Of all the adjustments we have had to make over the past few weeks, grocery shopping is definitely one of them. I’ve spent more hours in grocery stores than I care to mention. We have a decent sized market about two blocks from us (2 minutes on bike, 5 minutes on foot) where I can get most of our necessities – meat, milk, yogurt, produce, etc. However, I like to go to some of the larger stores at other spots in the city to get some items that are more difficult to find. There’s a department store chain called Karstadt that has a great market in the bottom floor of all locations. We have one that’s about a 3 minute bike ride from us. I can usually find everything we need there and it’s a nicer shopping atmosphere, if you ask me.
A couple of interesting differences:
1. The language. Obviously, everything is in German, so I sometimes have to pull out my iPhone and use our translator App to figure out what I’m buying. Usually, you can tell by the packaging, but sometimes there are additional words that need translated. Being lazy can be costly. For example, I tried to buy sour cream for tacos once and ended up buying a type that had herbs mixed in. Pretty tasty, but not on tacos haha. Grocery shopping is definitely a great way to pick up more German vocabulary.
2. The lack of variety and choices. For some items, there are tons of choices. They love this oat-ey, granol-ish cereal stuff that they call “Musli” and at every store, you can find at least 20 varieties with different mix-ins. Not exaggerating. There are also lots of yogurt brands, orange juices, and decent selections for a few other items. However, for most items, like milk, bread, peanut butter, eggs, etc., there are only one or two options.
3. The measurements. I almost fell over when I first saw the produce prices. But then I realized that they are per kilogram and not per pound (approximately 2.2 pounds in 1 kilogram). Sigh of relief.
4. The preferred types of meat. It’s sausage, pork, beef, turkey, and then chicken, in that order. There’s a huge wall of various types of sausage, yet only 5 packs of chicken breasts in the cooler (not 5 brands, just 5 packs). A huge switch from the USA. I will definitely be looking for more non-chicken recipes haha. Lunchmeat like turkey and ham are also sometimes difficult to come by. And forget bacon like we’re used to! However, again, at the largest stores, you can usually find a small package of “American Breakfast Bacon” if you search long and hard (Yes, that’s exactly what it is described as on the packaging).
5. The shopping cart system. Now, this isn’t true for all stores, but a lot of them have it and I think it’s worth mentioning. When you want to use a cart at the store, they are all linked together by keys on chains. In order to release the cart you want to use, you must insert a 1 Euro coin into the slot, which then releases the key. When you return it, it gives you your Euro back. I personally love this system because I hate hate hate it when I’m at Giant Eagle or Target and see lazy people leaving their carts in the middle of the parking lot instead of walking it 10 meters to the nearest cart return. Those Germans can be pretty clever.
6. The lack of pre-packaged, pre-mixed, pre-shredded, etc. etc. I’m sure glad I purchased a nice grater at Crate and Barrel before leaving the States, as it is nearly impossible to find cheese that is already shredded. I have seen shredded “Pasta Käse” (pasta cheese, a mixture of Mozzarella and who knows what else), but again, only one brand and only at the largest stores.
7. The lack of favorite “staple” American recipe ingredients… Such as chicken broth, any “cream of…” soups, cheddar cheese (so difficult to find and scarily expensive!), baking powder, baking soda… the list goes on. I will definitely have to get a bit creative as it’s difficult or impossible to find many ingredients that are used in some of our favorite recipes.
8. The “USA” section. This is my favorite. Most of the large grocery stores have a (very tiny) section that is designated for “popular” American products. It usually consists of BBQ sauce, salad dressing (mostly Newman’s Own brand for whatever reason), Betty Crocker brownie and cake mixes (for a mere 5.99 Euro!), maple syrup, “American pancake mix,” Oreos, macaroni and cheese in a blue box (although not actually Kraft), and every American’s favorite necessities – Pop Tarts and nacho cheese. Because who can’t live without nacho cheese, am I right? I think it’s pretty funny to see what they think Americans can’t live without.
9. They keep their eggs at room temperature. Enough said.
10. The hours. The stores are generally only open from 8 or 9 AM until 8 PM. And not on Sundays. Other than bakeries in the mornings and a few restaurants, nothing is open on Sundays. We used to always do our grocery shopping on Sundays, so this is a change for us for sure. Although, when the store is right on your bike ride home, it’s a lot easier to stop quickly during the week.
11. Milk. There are two types – 3.5% fat and 1.5% fat. No skim. As someone who has been drinking skim milk for about 10 years, this is an adjustment. But the 1.5% is not so bad.
12. The lack of diet, fat-free, sugar-free, etc. items. Nothing is labeled in this way. It's a huge change from American brands that seem to bombard you with this stuff. In America, you can find a "diet" form of pretty much everything. Not true in Germany, for whatever reason.
13. The lack of "snack" foods, like chips, crackers, cookies, etc. Maybe they don't need #12 because they don't indulge in these like Americans do. You can find some tortilla chips and potato chips, but not the variety like in America and definitely smaller packages. And there's certainly no entire aisle devoted to cookies like in American stores haha.
I also grocery shop much more frequently, as most things are sold in small quantities due to the fact that the average fridge is the size of an American college student's dorm room fridge (not kidding). I also think that they use less preservatives in their food, as things go bad quite quickly. Like I said though, it's not a big deal to go to the store more often when it's two blocks from your apartment. Additionally, since we don't have a car, I either walk to the store and carry the bags home or ride my bike and put the bags in my basket. So I usually try to not buy a million items each time.
This is only some of the differences. Nothing is life altering, but it definitely takes a little getting used to. We try to look at everything as an adventure, so it’s not so bad.
Cheers,
Kristin and Matt
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