Is Grocery Shopping an Olympic Sport?
GrĂĽĂź Gott!
It has been a while since we have posted a blog; we apologize. We are approaching the three-month mark of living in Germany! Wild, right? Kyer and I were able to get our residence permits after a lot of back-and-forth, and about five visits to the Ausländerbehörde. The most exhausting process of them all.
Many of you have wanted to hear about some of the adjustments we have had to make to our lifestyle. There are so many things that are different here, but for today let’s talk about grocery shopping. If you have been to Aldi in the US, you have a TASTE of what it is like to shop in Germany.
We shop at a Rewe, a shop just across the street from our apartment. It has the small-town grocery store vibe…it is no Walmart.
Let’s start with getting your cart. Like Aldi, you need to put in a Euro to get a cart, and you’ll get it back when the cart is put away. OH, and these carts? Yeah, all four wheels can swivel so you don’t have to do that awkward pull-over move to get out of the way.
Don’t forget to bring any of your empty soda or water bottles! Take them to the dispenser and get 25 cents off your groceries for each bottle you bring back. This is something I really wish we did in the US.
Are you about to walk in front of someone? Well, don’t say excuse me. You might get a weird look. In the US we like to say excuse me for everything. We may not even need to do so and we will say “excuse me” at almost any interaction in the grocery store. While we are here, a good ol’ Midwestern smile when making eye-contact with a stranger will also make people very confused.
In German grocery stores, you will not find too many different brands of milk, baking powder, meat, or anything. It makes it easy to decide which brand you’re going to buy because there is probably only one. It’s more common for people to go to the bakery and the butcher to get baked goods or meat, but they are still in grocery stores.
Things that are not refrigerated at the store: milk and eggs. Eggs are not washed before being put in the carton, which means they do not need to be kept cold. Washing the eggs takes off a protective layer. You can find cold milk, but you will also find it just sitting on a shelf in the juice aisle.
Whew, you’ve made it through the store and it is time to check out! Hurry up and throw everything on the belt that feels like a mile long. Once the person in front of you has checked out, run to the end of the counter. You know how at Aldi, they put everything directly back into the cart? It’s kind of like that, the cashier rings the item and pushes it down into a bagging area. This is where you have to bag up your things very quickly and then put it back in your cart. I hope you brought your bags from home, because if you didn’t you’re going to have to pay for plastic or to buy a new reusable bag! You’ve paid for your groceries now, but you are still bagging your groceries? HURRY UP because here comes the next customer’s items down into the bagging area. You don’t want to be putting them behind in their bagging process!
This was really hard to get used to, but we have slowly figured out the best process for grocery shopping. It is kind of stressful, but always an adventure. We will be posting more about our weird situations in Germany so please add your name and email to our contact list so you can get updated when we post!
-Johnna