs, blanche and freeze it. Have done the same with brussels, and other veggies. I even saw parsnips in Kaufland ...once - I would not have bought them as they were yellow and bendy!!! We do grow our own now, again I blanche and freeze. I make a mean Lamb tagine (our own home reared lamb) and could not find proper couscous - just the Bulgarian pasta like stuff - was truly thrilled when I found it in Carrefour in Burgas!! In the last year I have found Californian Zinfandel wine for 7 Leva a bottle - I do like Bulgarian wines but this is always a bit of a treat. Still can't find cornflour in any of the supermarkets here though.

I agree, it is definitely worth going to the big supermarkets to stock up. I do also go round the bazaars for seasonal fruit and veg and it will be a sad day when they are made redundant by big, out of town Supermarkets, another bit of Bulgaria will be lost.

therowfamily...I am surprised you can't find bay leaves near you - just about all the big supermarkets round here stock them. However spices are a different matter - but as they are light and cheap - visitors usually bring what I need from the UK.

For those who have not yet spent a winter in Bulgaria...... We have what we call an "
emergency box"
. This time of year I start filling it with food for the winter - pasta, rice, sugar, flour, yeast, dried milk, tinned veggies, UHT milk,toilet paper, a few bottles of water etc. I also get the freezer topped up a bit and make sure we have enough food for the animals.

Just one other hint... Always check the sell by date on food - especially on cold meats and sliced cheeses that you don't plan on using straightaway.

Good topic and posts. However, like most things, shopping is not the same for everyone. Since I am definitely 'old school' I didn't have a problem shopping for food. I can cook 'English style' quite easily as I am of the 'Good Housekeeping' era of recipes, which means cooking from scratch and never being used to 'ready meals'. Being a trained cook also means I am able to adapt if products aren't available and have never ever missed gravy granules!!! Homemade gravy is so easy and much tastier. Having said that, I am not going to criticize anyone who is used to modern day recipes but feel sorry for them if their life is ruined by things not being available in Bulgaria. Remember, Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the EU and cannot afford to import goods for the convenience of the few Brits who choose to live here especially now in recession. I had never done bottling or jamming in my life before but have enjoyed the experience by learning off my Bulgarian friends. I hate waste so I had to learn because you can only make so much chutney, pasta sauces and pickles.
It did take me a while to pluck up courage to shop for clothes but I finally got brave and entered a small dress shop which seemed to cater for the older (and larger) ladies. I am so glad I did because the shop lady was so helpful without being overbearing and the items I have bought have been much admired by my Bulgarian friends who wanted to know where I shopped because, apparently, the prices were so reasonable.
I love the bazaar and find that there is a wide variety of fruit and veg available but only when in season. Broccoli, cauliflowers and every variety of peppers are now in abundance and so cheap. A kilo of beautiful big red peppers are only 90sts or 1 lev a kilo at the moment, depending on quality. You can also pick out your own and put in the bucket given to you. We grow our own tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes so no need to buy and we have our own chickens. We can sometimes buy fresh milk off the local man who owns the cow but sometimes its not available if she is in calf!
I only shop in town once a week or less because our village shop now has enough basic products year round so its not necessary to go more often. As there are only the two of us, I have no need to enter a hypermarket and still use the first supermarket I found 7 years ago. Many of you would find this too basic and would be off to the new and large supermarkets like Piccaddilly, Lidles, Metro etc. But these are not for me. I love doing an almost daily shop in our village KOP where I can pass the time of day with the locals and even have a coffee or beer if I fancy. The shop lady will also order some things for me if I want like fresh pork, nice wine or big bags of dog biscuits. She speaks no English but has become my best friend over the years.

How lovely to read what you are all saying here about your different choices of shopping and yes oldun you are right we are all different and what is good for one may not be ok for another just a quick point as I have to go out but I'm sure you can get |Cornflour in kaulfland and it called нишесте чаребчно . Back later to read more.

You are right Nutbg - that is the name for cornflour but if you don't know Bulgarian alphabet it would be difficult to find. Its in most supermarkets but it took me ages to find it! Did you know you can use instant mash or ordinary mash potato, or even the yellow corn flour. Ordinary flour mixed with water or stock will thicken stews, etc and then cooked in or you can use rice or that soup pasta.
Of course you can make a roux of flour and fat and then slowly add milk for a white sauce base. Sorry a bit off topic!

This is my problem - when I used google dictionary to translate corn flour I got this literal translation "
ситно царевично брашно"
the yellow corn flour...not what I was looking for. I also asked some Bulgarian friends and showed them what I wanted - they said you can't get it here. Thanks nu2bg - I will have a look for нишесте чаребчно next time I go shopping.

Sorry, still off topic - but happy to have resolved the Cornflour issue.

Annette and I are moving to BG in January (we hope) weather permitting of course, if you are all snowed in we will probably wait a week or two or maybe even longer. We are bringing our four dogs over and would like to know the cost of a lovely big bag (15K) of dried dog food.

Dante - 20-26 Leva for a 15kg bag - (ie. 20 Leva if on offer)

Rated by some dog owners not by others.....

Esta wrote:

Dante - 20-26 Leva for a 15kg bag - (ie. 20 Leva if on offer)

Rated by some dog owners not by others.....

Many thanks Esta information was very useful.
Eric