A guide to the GERMAN supermarkets | everything you need to know
Somehow ended up in Germany and you need to buy some food well here is a video that might help you with that.
Grocery shopping in Germany is not that different from other places since you still need to pay for them.
In this video we are covering and uncovering all there is to know about these German Supermärkte. Firstly starting off with general overview of the groceries chains, then adding some popular drugstores, a sprinkling of German things and finally some recommendations from your truly :))
The stores in question to day: Edeka, Rewe, Kaufland, Real, Metro, Lidl, Aldis, Penny, Netto, Norma, Denn's BioMarkt, Alnatura, dm, Rossmann, Müller
If you have any info to add feel free to add it to the comment section.
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00:00 shopping in Germany
00:12 supermarkets
01:20 hypermarkets
02:08 discounters
04:20 bio stores
05:25 price comparison
05:45 foreign stores
06:07 drug stores
07:12 pharmacy
07:20 breads & bakeries
07:41 premade salads, coffee & sushi
08:30 baking soda
08:47 bio products
08:52 payback card
09:10 opening hours
09:50 checkouts
10:04 german food
10:27 recommendations
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Disclaimer: Sorry if you see misspellings, it happens more often then i notice.
Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video. Happy New Year and Happy Holidays! Remember, you matter ✨ and see you soon! ✨
Is it just me or is supermarket shopping in other countries so much fun? I always end up with a haul! I shop at Aldi and Lidl every week here in the UK. I shopped at Penny and Netto as well in my last trip to Germany and they were so fun
Totally! I live in Germany near the Dutch Border and it's always an adventure to go the grocery stores over there :D
So true. As a German I loved shopping in supermarkets in UK, France, Spain, Norway... it's simply so cool to discover new tasty things. :)
I'm 31 years old and have lived in Germany all my life. Idk why I watched this lmao but I did enjoy it. I knew there was a difference between the types of stores but never really consciously thought about it and wouldn't have been able to tell you why they were different if asked, so I guess I did learn something new.
In this video even though I was stationed in GERMANY I never went to one because I worked in the messhall on base so I had no reason to go for what nothing but I have been out of the ARMY since 1980 and I shop where I want to
germähn sm sugg -.- (watch the us lady in germany´s statement regarding zig ice -cream- wahriätiünce vv) best is aldi and netto least decent mieZ ++ chipp vv
Hello Edeka is my favorite KZhead channel!
Metro is not for families , it's a supermarket for businessowners only
Big families or joint families.... Metro is very handy
You can get access to Metro without a business. You have to register at the front and state your purpose to do so. Takes a bit of time, but if you only do this occasionally it is alright. Very useful for party supplies. Also, if you run a registered Verein, you can get a membership through that too. They even put up a restriction during Corona. People without a member card were restrticted to shopping only food items. So no more getting any non-food items for families during those times.
Damn, I’ve never heard of exclusive supermarkets before 😯
@@JR-rf9sq often they only sell items in sizes that really are useless for ‘normal’ families like a bucket of mayonnaise or tomato paste. Really restaurant or hotel size stuff.
@@Jaessae depends on which states.
When I'm in Germany, I always try to visit the Edeka. They always bring me a typical 'holiday feeling'. Next to that, I fell in love with Edeka because of the brilliant music video Supergeil. I still play this song in my car or on my phone when I cross the Dutch-German border.
I can almost smell that unique scent in the air of a German supermarket, when watching this. That's something that can't be conveyed in a video, unfortunately, because it's very nostalgic for me. A mixture I can't quite describe, with cheese to washing powder scents in the mix. I lived for years in Germany and it was so good to go back virtually with you, to remind me of what I've missed for a number of years now! So thanks so much for the memories. Looking around was the next best thing!
How does it smell at the grocery store where you live then?
@@Flotter-Flo It’s sort of odourless, because in UK, foods are generally pretty bland, and are seldom sold loose any more,so all those lovely charcuterie, cheesy smells are missing… 😳
Edeka and Rewe actually aren’t „chains“. They are all private, individually owned shops who can (more or less) chose their own product selections. Those owners unite their shops in a joint venture under the „roof“ of Rewe and Edeka to buy their stuff in big bulks instead of every shop owner has to negotiate all the prices with the food or non-food industry by themselves. That’s why you find a huge variety there including many local products. Aldi and Lidl for example are real chains, all having the same set of articles, promotions etc. That’s at least my knowledge. Correct me if I‘m wrong 🙂
In English Rewe and Edeka are called franchise (systems) EDEKA stands for Einkaufsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kaufleute btw.
Well, that´s not exactly correct ... Edeka actually does have its "own" stores but it is a small minority among the Edeka branded ones and a lot more non-Edeka branded stores belong to them: Netto (Edeka´s discount division). Just be a ware there´s exists another "Netto" branded discount supermarket chain (different logo !) not connected with Edeka which is owned by a Danish company - but only in Northern/Eastern Germany - ... and there´s Marktkauf (Edeka´s Hypermarket brand - none of those are franchises)
Well yes and no. Originally that is correct, but today both have taken over other chains that didn't operate the franchise system. Here in Schleswig-Holstein for example, Rewe took over Sky, one of the largest players here (they were far bigger here than Rewe before). Now they are all Rewe but these Rewes are not franchise operated. I liked Sky, ours lost the meat and cheese counter converting over to Rewe :(
I learned only recently: EDEKA is short for "Einkaufsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kaufleute"
@@sindbad8411 Einkaufsgenossenschaft der Kolonialwarenhändler im Halleschen Torbezirk zu Berlin, nix Deutsche Kaufleute
These just keep getting better and better:’). I cant express my love for supermarkets enough. Can spend days in them. Thank you so much for another mesmerizing video
I have the same obsession 😄
you must have an exciting life hehe
You in that LIDL sweater was hilarious...this is a great information page for newcomers 👍
this is so good. best information for first time shopping in germany
I love how informative this video is. Just wanted to write that this is the video that I found your KZhead channel with and sadly wish I had discovered them earlier when you were releasing them, not after you’ve left Germany. Looking forward to seeing many more new ones. Maybe make it to the land of peanut butter one day?
Every time I visit Germany, I always like to stop by a grocery store. Especially in the morning, I like to get baked goods and coffee. I believe I went to all the stores on this list. I think Germany or Austria would be my retirement home.
visiting germany in like two months and i cant wait to visit them all 😝 thank you for this 🙏 the sponge bob mug and the lidl sweater was definitely the highlights 🥲 oh and the chocolaaaates 🤤
Thank you Erika for this guide, it’s very helpful
Thats a good video. Btw you dont need to rush the check out at a grocery store. Especially in the discount stores its meant that you put your shopping cart to the end and just put everything back into the cart. There are usually small tables or something where you can pack your goods with all the time you need or take the cart to your car if you came with one. There are even garbage bins for if you want to remove the packaging. But almost nobody uses that ;D. I did it just 2 or 3 times when i didnt have enough space. Everyone rushes it because they are in a hurry or want to be as efficient as possible or something. Thats a german thing. Often people dont use a cart and pack it directly into their back pack or their bags. But dont let this intimidate you.
Thank you for such a high-quality video and interesting story! Good luck
That Edeka you were in is HUGE! All thew Edeka stores I have been in are barely bigger than a gas station. Nice video by the way. Very informative! The sweater is awesome (-: Ja!!!!
as someone who works part time at lidl this was so fun to watch lol
Maultaschen is a Swabian dish and even as a part of Swabia is part of Bavaria nowadays, I wouldn't call Maultaschen a Bavarian invention.
I always enjoy your sense of humor.
First time watcher of your channel, I enjoy watching videos about other countries food and grocery stores (I live in Canada).
Wah, this is so helpful!! Thank you so much. Your content seems so colorful and nice. Subscribed :)
Wow, great information for a guest in Germany. Very detailed research. What can also be found in every medium-sized city are larger shopping centers, where all of the shops described can also be found and other retail outlets for non-food items. In some areas there are shopping villages where there are mainly high-end brands. For example, the Wertheim Village. What I found funny in the video is the reference to the best frozen pizza, and I can only confirm the rating. No one else will come into the house ;-))
This was so helpful! I just moved to Munich. Thanks for creating this!
love your sharing soooo much!! Danke!
Oh thank you for this video! I absolutely love German supermarkets, they are the best I´ve ever been, great selection of everything and it´s tasty! When you were talking about discount supermarkets saying how messy they are and limited food selection and that you need to go after them to another supermarket since you cant find everything there, it reminded me so much of Danish supermarkets. 90% of them are this way, where you often cant find ricotta e.g, only 3 choices of yoghurts or sometimes no lactose free milk, so then you need to go to another one.. which is super sad for me, since I love supermarkets! 🥲 Edeka in Rostock I´ve been was so big, that felt almost like a museum 😀
Which one? I live in Rostock haha. I guess the E-Center in the Wanow Park?
thank you so much for the "natron" bit! i was wondering where to find that for a while! i was just using "backin" but i knew it wasn't quite the same
I have shopped at Muller. My granddaughter loves Woolworths.
HL Market and Aldi were my favorites
Hello Erica. Well a great video. Lots. of good info. I so looking forward to. Moving to Europe. Yes. Food channel is very important to me 😊
Kudos, you nailed it again!!
Great video! You put a lot of effort into it
Nice video again. I love your charming funny way. :) But it's not true that Germany has the most limited opening times of shops in europe as you say at 9:10. Rewe in the big cities is mostly open till midnight (exept in bavaria). I guess it's austria and switzerland who have the most limited opening times because all stores there close at 20:00 (in some places even earlier).
Lol this brought back great memories. Mundane in a sense, maybe, since there are not a ton of differences compared to how supermarkets work in my country, and we have LIDL and Aldi now as well, but something about mentioning every specific (going thru every brand from Rewe & Edeka to DM, Rossmann, Müller) felt cozy hahaha. I love Maultaschen! i lived in Munich for 5 months and i got them pretty often, they are surprisingly tasty. I used to eat Frikadellen with pasta and tomato sauce often as well, and since I was in Munich, the Händlmaier sweet mustard (with boiled white sausages) was really good. If there's a thing that I think is "missing" for the video is mentioning Pfand lol that was sth interesting to me to get the hang of. I knew about it bc i had visited Germany before but it really became part of my routine, I think I still keep an unused Pfand voucher from the Netto just below my student flat as a souvenir in my receipts album.
I live in Germany & do a big shop in Kaufland they have variety & very competitive prices. I get bits & pieces from Lidl & Aldi & enjoy their offers.
Great V-log!
good video! really enjoyed watching it :)
So thankful for this video - I studied 🤓 and it resulted in my first successful German shopping trip to Lidl 🙌🏼 Danke!
I've used both Rossman and DM. The latter especially is very well stocked.
Just found your channel. I'm hooked!
One recommendation that was missing: If you happen to have one nearby, go to a Wochenmarkt (farmer's market). It's a great source for regionally sourced groceries at decent prices, and the whole atmosphere is nice.
Now I need a video on how to make friends in German!
Small thing: Maultaschen Are from Baden-Würtemberg, Not Babaria
Lol the head nod at 7:39 was so cute
Opening hours in Switzerland are shorter than that ! 8/8:30 - 18:30. At stations and airports 5/6h-22/23h.
Very Informative video 😎🙌👍👍
Currently I have a jar of Vita D'or 100% peanut butter from Lidl which I'm enjoying more than my usual Calvé pindakaas. Next time I'm in Muller I'll give the Body Attack a try
Great and Helpful Video 😎
I may be moving to Germany in a few months. I’ve enjoyed your videos so far. We have schogetten chocolates in the US in our Aldi! I love it, but wasnt sure if it was considered good chocolate. Better than Hersheys though! Riter is in our grocery store too! Very good!
Hello, I hope you're safe over there? I hope this year brings happiness, prosperity, love , and peace all over the world 🌏. I would love us to be good friends in honesty and in trust so as time goes on it will bring something great for us in the future, hope you don't mind? I'm Johnson David from Oslo Norway, where are you from if I may ask??🥰🥰❤
Excellent Job; You Literally Covered Everything Thing And Every Store 😂
Gustavo Gusto Pizza is so amazing.. I ate one nearly every day.. 😍
As a supermarket worker, I agree with all. For more Infos and questions, please ask me here. Nutella IS Italian. But yeah, quite common in Germany also. Gustavo pizza... Naaaah, nothing to different to Dr. Oekter pizza. I'm Italian, the "real" pizza is complete different. (but I love the freezer pizza as well) NO ONE can visit real. No more. It's close for ever. I visit sometimes, one my ex colleague worked there. That's it. It was quite big. Sometimes, more than a kaufland. With more selection of Lego! (and games. But who care. Lego is Lego) You said netto and Norma. Right. But... Norma is considered not good (never was there so I cannot confirm) Netto... There is two type. The most common is the red/yellow one, as you said "the discount of Edeka". Right. But exist another one, more little, called also netto. This one have a kind of black dog like logo and colours are yellow and black. Always called "netto black" (for the last one) and "netto Red" (or yellow. For the "Edeka discount). Attention please, they are COMPLETE different chain. Also the card points are different. Another little correction... You show the timing in your city. But please, consider that exist more than that. I have a rewe supermarket (where I started to work, just for info) behind my flat. 7:00-23:30 6 days in the week. My second rewe, now unlucky closed for ever, was open (read good!) from 7:00 of Monday until 23:30 of SATURDAY. Yes, you read good. NO STOP IN THE NIGHT during the week. You could enter at 2/3/4 AM and buy all. (now there is another one like that, in Schönefeld) In all Berlin exist SEVEN supermarket ALWAYS OPEN, every Sunday of the year. I can say you the exactly list, if someone need it. Open at the "second day of Christmas and easter" as well. As I said, for more Infos ask me. I work in this sectors from years, and I'm a expat so I can understand all your shocks/problems
Norma is just wrong in every possible way. the lighting is to harsh, the colours are just wrong, they are always in the worst place and they are more expensive than other discounter. Red Netto is fine.
Love your voice :) Sounds more helpful
Teas look great.
I gotta say THAT I LOVE THE SALAT BAR IN REVER!
Hm, you´re walking on very thin ice telling us Maultaschen originate in Bavaria ...😱😱😱 They originate from Schwaben (Swabia) - a region that is only a tiny fraction of today´s state of Bavaria but Schwaben is primarily part of the Baden-Wuerttemberg state and the true origin of Maultaschen lies in the Badeb-Wuerttemberg part.🤓- Sorry, couldn´t resist nit picking🤫
Hello Erika, Thanks for these informative videos, Can you please make a video on Jackets and Leather shoes retail price.
I live in Romania and i haven't heard of Real for YEARS! back when i was 7-9 yo. Now I'm 21. Lidl and kaufland are amazing, peak even. penny... So-so.
Edeka is my choice as it has quality products
I would totally wear that Lidl sweater
Apparently Aldi is a store you have to dig Thu there too. I'll bring a small stool to find garlic stuffed olives! In Michigan, USA
Actually Netto is owned by the french group Les Mousquetaires. That is why we have them in France
absolutely brilliant video. Watched it through and gave you a thumbs up. When it comes to the TrueFruits bottles, there's a whole hype around it and people collect and sell them (there's a facebook group dedicated to that) and some of these bottles are rare and unreasonably expensive (without content). These bottles also caused some of the users in those groups to get creative and come up with some cool designs on them or they create bottle caps used for different purposes (oil, salt shaker etc) . I love Maultaschen but I've never had a fresh one despite of having lived in Germany half of my life...Which city do you live in?
Have you ever been to Austria? The opening hours for grocery stores in Vienna are easily way shorter than in Germany. Most shops close at 18:00 on saturdays.
True, since I travel regularly in Vienna or elsewhere in Austria, I only had to learn this after standing in front of closed doors a few times ;-)). And that as a German ;-))
Here in the States we have a lot of the same products. I recognize the packages and the brand names. I like Ritter Sport bars, the one with hazelnut and the one with strawberry.
Yes, Ritter Sport is really good.
Interesting, when I think about it, there seem to be more Pennys than Aldis in my city (I can think of 3 just in the city, while only of 1 Aldi in the city and another one in a village a few kilometres from town. And a 3rd one next to another village). And I actually do like them (although I go to Aldi for the most part, as it's the the nearest discounter for me - plus there's also a real next to it, which is nice whenever I need/want something I can't get at Aldi).
There is also the _other_ Netto with a black label, which is a completely different store than the one you showed.
The best frozen Pizza here im germany is "Die Ofenfrische" from Dr. Oetker or some version from "Die Backfrische" from Wagner Pizza. Gustavo is good but much more expensive.
I’d like to point out, that METRO isn’t only membership only, but you can only be a member if you’re a registered business (owner), thus the large quantities :)
real went out of business quite a while ago. Some of the real stores where rescued by former real managers, which are now open under the new name mein real Aldi Nord and Süd may be separate companies, but they work together in a lot of fields, like house brands or marketing Peanut butter, its not really a thing in germany. Barely anyone eats it (at least I don't know anyone who eats it) We eat chocolate cream (or hazelnut cream to be correct) It sounds stupid, but the LIDL clothes collections are sold out very quickly and then sold on Kleinanzeigen (People collect this stuff) Germany has one of the most complex trash systems and the biggest recycle system in the world. We don't just separate into recycable, the separate the recycable into categories too. There is basically no product in Germany, that uses no recycled materials What also comes into play for german food is, that european law forbids anything artificial in anything that can be ingested. Food and drinks are forced to be all natural. Our normal products are what US citizens call Bio. Bio for a german is on another level, it got so many laws it has to follow Germany has the most bread in the world with over 3000 different bread recipes registered at the bread office (yes, we have an own government office just for bread) however, Toast (The square stuff you put in the toaster) is not considered bread in Germany Rewe is stopping their collaboration with Payback to the end of 2023. They want their own loyalty program
Metro-like stores are not for the public. Those are wholesalers only for retailers and business owners. The membership results from the fact that you have an official business like a company or store in order to become a member. They check it before they accept a member. The document that an applicant needs to provide is called Gewerbenachweis, business license in English.
Would you say Metro is like Costco or Sam's Club in the USA?
@@milesfann33 Costco is for everyone who requests a membership. Metro in Germany is not for the consumer, it's for business owners. Yet business owners buy their own things in Metro which is not meant for business use. I knew a few guys who bought their food and laundry detergents from Metro in large containers with 20 and more pounds.
But if you know somebody who has a card, you may use theirs. So there is a chance for private persons to shop at Metro.
You are not supposed to PACK your groceries at the check out counter - you can’t keep up with the speed of the cashier…. just put it back in your cart und pack it at the often provided packing tables.
I wonder what it says about me (or the absolute success of the franchise's marketing over three decades of my life) that the thing which made me most hungry in this whole video was the brief shot of McDonald's (those fries!). But that pizza looked fantastic also. Anyway, just liking this video didn't feel like enough, and I'm already subscribed with notifications so I although I initially felt too tired to comment, I wrote this anyway in hopes that the number goes up and that makes the algorithm promote this video to more people and promote more videos like this to me. Keep up the great work because this stuff is so interesting and well-made!
The pizza is really unmistakably good, among the frozen pizzas, of which there is a large selection.
Dude the no copyright edeka theme in the background
In Belgium we have so fucking many supermarkets from all our neighbors lol. Belgian supermarkets: Delhaize & Colruyt + stores under them but with different names & Alvo (which has also much Boni products from Culruyt) German supermarkets: Lidl & Aldi Dutch supermarkets: Albert Heijn & Jumbo French supermarket: Carrefour In 1km radius you'd have a big chance of having 3-5 different supermarkets in most municipalities.
I’ve also seen the Dutch Spar, which is odd because you hardly see them in the Netherlands. Although I seen them in Scandinavia also. Not sure if we have Belgium supermarkets in the Netherlands?
Lol if you say Maultaschen are bayrisch, than you have to be carefull to not get attacked lol. Be carefull with that 😅 They are schwäbisch. Schlutzkrapfen are from Österreich, Ravioli from Italy. They habe to be selfmade to be good. In the Supermarkt they takes awfully
You had me at the sock wall. :D
just btw, there are 2 words for cheap in german. one of them just means "cheap price" and the other is more like "cheap quality as well" ...its the first one in gut und günstig xd
Thanks for the great content! But am I going crazy or did you have to take down one of your videos about an animated movie?
Thank you
Microsoft paint looking like product! Hahaha I love you...:D
I would not agree that Germany has the most limited opening hours in Europe. 1. Opening hours vary from store to store and from federal state to federal state and 2. Austria is even more conservative when it comes to opening hours than conservative Bavaria, for example.
Here in Köln the REWEs close at 12am. Way later than 8pm where you are at.
@@andrejmeschede2057 impossible in the south
very important rule in gernany, if you can make the choice not to go to netto then dont
There are now a few Lidl in Serbia and they are even open on Sundays ;-))
Still surpirses me so many places are closed in Germany on Sunday. We have Aldi and Lidl in Holland too, pretty much all are open normal hours on Sunday.
You know that people like to have have a break? And not work all days, you have still 6 days time to buy vegetables, fruits and more!
@@liqiz1755 They can have different day off and not always on Sunday. Like in most countries.
There is no reason to be open on Sunday. Years ago the stores closed at 18:00 weekdays and 13:00 on Saturday. Hours have been greatly extended. When I drive past Net to, Norma etc late in the evening, the parking lots are almost empty. It much more important to have family time on Sunday. Parents have no time for their children. Why should they work on a Sunday, because you can not manage.
@@hansmoss7395 Germany could still easily legislate that by saying, that each employee has to have two consecutive days off. That way everyone would still have a "weekend", but not necessarily on a sunday. Designing the details of such law might be tricky but certainly not impossible.
@@Xentronium no
One tip to add: in any of these shops ALWAYS check the expiration date.
Could you compare edeka market to the action bc the action is similar to a drug store or general store I think
Rewe's own brand isn't only Ja! but it's also Beste Wahl.
My favourite retailer is Rewe. I used Penny in Prague, not in Germany. Why no mention of Billa?
I'm an English teacher here in Japan, and even though your English is excellent, especially in your ability to use humor, it's my job to correct people so I can't resist. When you mentioned prepared foods you said "Most of the options are more to desire for". I think what you were going for was "Most of the options leave a lot to be desired". Of course I think most native English speakers would understand what you meant, so it's really no big deal...
Thank you :D When I was reading it out loud I thought it sounded wrong but I didn't know how to say it right and now i know, so thank u :D
@@helloerika You are very welcome. Your video brought back a lot of memories for me. I grew up in America and my first trip abroad was to Germany when I was in high school. I still remember the stern-looking women at the registers in markets whipping the items down the counter, and me trying to grab them because the next person's items were already coming at me...
Aldi and Lidl are really doing well in the US.
Funny how I used to spend half a day in Austria to find Aldi store, and ended up knowing that they changed the name to Hofer at the end of the day, lol.
When I came to my grandparents in Germany, my grandpa said something like "Coca-Cola is shit. VitaCola tastes good." (VitaCola is an east-german brand of Coke, you can even buy it today in stores in the east. IDK for the west cause I've never been there (exp. 6h change in Wuppertal)
What about Globus the best of the lot.
Hej Erika can you do a video for pharmacies in germany
just take a cart and sort the things after you pay in front of the store, no stress, no bothering :D
My granddaughter scoops up sushi every time. It used to upset my mom so much.
I am not sure if Aldi sud and Aldi is based on north and sout, cause Aldi sud I saw also in NRW which on the map it is North. These two supermarkets are sepparated only because the founders of Aldi had a bad relationships or so, and that's why Aldi is divided in two different shops
You have to pay for your groceries in German supermarkets? You don’t say! 😂😂😂😂 “Open Sundays” are only up to seven times a year, often accompanied with a local festival or before Christmas once people received their extra Christmas payment. Gustavo Pizza is totally handmade and shock-frozen, that’s why it tastes so genuine 😊
Soo, are there any ultramarkets?