Grocery Shopping in Germany

I know what you're thinking. Another grocery store blog post already? Lucky me! This may not be interesting to anyone else but this is my daily life and I want to document it. I just know myself and I know that in 20 years I'm going to want to look back and see what I ate when I was living in Luxembourg. The not so exciting thing is that it is much the same as what I ate in America. Did I just say "not so exciting"? What I meant is the exact opposite. Being able to find things here that are similar to what I can find in America is the very definition of exciting. The grocery store is the haystack and every time I go I am hunting for a lot of little needles. You'll look at all of these foods and shrug and say, "Big whoop, I can get that at Walmart." EXACTLY. That's precisely the point. What you don't see is all the millions of things I had to compare side to side to make just one decision. Grocery shopping is serious brain drain. And just when I thought I had a lot of it figured out, I decided to try doing it in another country. 

Some of my friends go just over the border to Perl, Germany, to shop in bulk at Lidl, Aldi, and DM, all discount grocery stores. It takes 30 minutes to drive there. After a pep talk from my friend about what I could expect, I set off with the kids to conquer all three.

 Here's what we found:

 

 PEANUT BUTTERRRRR. You take it for granted, but peanut butter happens to be equivalent to gold in its rarity and value. Also, rolled oats, flour, cereal we recognize and like...

Maybe I'm blind but most stores seem to stock every Haribo candy under the sun except basic gummy bears. That's a problem. Because every other Haribo candy that is not gummy bears is pretty gross. Except the peaches. And the cherries. That is all.

 You're thinking "rolled oats and frosted mini wheats (white wheaties as seen here)" - big fat whooooop. I'm telling you. You don't even know the joy.
Also, contact solution. Contact solution!!! I think the pharmacie is the place to go for this, but that's another post.

 Listerine. Cookie Crisp (or Schoko Krunchy)!!! Dove! Pantene! Seeing familiar labels in a foreign land is a precious experience.

 

Um, cooking with rapeseed oil is a thing, right? I got flustered in the oil aisle, as per usual, and gave up. Canola and vegetable oil continue to elude me. And then I got some mayo in a tube and Miracel Whip Balance (low fat?) and I knew we'd live to see another day with these fats on our side.

Buying in bulk means buying a lot of little packages. Not many things come in large packages. You saw the peanut butter. No family size JIF here! Also, while most grocery stores in Luxembourg have German and French on their labels, I'd gotten used to just translating the French part. In Germany most labels are only German. Duh. But still. It was starting all over again... I'll let you know how the rapsol tastes. :)