Food and Groceries - Lebensmittel

Exploring the city through its grocery stores!

Last week the flu went through the entire family, but thankfully we are all feeling better! It is a good thing because we are just starting the two week Fall break German school children enjoy.

                  

Did you ever look at the Sunday comic (ok, or TMZ)  where you had to "Find the Difference" in side by side, seemingly identical pictures? That is very much like our food shopping experience here. It seems like it would be the same as in the U.S., but in reality, it is not quite there. 

Even though we continue to find new grocery stores almost every time we go on a bike ride, Lidl is the one we tend to go to. It is pretty close by, only about 5 minutes by bike. Netto is also not too far.

At all grocery stores, shopping carts are "rented" for 1 euro. But as long as you put the cart back where it belongs you get your euro back.

Here, like in the U.S., most people drink milk or use it in some capacity. In Münster, people buy milk that is shelf stable. It comes in one liter cardboard boxes like the ones below. At Lidl, there are two brands, and you can only buy whole or skim. There is another section that has all the Bio (organic) products, but it is even more limited than what you would find in the US, and even more expensive.

You may notice all of the juice bottles behind the milk. The last time we were in Germany, we learned that most people don't drink water from the tap. They drink carbonated water by itself or with juice. As a result, you can find so many different kinds of juice. There is also tons of soda - so don't let anyone say only Americans are soda junkies!

The baking sections are almost, but not quite the same. The first time I looked for Vanilla, I was at a loss. I didn't realize that Liquid Vanilla is almost unheard of here. Most people buy Vanilla Sugar. It comes in a cellophane wrapped package containing 10 packets of the flavored sugar.

Baking Powder is another ingredient that comes in little packets here rather than a larger container. By the way, if you are looking for baking Soda, good luck. It is almost impossible to find. 

Brown sugar is also something that is different here. It is brown, but not moist.

Eggs come in containers of 10 rather than 12. Usually they are not jumbled up like this, but I took this picture on a Saturday. Luckily, I found one container without any broken eggs. Notice also that the eggs are not refrigerated.

And now, the candy! Here is a small section of the Christmas candy. There is a huge variety of candy, cookies, cakes and other sweets. 

We have noticed that often when English is added, it is often incorrect or not quite right. This package of Liebkuchen says "Santa Claus in Town" rather than "Santa Claus is in Town" or "is Coming to Town".

There is another isle completely dedicated to sweets, particularly what people would buy for a Pausenbrot. A couple of times a day between meals, most people take a little break for 5 to 15 minutes and have a snack, a Pausenbrot (a.k.a. second breakfast). Whether they are school kids, college kids or adults at a job, everyone seems to do it. The picture on Wikipedia just shows a sandwich, but there is usually a bit of fruit or veggies accompanied by a sweet of some sort. This sweet could be a chocolate filled croissant, small cake or sweet bread. 

Russell and I do NOT like this habit because now our boys are getting used to having a snack (and a sweet snack at that) all the time.

Lidl and Netto are discount grocery stores. They have good prices on food, but you never know if they are going to have the same things the next week. They also have a few isles in the middle that are non food stuffs. You might find gardening tools, horse treats, sweaters, raincoats you wear while riding a bike, tortillas, rabbit food, Advent calendars, Halloween masks and just about anything else you could imagine. "Billiger" means it is on sale.

This is the section just for cheese, spreadable stuff like quark (something between cottage cheese and ricotta), butter and margarine and buttermilk. You can buy a wedge of cheese or sliced cheese  - we were surprised to see the sliced cheese is actually a bit cheaper.

The Meat section

This entire section is pre-sliced meat and wurst (sausages). There are so many varieties of meat here. I know a few vegetarians and I think it would be challenging to be a vegetarian here. The common diet is so meat heavy that there are few alternatives. Apparently, this is beginning to change slowly. Some restaurants have vegetarian options, but I haven't seen tofu very often or other meat alternatives in the grocery stores.

Below is the fruit section at the Lidl. There are actually 2 Lidls near our apartment and this is a picture of the bigger one. Fruit and vegetables are not shipped as far, so they tend to taste better here. I have heard that the stores are much less likely to sell fruits out of season just because shipping so far makes them not taste as good.

The differences in these sections are primarily presentation, although there are a few varieties of veggies that are not commonly used in the US that seem to be staples here, such as Celeriac. At some grocery stores you have to weigh your fruit or veggies on a scale and print out a sticker. It is not always done for you by the cashier.

There are no baggers here. As soon at the cashier rings up your items, you are expected to put your purchases in a bag or back in the cart before the next person in line runs you over.

At the end of the shopping trip, you move over to a little staging area to put your groceries in backpacks or ready them for the saddle bags. Some people have little rolling suitcases they use for groceries.

Since we have to carry our groceries on our backs and on my bike, we have to break our shopping trips up. Rather than only going to the store once a week, we end up going 2 or 3 times. Can you see the contraption on the right side of the cart handle? That is what you have to put your Euro in to use the cart.

We needed to put a few of our plants in bigger pots but had a hard time finding potting soil. Luckily we found some, but then we had to get it home! Here Russell is showcasing his mad Boy Scout knot skills.

If I am looking for something a little more obscure, like tortillas, there are other grocery stores we can go to. They tend to be farther away and/or more expensive, so we don't go to them as often. One we like is called Hit (which is easily as large as the new Harris Teeter). Another is Edeka. One more is Rewe.

The grocery stores we go to that are near by are definitely smaller than what we are used to in the US, but they have grocery stores in Germany that rival in size anything I have seen back home.  A few years ago, when we were in Bavaria, there was a grocery store called Real that had an escalator that carts could ride.

Since the boys have two weeks off, we re taking advantage of the time by taking a little trip. Tomorrow we are headed to Hannover to visit with the family of a exchange student we hosted a few years ago. Next week we may take a trip to Frankfurt or Bonn to get Russell a Visa for when he travels to Shanghai in December.

Bis nächste Woche!