Grocery shopping; Danish cultur part 1 of ??

[sorry this post is picture free, but y'all know what a store looks like, right?]

Everybody has to eat, right? And since eating out is expensive (and more so in Denmark), that means going to the grocery store. I have a thing about grocery stores, and especially when I travel, I like to find them and buy, you know, food and eat that way. It does save money.

But the store and goods are all in Danish. What does one buy? Well as a species we are fortunate to have eyes, and experience. If we did not have these, then shopping by item name would be an adventure. And for those things in opaque packaging, it still is. Fortunately, with the exception of raw ingredients for Mexican food, we have not gone without anything.

What was hard - flour. White flour is easy but whole wheat? Forget it. What they call whole wheat is cracked wheat berries. Anybody have a mill?Now, if you are lactose intolerant, you are in luck. Alternate grains like Spelt are everywhere, and it is here I go next. Also hard - cheese called Cheddar. I am ok with that but the kids have had to adjust. On the whole this is a good thing.

What is avoided: crazy spreadable food substances that live in the cold case next to the cheese. Snack food.

The rest is normal. The other bonus is the year-round farmer's market on Weds and Saturdays. These are

I think I have visited every major grocery store / supermarket chain in this country. The stores pretty much divide into two categories: Discount stores and Supermarkets. There are a couple of pure grocery stores but they are not omnipresent like the others. And of course there is the market in the middle of town on Weds and Sat.

Grocery Stores: Primary offender is Spar, with Lidl being almost a pure grocery store. Spar is a bit of a "gourmet" option although it is nothing like Whole Foods. There is not one near here. next...

Lidl is a German chain, and again, there is not one close. It has a very "other" feel from the standard Danish store. There is some product overlap.

Supermarkets: These are basically like Walmart supercenters (though not nearly as big). They carry everything, and are not cheap like Walmart. They do have a better product selection than other places though, and even have Peanut Butter. They are also a good source for beer (ie they have something other than Tuborg and Carlsberg) and a lot of different types of flour. The names are Kvickly, Super Brugsen, Bilka, and Fotex.

Kvickly seems to be everywhere and is like a nightmare to us. For the first week we were here we eanded up at a Kvickly every single day. Groundhog day in the worst way.

Bilka is as close to Walmart as yer gonna get. It is huge, and unlike Kvickly not very common.

Super Brugsen is mostly groceries, though it has a fair amount of other. Fairly common, and yes there is one within striking distance.

Fotex is the upper crust version of one of these things which means the stuff you want to buy is the same stuff but it costs more. They do have important things like Chile Powder.

Discount stores: These are where the real work gets done. Main chains are Fakta, Rema 1000, and Netto. Our street has one of each, and they are virtually identical but different. The product lines they carry vary considerably depending on what they can get cheaply. These places are where the Danes shop. I shop indiscriminately at all of them.

Finally we have the Bazaar and the markets. For fresh fruit and veg every day but Monday, the Bazaar is a good bet. It also has specialty stores like a mid-eastern grocery, an asian grocery, and an Italian deli. Helpful. The market is only twice a week and if possible I go there for produce. Farm fresh is the way. There is also a good cheese booth there.