Food prices - Variations between stores within Muc

It's come up a few times the different prices of things in various stores around Munich. I took upon myself to compare prices of 3 different stores near me. I tried to pick general food items and in cases where there was more than one variety (eg honey) I tried to pick a middle of the road example. Attached you can see a small sample of the difference in prices. I have the original cost listed, followed by the unit price (nearly always kg or L price). The cheapest is highlighted in yellow. Where 2 stores had the same lowest prices, they are highlighted in blue.

The difference in prices are remarkable. Just buying the first 14 items at one kilo each or one unit (minus rucola, as that's rarely bought per kilo), you can pay either €20.80, €22.38 or €13.23. A pretty big difference, if you ask me.

sounds like my grocery list showem. wanna tip us off to where you shopped at?

i know since i started shopping at Aldi or penny markt, my grocery bill went down tremendously. there are a few things, however, like yoghurt without gelatine that i absolutely have to have and you cannot get them at aldi. so i found i was having to go to Lidl (or wherever) to get them so now i just shop at lidl. my grocery bill is higher than aldi, but cheaper than if i went to my local "hit" or "v-markt". tengelman is WAY over the top. we have to drive anyway to the supermarkt.

oh yeah, and reading benpanters post (next one): yeah an uk, de comparison. i'm going home in may. if i can remember, i will do the same.

Are you going to reveal which supermarket was which? And did you ever do your UK - DE comparison?

I thought it might be interesting to get some guesses as to which store had which prices. All three are well-known. And yes Ben, I did do my UK-DE comparison. Only one store, Waitrose. I didn't want to spend too much of my holiday running around a grocery store. But it'll take some time to enter the data. All in all though, Germany was cheaper.

Interesting. I always do a Penny shop first and then get what I can't get there (curry sauces, toiletries, etc.) at Minimal. I shopped only at Minimal for awhile, but that proved a lot more expensive. Never really thought to check the exact difference, though.

ignorant question: What's rucola?

Rucola, aka rocket, aka arugula aka roquette. It's a peppery type of salad green.

Hmmm... I shop at HLMarkt, Tengelmann and the big Real. I'm not sure that I can rank them by price... although if pressed I would say

Cheaper - Real - HLMarkt - Tenglemann - Expensive

Using Waitrose will have skewed your results a fair bit - it's the most expensive UK supermarket! Next time I'm back I'll try one more in the ASDA / Morrisons line.

I wish I had an Aldi close by, but I don't, and the Plus to too hard to get to, its about a 20min walk, and no bus route, and Penny is on the bus route, but now with the new bus plans and all, its too hard to get to. So I shop Minimal, as its right accross the street from the office, and they have lots of cashiers on staff, so its never a long wait like you get at Aldi, Penny, and Plus. Time is money!

yeah, you have to shop where it is convenient.

where i used to live in freimann, i always shopped at plus cause it was a five minute walk, but it was HORRIBLE cause they only had one cashier, so I tried NEVER to go on Saturday's. also veg selection was small and sucked mostly. my bf had Lidl and hl-markt close by so i often picked up little things at his place when i knew i would head home.
but where i live now, tengelman is right at the U-Bahn stop, however i still have to walk 12 min. home so i opt to wait til i get home, hop in the car and drive to lidl. i feel so american!

oh wait, i am

Sorry, but you have some serious errors in there.

The Aldi ad Lidl no-name gin is not the same as the Tengelmann "no-name" Finsbury, which is making a name for itself. It's actually drinkable when used as a mixer. Apples and oranges.

But there's a bigger mistake in the pricing: Columns 1 & 3 are the same price but you converted 0.7l=1.0l in column 3, so on the cheap-ass crap gin even I won't touch, Columns 1 & 3 are the same, but the stuff in column 2 is a completely different product and actually NOT a no-name.

If you want a better comparison, try the cheap-ass no-name vodkas, which Tenglemann does carry. They all charge 4.99 for the stuff. It's the horrid shit that's distilled out in the multiple distillations when they make the good stuff. It's full of fusel oils, tastes awful, and even adding a strong-flavoured mixer won't hide the taste.

Hope this helps,

woof.

Aha, yes, spotted the typo. Can't be bothered to upload a new graphic, but will correct on my Excel sheet. Thanks for noticing.

I simply picked gin as that's what caught my eye and it was originally meant for a comparison with British prices, so I figured gin was a more likely choice to be easily found.

As for the cheap vodka, run it through a Britta filter a few times, apparently that improves it somewhat.

Actually, it doesn't. That link from Slashdot a couple months ago left me thinking, "WTF?". Activated and even reverse osmosis filters won't pull out fusel oil.

I also tested it myelf, running 5 bottles (3.5 litres) through a fresh filter 12 times and saving samples from each of the even-numbered runs. Unlike the guys who wrote that page saying it works, I didn't do any drinking until all the filtering was done. The stuff after the 12th filtering was as bad as the unfiltered. No change.

Once you start getting buzzed you don't notice it as much, so it became mixer for later drinks. Couldn't even use it for cooking (penne alla vodka, for example).

Vodka is a better comparison because it's simply grain-neutral alcohol and water. The quality comes from the water used to cut the alcohol and the distillation methods.

Gin is an entirely different animal, and the spices used vary tremendously. While all are based in juniper flavour, the other spices and the methods of making it differ so greatly that anyone can tell the difference between cheap-ass hooch, Gordon's, Boodle's and Bombay. And Hendrick's is in a class all of its own.

If you're wondering whether I'm just taking the piss with my uncharacteristic helpfulness and suggestions, don't. I'm in a surprisingly not-bad mood today. Not sure why...

woof.

Forgetting foodstuffs, Aldi and Lidl washing powders, detergents, cleaning fluids, dishwasher powders, water softeners, etc., come top of the quality scale (from a functional point of view) in most consumer magazines (e.g. "Stiftung Warentest") and are an order of magnitude cheaper than their major-name equivalents. This no longer a few cents saving on a shopping outing, but adds up to 10's of Euros... (or as I see it, a free night out...)

And IMHO Aldi "Choceur" chocolate cream biscuit (blue and cream wrapper) is the best choccie biscuit I know, and at €1.19 for 7 the cheapest I've ever seen in current times...

YL6

Dandelion leaves

No. They're not even in the same family. They're similar in flavour but that's about it.

Dandelion (Taraxicum officinale) is a long, sawtooth leaf with a thick centre vein and relatively little flat leafy portion. It's relatively bitter (the larger the leaf, the more bitter it'll be).

Rucola (Diplotaxis spp.) is also known as arugula, (garden) rocket(t), roquette, rugula and some other names. The leaves are shorter, have a thinner vein, and are much more leafy and round. The taste is quite peppery.

woof.

I stand corrected

That's enough similarity for me...

I shoulda qualified that.

When I wrote "similar" I meant "can be substituted in a mixed green salad". Dandelion doesn't really lend itself to cooking while arugula is often cooked with pasta and can also be used to make a very nice pesto.

woof.

Somewhat off topic, there's quite a nice overview of salad leaves here

I probably show my lack of Gin drinking experience here (drinking mainly Tanqueray and Bombay by choice), but haven't tried Hendrik's. Is it good, and where can I get a bottle in Munich to try?

Thanks for the description. Actually, the "roquette" reference was really all I needed. Just never heard that other name.

Yorkshire Lad 6, I did compare non-food items. However, as I orginally planned it with a British comparison in mind, I used brand names whenever possible. As it is, a difference of 9.15 for just fruits and vegetables is pretty huge already.

Bad Doggie, someone pointed out to me that if you buy the rest of your stuff at the cheap place, you will have saved enough to afford your medium to top line vodka or gin.

And as answer to the shops used, they are Plus, Tengelmann and Lidl, in that order.

<And as answer to the shops used, they are Plus, Tengelmann and Lidl, in that order.>

Really, I thought Plus was one of the cheaper ones? There is one very close to me and I thought it was cheap..well, at least the interior and the quality of veggies and fruits would suggest this...hmm, I guess I should pay more attention.
On the other hand they are building a new Lidl , right at the corner from me ...so , can't wait for that.

Thanks for taking time to do the comparison/post about it.

I dread to think how the Hertie foodstore would rate on this!
I've shopped there a couple of times recently as it's on the way home and has a mood-boosting atmosphere

But my God, is that place pricey! I agree with you guys though, i do my basic shop at Aldi or Plus, get non-food stuff from Schlecker and DM, then buy a couple of nice treats for the weekend without having to look at the price tag