Grocery Shopping

Before we leave here, I thought I would share a little about grocery shopping over here. In a lot of ways, its very similar and you can find many of the same things that we would have in the states.

In other ways, it is very different. Things are overall healthier here. Not nearly so many preservatives, not very many "convenience" foods, and things aren't as processed. What does this mean? Well, on the up side, it means we eat healthier overall. Obviously, things are more organic, less additives, this is better for you. On the down side ... you have to go grocery shopping every couple of days. Things just don't have the shelf life that they do back home. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I mean, do you really want bread that is still soft and fresh after a week? When you think about it, its just not right. BUT, it is convenient, and its sometimes annoying when things go bad so fast.

I've had to learn to make a lot more things from scratch too. This has been really good for me. Simple things like cream soups they don't have, I never realized how many recipes have this in there. So I either make them from scratch or don't use the recipe (which usually aren't the healthiest anyways). Ranch dressing ... pumpkin pie ... cranberry sauce ... yellow birthday cake ... stuffing  ... the list goes on. I've been forced to be more adventurous in my cooking which I may have never done if I wasn't forced too. But I've learned some things aren't that hard at all and like with the soups, you can control the sodium and things like that.

Let me introduce you to, what I think is the Danes' national food ...

This is rugbrød. A very heavy, dense, fiber-filled, earth tasting, disgusting, healthy rye bread. Danes live for this bread. I mean they really live for this bread. The love it, they defend it, and they are highly offended when us white bread loving americans aren't crazy about it. (Admit it danes, deep down, you are offended). They give you this look and pause and say, "BUT, its SO healthy." That may be, but I really do think you have to grow up on it  to love it. I try to defend myself by explaining we like to eat something called whole wheat, but I don't think that counts. To them its either rugbrød or white bread.

Ok, Ok, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on it. When Oprah was in Copenhagen, she loved it. And my parents are crazy for it too. I will admit, If you get it fresh from the bakery, its a lot better than the regular stuff at the grocery store.

They have some produce here that we don't have (or at least where we're from). Here's a few examples ...

This is sharon fruit, it comes from Israel.

Honning melon - Broderick LOVES this.

We have a lot of produce from Cuba. I think this is strange for me to see since nothing from Cuba is allowed in the states.

I think one of the biggest differences would be the cereal aisle. There's not near the choices here.

Above, here is the cereal at one of our larger grocery stores.

Below, a portion of a typical cereal aisle in the USA.

And the majority are corn flakes. They only have a few sugared cereals. The equivalent of frosted flakes, Smacks, and cocoa pebbles.

Check out the difference in our snack food aisles.

Denmark:

USA:

And we wonder why americans are overweight. haha.

Groceries are a bit more expensive here as well. I would say we spend about double of what groceries cost back in Iowa. For example, when you're buying milk, you're lucky if you can get it on sale for about 1$ for a liter, that would be about 4$ for 1 gallon.

But its still much cheaper than going out to eat. If you want one of these:

You'll spend about 8-10$ and there's no free refills.(ahhh, we miss those.)

They want you to eat healthy, so they make you pay for unhealthy choices. But its not like, drink water, it's free. No, they charge you for water too. So we eat at home much more than we did in the states, also a much healthier option typically.

Just like they tax you for unhealthy eating choices, they tax you for non eco-friendly choices. You have to buy your grocery bags at the store, so (if I remember) I bring reusable bags to the store with me.

I hope I don't sound negative on Denmark. We love it ... but ...it is not an inexpensive place to live.