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Home » Travelogues » Europe » Iceland » Eating Cheap in Iceland: Bónus Supermarket

April 18, 2016 Europe

Eating Cheap in Iceland: Bónus Supermarket

bonus

I’m here with a random travelogue on Iceland, just because I love Bónus supermarket very, very much and I think it deserves a post on its own. We spent a pretty long holiday in Iceland (22 days) and if we chose to eat out everyday, our travel expenses will definitely rocket and burn a hole in our pockets because truthfully, dining out in Iceland is expensive. So, to manage our travel expenses, we chose to self-cater for most meals, splurging once every few days on restaurant meals (because I’m a foodie and I cannot stand not eating good food while travelling).

There are a few major supermarkets in Iceland but perhaps the one we frequent most is Bónus supermarket, opened in 1989 by father and son Jóhannes Jónsson and Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson. It is perhaps the best-known budget supermarket in Iceland and usually offers the cheapest products – even the locals we chatted with said so! There are Bónus supermarket outlets all around Iceland, so we made sure to head to one to top up our food supply whenever we are near one.

Before you head into a Bónus supermarket, do bring along your jacket – I’ll let you know why later. Without further ado, let’s start the Bónus supermarket tour!


bread

The first thing that greets us whenever we enter a Bónus supermarket is bread – lots and lots of bread in different shapes and sizes. We always get the in-house Bónus brand white bread because it’s the most value-for-money – I think they are about 1kg per loaf (can’t remember the price, sorry). The bread usually expires within a week but we usually finish them about one or two days after the expiry date and well, nothing happened to us. You can also get rye bread, wholemeal bread and even hotdog buns there but they will be a bit more expensive.

drinks

If you want to get alcohol, it’s best to get it at the Duty-Free shop when you just reach Iceland as alcohol cannot be bought in supermarkets, only in Vinbudin (and they are pricier as well). We did get fruit juices and store them in the cooler box provided by KukuCampers when we rented our car.

salsa

Snacks wise, you can get cereals, potato chips, biscuits, chocolates, and even tortilla chips and salsa dips.

walk-in fridge

And finally, the highlight and my favourite part of every Bónus supermarket – a walk-in fridge! Yes and this is why you need a jacket – it’s going to be cold in here!

spreads
Ready-made salads

I absolutely love these tubs of ready-made salads because they make sandwich-making a breeze. There are various types of salads (mostly cream/mayonnaise-based), but I usually get potato salads, shrimp salads, egg salads or ham salads. Just spread them on a piece of buttered bread and you’ve got yourself and sandwich! The addition of these salads also make a more filling sandwich. Most of our lunches are sandwiches and I usually made them in the morning so during lunch time I don’t have to spend time preparing anything and we can eat them on-the-go.

microwave meals

There are also microwave meals available but we didn’t get to try those and we don’t have access to a microwave easily.

dairy
And then there’s cheese for the cheese-fanatics
skyr
Skyr

Skyr is an Icelandic dairy product that is somewhat like yogurt. There are plenty of brands and plenty of flavours. The locals buy them in trays while travellers like me only buy one or two at a time. I like the vanilla-flavoured ones as they are not as sweet as those with fruits. I ate them with my homemade granola I brought over to Iceland for breakfast and sometimes as snacks.

There are of course other dairy products like milk, soy milk etc. available for purchase.

ham, sausage, bacon

And how can we forget the meat? I think the most amount of processed food I ate in 2015 was during the Iceland trip (not really a good thing I think). Sometimes we would grab a packet of ham and add them into the sandwich with the ready-made salads for an even more satisfying meal. I also bought sausages a few times throughout the trip and added them into sandwiches (I will boil the sausages first before using) or pasta soups.

fresh meat

We tried buying raw meat once but the cooler in the car is not cold enough to keep the meat from spoiling so we did not buy them anymore after our first grocery shopping.

P.S. If you see the bottom-left corner of the above photo, you will see tubs with the word “Smjor” on it. It’s actually an Icelandic butter and you must try it – I don’t know if it’s the cows in Iceland but the butter tastes extremely good!

There’s also a walk-in fridge for the vegetables and fruits section. When we first shopped at Bónus, we still bought some baby spinach, onions and carrots but to chop them up can be a chore sometimes and the baby spinach spoils pretty fast so we stopped buying them after we finished them. We usually buy some bananas to eat either for breakfast or along the way when we are feeling hungry.

cronions
Cronions

An additional item I love to add in my sandwiches are these cronions – which are basically just fried onions. They add crunch and flavour and are really delicious!

Lastly, you need to pay for plastic bags in Iceland supermarkets (if I didn’t remember wrongly), so do yourself and the environment a favour and buy a reusable bag from Bónus! This Bónus bag makes the best souvenir for me ever (I regret only buying 1)!

And that’s all! Do also check out the below posts!

14 Things to Know Before Going to Iceland Iceland Itinerary
Iceland featured image

Till the next travelogue, bye!


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Categories: Europe Tags: iceland

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. siri says

    October 22, 2023 at 6:12 am

    Hi, we just returned from Iceland and now I want to buy a Bonus grocery bag for my husband. Do you know where i can get one online? i live in the US.

    Reply
    • Foodie Baker says

      October 22, 2023 at 8:06 am

      Hi Siri, no sorry I don’t know where to get it online!

      Reply
  2. Lubars says

    December 11, 2018 at 9:34 am

    I just wanted to let you know how useful your travel blog was to our plan our trip toIceland. Thanks for all your helpful tips. We drove the ring road in two weeks and stopped at many places you recommended.
    Thanks for all the work you put into your different chapters and just know it helps other travelers plan their trip!

    Reply
  3. John Karpiscak says

    August 23, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Bonus was our place to go. We’ve made 4 trips to Iceland so far. In addition to food, they also have souvenirs at a VERY reasonable price!

    Reply
  4. Sharon says

    July 13, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    Hi there, do you remember the location of the bonus you went? I read online that each bonus varies in their products. The one you went to seems to carry more products as compared to those i saw on other blogs.
    Thanks in advance for the reply

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      July 15, 2018 at 11:49 pm

      Hi Sharon! Unfortunately no I don’t remember the outlet I took the photos of, but if you go to the Bonus outlets that are out of Reykjavik, they are usually larger in size and have more products!

      Reply
  5. Novi says

    December 2, 2017 at 5:31 pm

    Thank you so much for all details..very useful for me who planned to go to Iceland next february.
    Btw..did you see any rice in supermarket?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      December 2, 2017 at 7:19 pm

      You are welcome Novi! I think there should be rice in the supermarket!

      Reply
  6. Erica says

    October 5, 2017 at 4:33 am

    Do you remember how much is the reusable bag from Bonus cost? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      October 5, 2017 at 7:52 am

      Hi Erica, sorry I don’t remember! I only know it’s not very expensive!

      Reply
  7. Anne-Sophie Roux says

    August 1, 2017 at 12:50 am

    Hi 🙂 Thank you verry much for this blog ! It’s amazing. Can you find tofu, nut butter and some vegetarian proteine like lentils, etc ? Do you remember the price ? Thank you

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      August 1, 2017 at 9:30 am

      Hi Anne-Sophie! I didn’t notice these products when I was there, so I’m not sure the price and availability. I found a website that provides a guide on restaurants and supermarkets that offer vegan products, you can check it out here: https://medium.com/@ragnarfreyr/vegan-guide-to-iceland-c8fa557b4547

      Have a fun trip in Iceland!

      Reply
    • Carrie says

      November 9, 2022 at 9:13 am

      Hi Bonus has a whole array of vegan products, although the brand name escapes me.

      Reply
  8. Mette-Simone says

    May 23, 2017 at 6:30 pm

    Thank you so much for writing this brilliant post. Am heading up to Iceland in four days and being six of us I really need to save. You help a lot setting my expectations – brilliant!

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      May 24, 2017 at 10:27 am

      Hi Mette-Simone, thank you so much for visiting. All the best and have fun in Iceland! Do check out my other Iceland posts if you are interested 😉

      Reply
  9. Roger Oh says

    April 15, 2017 at 3:56 pm

    Hi Jasline I chanced upon your blog and it was very very easy to understand and very very detailed. I have a nagging question though – how did you keep track of what you did in Iceland…do you keep a diary or do you use an app to record everything you did….do you mind sharing. Greetings from a fellow Singaporean. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      April 15, 2017 at 5:34 pm

      Hi Roger, I’m glad my posts are useful for you 🙂 I just use the Notes function in the phone to type down whatever we did/ate/feel at the end of each day, or when we are on our way to another place (my husband is the one driving, so I’m free to record down things!) I also use an app to record down expenses so I can look back at the amount we spent. Sometimes we may forget what happened, but when we look back at our photos, we will somehow remember it again. I think the memories are already embed in the back of our minds, just that we need a trigger to remember them! 🙂

      Have fun planning for your Iceland trip!

      Reply
      • Roger Oh says

        April 16, 2017 at 3:31 am

        Thanks Jasline for your advice. Really appreciate it. Looking forward to reading more of your blog. Be blessed.

        Reply
  10. Iuliia says

    November 5, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    Oh my God! Bonus is good and cheap? As well as Netto. I have never seen so poor choice of products and goods supply. And it isn’t cheap at all. And I was shocked that there is no really good supermarket in Iceland.

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      November 5, 2016 at 11:17 pm

      Hi Luliia, will you let us know which supermarket is good and cheap in Iceland then? This will be beneficial for other travellers, thanks!

      Reply
      • chewie5705 says

        January 24, 2017 at 2:26 am

        Seriously! We rented an apartment, so Bonus was a great way to save some dough. We even went to Kronan once to see what they had. It was nice partaking in the local foods.

        Reply
  11. Bam's Kitchen says

    April 21, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    You know the best way to really understand the culture of a country is through their food. It is so fun checking out all of their different items for purchase.

    Reply
  12. GiGi Eats Celebrities says

    April 21, 2016 at 5:35 am

    I AM OBSESSED with grocery shopping so I ADORE THIS POST! ADORE IT! When I go to foreign countries I love going to their supermarkets – there is just so much culture!!

    Reply
    • Jasline N. says

      April 21, 2016 at 8:38 am

      I know! I love to do a supermarket tour whenever I’m overseas too, it’s so fun discovering products that I’ve never seen before!

      Reply
  13. Nagi@RecipeTinEats says

    April 20, 2016 at 2:46 am

    Thanks for giving us a tour! Wow. The bonus supermarket is surely packed with everything you need. It’s amazing!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Iceland: A 1 Week Itinerary – The Unanchored Passenger says:
    February 4, 2019 at 2:25 am

    […] car and buy groceries at Bónus (the best way to save money and have food on hand when in the middle of […]

    Reply
  2. barang unik says:
    January 28, 2019 at 1:30 pm

    Suggested Browsing

    Eating Cheap in Iceland: Bónus Supermarket

    Reply
  3. How Expensive is Iceland Really? – The Unanchored Passenger says:
    January 4, 2019 at 8:49 am

    […] out can be incredibly expensive in Iceland, so we did go grocery shopping at the grocery store Bónus and ate a lot of PB&Js and noodles while […]

    Reply
  4. Iceland: A 1 Week Itinerary – The Unanchored Passenger says:
    December 28, 2018 at 6:10 am

    […] car and buy groceries at Bónus (the best way to save money and have food on hand when in the middle of […]

    Reply

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About Foodie Baker

Hi there! I am Foodie Baker - the baker, the cook, the author, the part-time photographer (my husband X takes most of the travel photos), and pretty much the slave behind Foodie Baker. Welcome and I hope you managed to find something you like. :)

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