Interesting items from grocery stores in Portugal?

I loved the cheeses and olives and bread. I brought a couple tins of sardines home with me and wished I had brought dozens.

The bread is great, as are some of the cheeses. Be sure to buy a can of Bom brand tuna. It’s so much better than in the US. Try to visit a local Mercado for fresh fruits and veggies. Unless you’re from the west coast, they will be much better, too. Strawberries and cherries are in season now. The olive oil and olives are both great. Avoid buying beef as it’s not as good as in the US. Dorado or Rabalo are great fish. Most fish markets will filet them for you, if you prefer. They will also clean shrimp. Shrimp (camarão) in the Algarve are wonderful!

Buy a few bottles of Vinho Verde to enjoy, Portugal’s inexpensive white wine.

Actually it is a green wine -- color, not growing method.

Thanks to all who made helpful comments. I look forward to being adventurous with the Portuguese cuisine! Anymore suggestions are most welcome.

The most amazing thing to me in the Portuguese grocery stores is the dried salted cod called Bacalhau. Our apartment in the Alfama district of Lisbon was just up the hill from the train station. We did most of our grocery shopping at the market in the station. The cod was just piled on the counter. You ordered it by weight and they used a band saw to cut it. It was amazing to me.

We never bought any. As I understand it, you're supposed to soak it in water to get the salt out and reconstitute it, then prepare it similarly to how you'd prepare it if it was fresh. We had it for lunch on an RS tour in 2019. I'm sure the restaurant prepared it properly, but it was so salty that I couldn't eat it.

This is a link to information about Bacalhau with pictures: https://lisbonlisboaportugal.com/Lisbon-information/Bacalhau-salted-cod-fish.html

By the way, most of the grocery stores we saw were in Lisbon metro stations. There may be some elsewhere, but I never saw one above ground or with direct access to the sidewalk or street.

There are many with direct access to the streets.

And, bacalhau is definitely not my favorite. But I can eat some of the bacalhau à Brás.

Not specific to Portugal, but we tend to buy local products, mostly the breads, cheeses, charcuterie, and wines. Those change depending on region and each region has specialty items.

At Algarve, conquilhas (it's a kind of clam). Buy them in the market, put them at least one hour in ocean water (regular water with salt doesn't work for me), when they are open put them in a hot pan with olive oil and some garlic, let them cook for one minute. Goes well with "Pão do Alentejo", alentejo bread. And wine, dry and fresh. Or just eat them at a bar/restaurant.

Still Algarve: oranges and tomatoes.

Porto: Chouriço assado. Maybe your airbnb has the thing to "barbecue" the chouriço, or you can just buy one (they are everywhere, the cost is around 10 euros at Bolhão market. Then you can buy the chouriço there, the vendor will inform you what is the best for this purpose). If you write on google "assador de chouriço em barro" you can see the pics. Goes very well with "Broa de Avintes". It's a kind of bread from Avintes, a small region in Gaia side. And of course, with wine.