Can I be alone in finding german supermarkets and food generally dull and uninspiring?

[diyxyz999]

Having to cook everyday, nevermind think what we will eat and hence what I need to shop for - bores me rigid, but goodness do find german supermarkets boring and uninspiring. I have been here nearly 3 yrs and can I find a potato big enough to bake? I cannot find fish stock cubes - just some liquid in a jar for 3 euros!

Fastfood - always a variation on a sausage and fries with a spicy salt mixture on them. No chance of a baked potato.

I do like the germans and I like living here but goodness their cuisine leaves a lot to be desired.

Having just returned from a frustrating trip to the supermarket, rant over!

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

But no supermarkets were any good in the 80's! And the people who build cars don't stock supermarkets!

[TheKitchenWitch]

Ah, then you have missed the supermarket revolution, LancashireMan!

[LancashireMan]

Germans build good cars and run excellent communal swimming pools at reasonable prices. They are not world class at running supermarkets. Along the lines of - we all can't be good at everything - no point in bleating on about it.

(did my 11 years in Germany 1980s/90s)

[tb]

The good thing is that Aldi in Germany still sell those lovely dark chocolate covered toffees that they stopped selling in France. Schokotoffees or something like that. I'm pulling all my fillings out trying to find an acceptable replacement from Intermarché and failing.

Golden syrup is quite easy to make -

200g sugar
50g water

1 kg sugar
600g boiling water
2 slices lemon


Method

1. Pour 200g sugar and 50g water into a large saucepan. On medium heat, twirl the pot around and caramelise the sugar until a dark golden colour.
   

1. Add the boiling water, the kilo sugar and lemon slices.
   

1. On low heat boil for 45 minutes until thick (stir it ocassionally if you must or leave it alone to do its own thing).
   

1. Cool and pour into sterilised jars or bottles. Label and store in a cool place.
   

There now you'll be able to make flapjacks, millionaires' shortbread etc and not have to pay an absolute fortune for a little tin of the stuff.

Hope that helps.

[TheKitchenWitch]

I wonder if I'm just really lucky where we live because I haven't found it to be dull or uninspiring at all!

Our local Neukauf would give any UK supermarket a run for it's money - it's got everything, it's beautifully laid-out, my parents are always in awe of the meat, deli, cheese and fish counters when they come over.
And the people working there really know there stuff - my cheese woman knows exactly what kind of cheeses we like so when they get something knew in she's all like "Ooooh, Mrs KitchenWitch, you just have to try this!". She's usually spot on, too :o

Obviously they don't have things like Marmite - but then, why would they? That's got to be a niche market.

Fruit and vegetables I buy from local stalls and farm shops - it's much cheaper, they taste way better and it means we're eating seasonally. Also get eggs and milk from local farms; proper orange egg yolks, and thick cream on the milk!

I agree though that you have to adapt what you cook because of what's available - we don't have jacket potatoes very often because those huge potatoes aren't always available, but then again, I don't really see that as a problem. They don't often have parsnips, either.
On the other hand, they have a range of radishes that I'd never even heard of back in the UK, and I don't think eg. white asparagus is popular in England but it's the norm here.

I love the way so many restaurants offer seasonal menus, too. So at the moment, there are lots of asparagus and strawberry things (not together!!), and come autumn it'll be wild mushrooms and pumpkin etc. I think there's much more of an awareness of seasonal eating, which I like.

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

I finally found an Edeka in our vicinity and I think it is great - like a German stab at Waitrose. Ours has a good ethnic section and the fruit and veg looks fresh.

I mainly do Kaufland or Marktkauf. I find that they "overdo" in the same way we do - how many aisles of crisps are there in Asda these days? And biscuits? I find it a bit overwhelming when I come back.

In Germany it's the ham section, and the pork section of the meat department that I find a bit overwhelming when I am popping in for a bit of Cotto! I still haven't worked out all the cuts and joints, and what are those boxes of fat that look like polystyrene packing pellets? What are they for can someone tell me?

Even though the yoghurt sections are phenomenally huge they have the most limited range of 0% fett. Everything is full fat.

I get Irish Butter and there is a good section of British cheese so I never have a problem with this.

If they had fresh pittas, hummus, fresh dips and Total 0% greek yoghurt I would be a happy bunny.

Eating out I find food in this area very stodgy - Schweinbraten, Maultaschen, heaped plates of spatzle covered in butter, kartofelnpuffer, potato dumplings and durums stuffed with chips!

When we go to Lake Garda the pizza restaurants cater for the German palate with a pizza covered in Wurst and Pommes - a sausage and chip pizza!

We even found frozen chips you can cook on a bbq in Kaufland on Saturday!

[ralphi]

you can get Bicarbonate in most shops (supermarkets like Rewe/ Tegut etc) and in DM in small sachets. Its sold as Natron. Or you can buy it in pretty much any apotheke.

white fat in the tupperware and tinned weisswurst are just gross!!

[NigellasDealer]

much as I love LIDL and ALDI I did find German supermarkets a bit uninspiring when I lived there for a while; no 'ethnic' foods like we have here. Still it was OK.

[Verycold]

Hihi Pacific, I am German as well and that's exactly what I buy in Lidl!

[PacificDogwood]

This thread made me grin from ear to ear

I am German, have lived in the UK for over 20 years since my late 20s.

I still find British food too 'stooge' heavy and am now bored of anything fried - after initially being v excited about macaroni and cheese with fries for instance. Now I just look at it and think "Heart attack on a plate" .

My visiting family think that the supermarkets here are far too full of a confusing amount of similar-but-slightly-different things. They scoff at ready meals/prepackaged stuff.
My mum still buys most of the meat for meals from the local butcher's and fruit/veg from one of the many farm shops, so goes to the supermarket for staples and things that are storable.

One big difference I notice when I am in Germany is the lack of a multicultural influence on the general cuisine. Indian is v posh and unusual indeed and Greek or Turkish restaurants are regarded by some people as somewhat suspect . Germany lost whatever 'Empire' it had so much earlier than Britain that international influences are much, much weaker.

And I love my local Lidl here - it's were I go for a quick German fix of Fleischwurst. Or Super Dickmans ('die sind dick, Mann!')

[Sicaq]

All this spud talk reminds me of a (German) colleague from our German office who used to spend a couple of weeks with us every year. Wherever she was in the UK she wanted to eat tons of jacket potatoes with grated cheese. Apparently you just don't get jacket spuds (or grated cheese) over there. She wasn't fibbing, I see.

Most other Germans I have met seem to live off soup and yoghurt. Even their chocolate has yoghurt in it.

[schokolade]

Oooh I had a rant about this to my DH the other day. Turned out to be a mistake seeing as he's German!! It sent him into a rage where he declared that NZ, the UK and USA (other places we've lived) don't have enough yoghurt varieties. Wtf?! There are tons...

I find the German and Swiss supermarkets fine, providing I get to do the shopping. My DH has been doing it for the last few months because we have a newborn. And he has come back with some very odd stuff. Weisswurst in a tin, anyone?!

I've had issues finding proper Mexican food ingredients. I was happy to discover some taco kits etc in Edeka but for a hell of a price. I miss a good taco or burrito.

Does anyone else find German food very, very fatty? It could just be DH and FILs cooking, so I'm not certain enough to make a sweeping declaration! But there seems to be absolutely gallons of fat in everything. If you put left overs in a tupperware dish you can scrape whole serving spoonfuls of white fat of the edges the next day . FIL is of the opinion that meat contains everything one would need for a healthy diet Drives me nuts telling me I have nutrient deficiencies because I didn't have meat for one meal (breakfast).

[Lifestooshorttosleep]

We've become very excited recently as our Edeka has started selling cathedral City and proper English back bacon. However, I generally find food shopping in Germany is ok. I love that the fruit and veg is seasonal, therefore fresh and often locally grown. The bakeries are amazing and I find plenty of choice for everything we could possibly want. We cook a lot from scratch and bake a lot too and never really have any problems, though it's taken time to get used to different brands and find alternatives to stuff you've known since childhood

[PurplePunkPrincess]

I live in the uk and rarely find big potatoes to bake unless I go to the farm shop! Which I don't, I should though!

[BakingEating]

We've been here in Germany for 18 months and I agree, the supermarkets are rather uninspiring. I like the fruit & veg section, especially the seasonality, but it frustrates me that the meat, fish and dairy sections can be very limited unless you want to buy 400 different types of yoghurt and flavoured buttermilk. There are some lovely things about living here, just not the supermarkets.

[NaturalBaby]

Another Swiss resident who shops in Germany here. I'll come back and read up on tips later but now it's time to cook up some Wurst and potatoes of some description.
We're living off pizza, fish and chips, pasta and pesto.... Our kids are young so we don't eat exciting food at the best of times.

[EBearhug]

Waldmeister is god for the stomach

It's good, but it's not that good!

Actually, my first introduction to it as an edible thing was at a party, where it was made up with cream and some alcohol, possibly Korn.

A young man called Florian went on to prove it can be very bad for your stomach. And it's still pale green when it reappears.

[Mepmep]

But, I do love, love German bakeries - bread, cakes, the lot. Christmas biscuits, gingerbread etc. Germany excels in baked goods, I have to admit.

[Mepmep]

I find German food dull as dishwater too (lived there) but I can say the same about English food too. Both are scared of flavour! But then, I do compare them unfavorably to Mediterranean food, with which I grew up.

[horsetowater]

Miffy Ebear Waldmeister is god for the stomach, possibly why it's served as a dessert. I love rote gruetze, brilliant instant pudding.

www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/wooswe31.html

For those of you in Germany, do what you can to learn proper german cooking - it really is excellent. The reason there's nothing in the supermarkets is because they all cook from scratch.

[Schmedz]

Love Rewe - good range of gluten and lactose free foods too!

[diyxyz999]

thank you Caterpillar for the link.

went to Real this morning, like a rabbit caught in car headlights - it was so big, but got JACKET SPUDS - pretty good ones anyway and proper bacon - not that fatty, streaky stuff.

I am chuffed to bits :)

[Caterpillar2001]

As for the fish stock, look out for this product: www.lacroix.de/produktuebersicht/pasten.html

[MmeLindor]

I agree with Aphra, on the ready-meal thing. I got so used to cooking from scratch in Germany and only use the ready-meals to give me an idea of what to cook.

I am much too Scottish to buy a ready-meal of Spag Carbonara when I can make it for less than half the price!

I did the same when we lived in Switzerland - cooked more local recipes and just did British or German food as a treat. I discovered our local Tesco had Fondue this week, so that is what we are having over the weekend!

[diyxyz999]

Thanks for all the replies! I thought I would be called a whinging Brit but clearly the jacket spud comment got people on side - I spot a business opportunity for me if I could wean the germans off their 47 varieties of wurst :)

I totally accept the comment about looking more at german recipes and I did get out my magazines yesterday. And making a better list for my trips to the UK.