Why go to SuperCheap, and what can you find there? Koh Phangan’s cheapest supermarket

When you drive past SuperCheap, it looks more or less like an ordinary small supermarket. So I was surprised to learn that plenty of people simply have no idea what you can actually find there. Once you get past the checkouts, you enter a huge warehouse with shelves arranged in a fairly chaotic fashion.

Amazingly, I’ve found almost everything here, from needles to bicycles and fridges. But the moment I need something specific, I can never find it. You need an experienced guide for this place. On the other hand, while you’re looking for whatever you came for, you may stumble across an unexpected treasure at a decent price.

So, what can we find here, and how much does it cost?

Drinks, which you have to buy by the pack. It works out cheaper than buying them individually at 7-Eleven. I like coconut water. Coconut water costs 67.25 baht for 6 × 230 ml, while canned Coke is 130 baht for 12 × 240 ml.
Some simple maths tells us that a small can of coconut water costs 11.21 baht, while a can of Coke comes to 10.83 baht. The same coconut water starts at 16 baht in other shops, such as Lotus. And a Coke at 7-Eleven will cost you 20 baht. Sometimes that’s twice the price (!)

Cat people, a question for you. Who else buys bentonite litter, and why aren’t you buying tofu litter? This was a revelation for me. Unlike bentonite, it doesn’t stick to the tray in a disgusting lump, absorbs smells well and doesn’t cling to paws as much, which means less of it gets scattered around. I buy Kitto, around 90 baht for a 7-litre bag.

You can also find some very strange-looking salted fish. You may get the idea of buying it to have with a can of beer in the evening, for example. But don’t fool yourself. Once you take it home and open it, you’ll notice a strange smell. Try it. Yes, the smell was telling the truth. After you throw it away and wash your hands using half a bar of soap, you’ll start noticing that this fish is sold everywhere. Who buys it? Can someone explain?

Cosmetics and household products. You don’t buy this sort of thing every day, so it makes more sense to get the same household products in larger quantities rather than regular packs from other shops. Take dishwashing liquid. Mine works out at 44 baht per litre, compared with 68 baht per litre at Big C. That’s a saving of around 30%. You can find similar prices on promotion elsewhere, but if you want to head straight for the best price, it’s easier not to hunt for deals and just go to SuperCheap. I’ll probably leave mine to my children. I don’t own that many dishes.

Ants. Or rather, something to get rid of them. They generally live right there with you, and sometimes the arrangement gets a little too intrusive. When I moved in, every species of ant in existence seemed to be marching through my house. You couldn’t leave anything on the table. You couldn’t even leave the kettle there: an hour later, ants would inevitably be swimming in it. I found something here that helped. I use an ant trap: the ants grab the granules and carry them back to the nest. Within a couple of days, all my ants were gone. They came back, of course, but not in the same numbers.

Standard-issue Thai beer. It’s cheaper here if you buy a pack of 24 or 12 cans. You’ll pay 760 baht for 24 cans of Leo, 320 ml each. And 15 cans of Chang, 490 ml each, will cost you 670 baht. Per litre, that works out at 99 and 91 baht respectively. For comparison, a small can of Leo at 7-Eleven usually costs around 39 baht. The difference is about 7 baht per can. Not that much. So buying a case saves you around 180 baht. Though along with the savings comes a new problem: now you have 24 cans of beer at home.

Rice for anyone making serious preparations for a financial crisis. Sometimes I like to imagine what I’ll do when I’m homeless. Which bridge I’ll live under, and what I’ll eat. So I decided to calculate how much the most basic food would cost if you ate normal portions three times a day, enough to stay functional. For this calculation, we have a 40-kilogram bag of jasmine rice for 1,035 baht. Some simple maths: I’m assuming you need around 2,000 kilocalories a day to remain functional. That’s about 560 grams of dry rice every day. So one bag will last you 71 days, provided you eat nothing but rice with a side of rice. Converted into money, that’s 14.5 baht a day, or $0.43.
I should point out that doctors are unlikely to recommend this diet. You’ll also need protein, fat and a whole pack of different micronutrients. But as a thought experiment, it’s quite interesting to calculate the minimum price of not starving.

Near the checkouts, anyone who likes experimenting with sometimes rather strange-looking sweets can pick up something discounted. I’m not a huge fan of these desserts. They’re often all much the same and, if you ask me, far too sugary. There are a few I do like, though, such as pandan buns and coconut pastries. Pandan is quite an interesting thing in general, and in Asia it’s often used in baking and plenty of other things too. You may even have seen it growing without realising what it was. I’ve spotted it right on Hin Kong Beach. I’ll show you a photo of how it grows sometime.

On the way out, there’s a fruit stall. This one is pure luck, so spin the wheel. The fruit costs roughly half as much, but it’s a lottery. I’ve bought a very tasty watermelon for 25 baht per kilogram, and I’ve also bought watermelons that went straight in the bin. The pineapples, if you ask me, aren’t especially sweet or fragrant, but they are cheap. Baking chicken with pineapple? Great. That’ll do. But if you just want to eat a really tasty pineapple, I’d buy one somewhere else. Let’s put it this way: if you know how to choose fruit, you’ll save money and get fruit that’s just as good as anywhere else.

And finally, the toilet. There’s a perfectly decent public toilet at the side of the shop. It may seem like a small thing, but I notice these details.

So, to sum up: it’s a great place for a big shopping trip. The only problem is that you’re better off making a shopping list in advance. Otherwise, you risk coming in for dishwashing liquid and leaving two hours later with a bicycle and 24 cans of beer, having completely forgotten the dishwashing liquid.

Tell me what interesting things you’ve found at SuperCheap. Any good discoveries? And most importantly: why do people buy that strange fish? What do they do with it?