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MONEY

EXPLAINED: 10 ways to save money on your groceries in Germany

With inflation at a high level, consumers in Germany have been feeling the pinch, particularly in the supermarket. Here are some simple tips on how you can save money on your grocery shopping.

Published: 14 November 2022 17:13 CET
Updated: 13 January 2023 08:56 CET
Money is handed over a fruit and vegetable counter at a weekly market in the Schöneberg district of Berlin.
Money is handed over a fruit and vegetable counter at a weekly market in the Schöneberg district of Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

1. Buy seasonal products

Fruit and vegetables are less expensive when they are in season in Germany, as they don’t have to be kept in cold storage which – thanks to high energy prices – incurs high costs which are passed onto the customer. So going for produce that is naturally abundant at the time of year can really pay off. 

At the moment, vegetables such as kale, squashes, leaks and cabbages are currently in season, but you can refer to an online Saisonkalendar (season calendar), such as this one, to keep an eye on which fruits and veggies are in season at different times of the year.

READ ALSO: German economy weathering hard winter but risks loom

Regional organic vegetables on sale in Brandenburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Bernd Settnik

2. Go easy on butter 

The price of butter in Germany has increased by over 40 percent in the last year – in some cases, a 250-gram packet of butter now costs €3. 

READ ALSO: Energy crisis: Which everyday German products are increasing the most in price?

As a substitute for butter in cooking, go for vegetable oils such as olive oil, linseed or soybean oil or certain types of margarine and, for spreadable treats, consider alternatives such as quark or cheese spreads. 

3. Have a meal plan and a shopping list

One golden rule for saving money in the supermarket – wherever you live – is to plan your meals and write down the ingredients in a list. Having a shopping list often helps avoid expensive spontaneous purchases and helps you to really only buy the things you will definitely use.

A woman writes a shopping list. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

4. Buy less meat

The prices of meat products, such as sausages and fish have also risen by 19.3 percent since last October. As a result, German consumer advocate groups advise shoppers to replace some of their meat products with plant-based foods, pulses or legumes instead, such as lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, and soybeans.

READ ALSO: Thousands protest in Berlin over price rises

5. Visit markets

Consumer advice groups also advise shoppers in Germany to visit their local fruit and vegetable markets, as fresh produce can often go for a lot cheaper than in the supermarkets.

6. Compare prices by weight

Another good tip for buying groceries on the cheap is to compare prices by weight, not simply by the retail price on display. In addition to the retail price, you will usually see how much 100 grams of each product costs and you should use this number as a basis for comparison.

A customer stands at the scales for fruit and vegetables in the Eisenstein village store in Bavaria. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Armin Weigel

For example, if you want to buy Parmesan cheese and there are two different varieties marked at €4 and €6, the €4 package may seem cheaper. But if you then look at the price by weight, you may find that the €6 Parmesan comes to €1 per 100 grams, while the €4 package comes to €2 per 100 grams.

7. Use apps to find deals 

The price for the same product can sometimes vary greatly between supermarkets in Germany, so it can pay to shop around.

But, if you don’t have time to go from store to store hunting down the cheapest products, there are several apps – including Smhaggle, Marktguru and KaufDA – available which you can use to find and compare deals in local supermarkets. 

Another great app for those looking to make serious savings on their foodstuffs is Too Good to Go – an app which connects people to local restaurants, bakeries and food shops which are looking to get rid of surplus food. 

8. Get an advantage card

With an advantage card such as the Payback Card or DeutschlandCard, you can collect points every time you shop in a variety of stores, and then ultimately transform these points into monetary discounts. 

A customer uses their Payback app at the supermarket checkout. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/PAYBACK GmbH | PAYBACK GmbH

These cards are free to get and just require registration. Using them regularly, along with extra point-collecting coupons, can amount to quite a savings. 

9. Check out the bottom shelf

The bottom shelves in German supermarkets are often where you will find the most economically-priced products, including the supermarkets’ own-brand products. If you reach for the private labels “Rewe”, “Ja”, “Gut & Günstig”, “Edeka”, “Penny”, “Grandessa” or “Maribel”, you can get almost the identical product as the branded variety for half the price. 

10. Shopping just before closing time

If you shop just before closing time, you can often find great deals in German supermarkets – especially at the vegetable, fruit, meat and yoghurt counters. 

READ ALSO: KEY POINTS: Germany’s inflation relief measures to support people in cost of living crisis

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For members

HEALTH

How much more residents in Germany might have to pay for health insurance

People in Germany saw an increase in health insurance costs at the start of the year. It's now expected that they will be hiked up again next year.

Published: 20 June 2024 13:49 CEST
How much more residents in Germany might have to pay for health insurance

Health insurance organisations are warning that costs will be hiked up again soon due to concerns over funding. 

Doris Pfeiffer, CEO of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), told Germany’s Tagesschau that insurance funds are expecting a billion-euro deficit.

She said it was a tough year “because we don’t have particularly good prospects”.

For people paying statutory health insurance, things could become more expensive next year. Around 90 percent of people in Germany are covered by statutory health insurance.

The contribution rate is fixed by law and stands at 14.6 percent. The additional contribution that the health insurance funds set for their members was raised to 1.7 at the start of this year. 

The latest increase gave statutory insurance funds the ability to charge up to 1.7 percent on top of the standard 14.6 precent contrinution, though not all insurance funds chose to do so.

The costs are split between the employer and employee, so workers in Germany would pay half of any increase. 

READ ALSO: Reader question: How can I change my German health insurance provider?

How much could additional costs rise next year?

Due to the funding issues, health insurers expect an increase of up to 0.6 percentage points to the additional contribution threshold. What this would mean for the insured depends on a few variables such as their income and their insurer.

Someone earning €2,000 gross per month, for example, would have to pay €6 extra per month if their insurer opted to increase additional contributions by this amount. Meanwhile, a gross income of €4,000 would mean €12 extra per month. The employer’s share would be added to this. 

health insurance cards

Many health insurance cards in Germany double as a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), meaning that they can be used across Europe. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jens Kalaene

“That may not sound like much at first glance,” said Pfeiffer. “But there are people who earn very little for whom this is a lot – supermarket cashiers, lorry drivers.”

It comes following a rise in fees at the start of the year. From the start of 2024, additional contributions for statutory health insurance rose by around 0.1 percent in Germany.

Why are costs increasing?

The German healthcare system is one of the most expensive in the world.

As German society ages more, costs continue to rise – and the Covid pandemic didn’t help matters. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds estimates that this year alone it will cost around €314 billion to provide care for everyone who is insured. 

The money is mainly spent on hospitalisation costs and medical treatment.

READ ALSO: Why long-term care insurance fees are likely to rise in Germany next year

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has so far not presented any concrete proposals on how he intends to relieve the burden on health insurance funds in future.

Instead, the system is likely to face further expenditure. Lauterbach’s hospital reform is expected to drive up costs, while proposals to pay GPs more in order to combat the shortage of doctors would also push up expenses. 

READ ALSO: German ministers greenlight plan to improve healthcare at GPs

Pfeiffer called for a plan to tackle the rising costs.

“We now finally need an approach that puts this healthcare system on a new footing,” she said.

In the coalition government’s initial agreement back in 2021, the parties vowed to support health insurance funds with more tax revenue.

But as difficult budget negotiations take place, it doesn’t look like this will happen. 

This is causing friction among the coalition made up of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP). 

Green budget politician Paula Piechotta, for instance, is unhappy about this.

The opposition CDU/CSU also taken the opportunity to swipe at the government.

“This is not acceptable,” said CDU health politician Sepp Müller. “The tense situation in the social security system cannot continue to be ignored.”

However, it should be noted that there was no plan to help provide more money to statutory health insurance under the previous Health Ministry headed by the CDU’s Jens Spahn. 

When the SPD’s Lauterbach took over in 2021, there was already a funding gap of billions of euros. 

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