Portugal's tracked food basket has risen for a third week
DECO PROteste's 63-item basket reached €255.97 on 16 September. The figure is useful for tracking direction, but it is not the price of every household's shop or every supermarket.
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Archived 12 September 2026Households can use the weekly movement as a prompt to compare the products they actually buy, without treating one national basket as a personal grocery bill.
- The tracked basket costs €255.97, up for a third consecutive week.
- It is €14.15, or 5.85%, higher than in the first week of January 2026.
- The calculation uses average online prices for 63 products across major supermarket chains.
- Weekly changes can be driven by a small group of products, so compare your own regular basket before changing where you shop.
What the €255.97 figure measures
DECO PROteste monitors 63 food products and calculates an average price for each item across the main supermarket chains with online stores. The combined basket cost €255.97 on 16 September, its third weekly increase in a row.
The same basket is now €14.15 more expensive than in the first week of 2026, a rise of 5.85%. Compared with the start of DECO's monitoring in January 2022, the difference is €68.27, or 36.37%.
Why this is not your exact supermarket bill
The tracker is an average built from a fixed national list. A household that does not buy the same quantities, chooses different brands or shops mainly through local markets and small stores will see a different total.
It is best used to understand direction and identify unusual movements. It should not be read as proof that every item rose, that every chain has the same price or that changing supermarket will automatically save the full difference.
The products moving most this week
Between 9 and 16 September, the largest percentage increases in the tracked list were plum tomatoes, up 18%, and crustless sliced bread, up 11%. Tuna in vegetable oil and broccoli rose 9%, while drinking yoghurt, courgettes and stewing beef rose 8%.
A percentage change can look dramatic when the starting price is low, and a weekly increase can reverse later. Compare the euro difference, pack size and price per kilogram or litre before substituting a product.
How it fits the wider inflation picture
Portugal's consumer-price inflation was 3.3% in August, according to Statistics Portugal. That broad index measures many categories and its latest acceleration was explained largely by diesel prices; it is not the same measure as DECO's food basket.
For a useful household check, keep four weeks of receipts from the shop you use most. Compare the recurring items, remove one-off purchases and then test equivalent baskets at another nearby or online store.
What you can do now.
- 01
List the products your household buys most often.
- 02
Compare unit prices rather than pack prices alone.
- 03
Review four weeks of receipts before judging the trend in your own budget.
- 04
Check equivalent baskets at two realistic alternatives, including travel or delivery costs.
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