Zu Kaufen und Essen (To Shop and Eat)

Since we don't have a car, shopping is not quite what I am used to. But even if we did have one, there are still a few things that are not quite what I am used to. Things like:

• Most supermarkets are discount supermarkets (like Aldi) and have a smaller range of products but at very low prices. This means that to get everything you want cheaply (even every day things) you need to go to a couple of them.


• They list price comparisons which give the price per 100g or per kilo for most products. So you can compare different size products quickly.


• At the checkout they don't pack your groceries into anything. They don't have plastic bags since you are expected to purchase reusable bags, but of course you can bring your own. So it's a mad rush to get all your stuff on the belt and then down to the other end with the trolley to collect. The counter after the scanner is very short and so only holds a few groceries!


• The checkout people seem to be rather impatient and doing the mad rush is difficult if you have a lot of shopping.
  

I've checked out the local markets in the market square which is right in the middle of town. It sets up twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday). Shopping in the market square is more fun and the produce is generally very fresh.

They have an incredible range of dairy products! From cream -- where you have fresh, sour, creme-fresh (halfway between fresh and sour) and quark (halfway between sour and cheese) -- to cheese (of which there are at least 57 varieties) to yoghurt (another large range of choices) to cream puddings.

Other popular items are cured meats and sausages including salami, ham (12 or 13 different kinds) and the wursts (liver-, schinken-, brat-, blod-, weiß- and more).

A few items seem to be unavailable or very difficult to find. For example, vanilla essence (or extract), baking powder in quantity (all comes in little satchets), brown sugar and rice bubbles. I have, however, managed to locate the ingredients and bake my first batches of ANZAC and chocolate chip biscuits. So we are settling in fine!

Bryna has taken a great liking to bratwurst (a slightly spicy pork sausage) and rotkohl (a pickled red cabbage). Ariana however is missing Australian sausages, though we didn't have high hopes for her when we came.

That will do for now. I will cover bakeries and cakes later! :D