Daily Life in Germany: Grocery Shopping

Seeing as how I am a housewife, dietitian, and mother of two, I do a lot of cooking, and with all that cooking comes a lot of grocery shopping.  Grocery shopping in Germany is a bit different than shopping in the US, mostly due to the fact that I have to put a little bit more effort into the process.
 

 There are some larger grocery stores here (such as Edeka and Kaufland), but there are also many smaller neighborhood stores (such as Aldi and Lidl).  I typically shop at a larger Kaufland, and my neighborhood Aldi.

My two shopping helpers

I will admit that I actually drive past one Kaufland to go to one further away simply because I don't have to park as far away at the latter location (Who wants to have to park in a parking garage and push your shopping cart a quarter mile?)  The parking lot where I do my shopping is actually on the roof of the store, and I bring the cart down to the main level via conveyor belt.

Coin slot for unlocking the shopping cart

Every store that has shopping carts makes you pay a deposit of an euro, which you don't get back until you have returned your cart to the proper location and hooked it into another cart.  I always try to keep a couple of euro coins in my car, but occasionally they get used and I have found myself unable to get a cart!

Unrefrigerated eggs would horrify American shoppers!

In Germany all cashiers sit in chairs while they work, and in the US, cashiers have to stand throughout the shift, so they can bag everything for you.  Cashiers in Germany do not bag groceries, and they scan the food so fast that you cannot even bag the items yourself during the time of checkout.  I have seen people with items falling to the floor because they don't move everything to the cart fast enough.  Most people just load everything back into the cart as fast as they can, and then organize everything when they get back to their car. 

If you need a bag at the checkout, you have to pay for each bag you take.  For years in the US I have been using my reusable bags, so it is pretty ingrained in my head that if I go into a store I need to bring bags, even at stores like Toys-R-US.  Most clothing stores give you bags for free though.  I have actually started using milk crates to carry groceries because they are faster to load, which is useful when you are standing in the rain or it is freezing cold! 

In the US, I would do one major shopping trip per week, and maybe one more smaller one if I forgot something.  Here in Germany most people go to the store many times throughout the week, and often everyday.  Therefore, at checkout, people are usually only buying 5-10 things at a time, and the line goes pretty quick.  If you have an entire cart full of food (in typical American shopping style) the people waiting in line behind you will be quick to give you impatient stares.  I have found that I have also fallen into the routine of shopping every couple of days instead of once a week.  My refrigerator/freezer here is much smaller and cannot hold that much food. 

 Prices for prepackaged food are about the same as in the US, but often cheaper (organic whole wheat spaghetti is only 0.99 in Germany, and I think I paid about $2.50 in the US).  My favorite thing about buying groceries in Germany is how inexpensive the produce is.  In Germany I buy red peppers for 0.99/pound, and in the US the price was often $2.50 for one red pepper!!  We eat so many more fresh vegetables and fruits here than we did in the US.  (please note that I am comparing the prices from eastern North Carolina, and hopefully other people have lower produce prices elsewhere in the country).

I find myself dreaming of the day that I get to go shopping at Harris Teeter again, where I get to park right in front of the store, have everything bagged for me and then even smile while they offer to help me out to the car!  I know that time will come before I know it, and I am sure I will then be saying how much I miss shopping in Germany...maybe.