Why Grocery Shopping is Better in Amsterdam
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
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When it comes to differences between life in North America versus life in the Netherlands, grocery shopping might just be the biggest thing.
In this video I discuss the differences between the fresh-food approach taken in the Netherlands compared to the bulk shopping car-centric approach of North America. For our family, it's not even a question: we think the Dutch approach is far superior.
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The CBC Radio article about food waste is available online here: www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/t...
When I lived in Philadelphia, I got rid of my car. My boss lived in the suburbs and was utterly confused about how it was possible to live without a car. I told him it was only a mile to walk to work. "What do you do when it rains?" "I wear a raincoat." "How do you buy groceries?" "I walk to the grocery store." This went on for a while. Eventually, I asked him, "Did any of your ancestors live in an American city before World War II?" He confirmed that they did, so I said, "For the most part, I do what they did."
My favorite new term of the last couple of years: generational amnesia. Few are capable of comprehending how life took place before their own life experience. And if you dare to resume it you are met with bewilderment.
@@remlya and they want to START life with nine bathrooms and seven bedrooms!!
@@remlya We're being brainwashed.
@@clobberelladoesntreadcomme9920 yes
To make it worse, as somebody who used to live there and do just that, it's *easier* to live car free in Philly than in like 99% of the country!
Something you should have mentioned is that with smaller shops, a lot of them are run by local citizens, so the money doesnt go to some corporate scum but to the people you live and interact with daily.
The four biggest supermarket corporations are:
Albert Heijn
Jumbo
Plus
Weet ik veel Hoogvliet ofzo
Edit: klote, Lidl natuurlijk
@Hamza Bozos deen is toch alleen in Noord Holland
Corporate Scum: ARrest that man, he's going to topple down our unstoppable empire.
*armed goons enter the office*
As a Belgian, this makes me think about Dutchies sucking our money with all their Actions, Albert Heijns and whatnot.. Ironically, the succes of these stores that 'suck' the money to the Netherlands is because of how much cheaper they are lol.
Operators are NOT necessarily owners, but we couldn't expect a worker bee like you to understand something like that
Damn when you showed America's supermarkets I suddenly got really depressed...
Why? The American ones are big because most everyone there has a car. Compare that to a US city store which is smaller, rarer and more comparable to Amsterdam.
@@SiXiam the supermarket looks like a warehouse/construction shop
@@simianto9957 Costco is advertised as a food warehouse, same as Sam's club. Aldi's is like that also on a smaller scale, which really means they move pallets of food instead of stocking shelves. Most food stores in the US are normal stocked shelves, even Walmart is mostly like that.
Those aren't regular supermarkets. They're warehouse stores, where food is sold in bulk. Regular grocery stores and supermarkets look very similar to the one he shopped at, just more spacious.
@@simianto9957 it because it is a warehouse because it Costco
I live in Houston, TX (one of the most car-centric cities in the world), but coincidentally moved into an apartment with parking attached to a very nice grocery store next-door. Being able to walk over to the grocer in minutes for whatever specific need I have on the day I want it has been one of the most significant convenience upgrades to my life.
I realize now how much I truly hate how inconvenient and wasteful it is trying to sort out a shopping trip to account for a week+ of time, or just having to get in a car to acquire groceries in general. I'm actually dreading the day where I move somewhere that no longer has this availability.
Many Americans enjoy proper urban living if they get to experience it.
I would love it. There's not much I dread more in my week than the weekly trip to the store (and following return trips, because you forgot something on your list).
For a while I had a store that was about a 10 minute walk away, no crossing busy streets or anything, and it was great. I could just run and grab something really quickly without it being a pain. If it's winter and there's tons of snow...no need to dig my car out. Just throw on some boots and walk over to the store real quick.
Wait... You want to tell me that you've been living all your life with predetermined menu for the whole week??? I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you are better now.
@@valacarno Haha, it's not too bad. I enjoy cooking, and it's often cheaper to go for the "week meal" for lunch/dinner, so it's not the worst thing in the world.
That said, I would much prefer just going to the store for a few dinner/lunch items for the next day or two than having to think of what will sound good by Day 5.
It's also nice to just get whatever you need for a specific recjpe if you suddenly feel like it or you forgot on the main trip. My grocers is 2 min walk away. Out of sauce? Takes me longer to have a shit than get that sauce.
As a Slovenian, The American grocery stores give me anxiety. It looks like warehouses just filled with people.
Because they are sort of warehouses filled with people
Someone else mentioned it in another reply, but the "American grocery store" he chose is Costco. They (and Sam's and BJ's) are "warehouse clubs" set up with the specific idea of being a place to buy in bulk with no frills. So like an Aldi where you buy 3x as much at a time, and slightly less depressing. Regular American stores are like the one he showed that had the handheld scanner, probably just a but larger and (as he mentioned) behind an ocean of parking spaces since they're typically more than a couple minutes' walk from anybody's house.
Get some real education and stop watching TH-cam, US markets are all kinds
Those aren’t normal American grocery stores, they are the stores you go to when you want to buy stuff in bulk.
I am lucke to have a party sotre near where I live but even then they don't sell gories they just sell snack, Drinks
american supermarkets looks like a tool warehouse
@Thor Swenson Every grocery store I went to during a road trip through Nevada, California and Oregon looked like a warehouse execpt for one off-brand store in a small town that resembled a Dutch supermarket. But stores like Target and Walmart were all enormous.
@Thor Swenson ah ok ^^
@@swateen Whole Foods is more or less like an Albert Heijn.
Oke lol dat wist ik niett
@@hubertdworczynski8989 Exactly!
I have never thought that there is a correlation between food waste and bulk grocery shopping and how grocery store near your house is actually preventing food waste. This is mind blowing and I would like to do this research in my country too. Tq for the enlightenment
He is not joking. I live in Canada and my wife shops at these places. Yes, you do get a good bargain on fresh food but the size you have to buy it at means you are either throwing out half of it (so not such a good price in the end) or you are eating nothing but that particular thing for the entire week!
If you do it smart, then buying fresh for up to 3 weeks in Germany is not that difficult. We bought a bike trailer for shopping as we don't own a car and regularly buy for 1 up to 2 weeks for 2 people. I lost 1 zucchini and 2 bell peppers in the last year due to mold. My tip is avoiding food wraped in plastic and go to a farmers market or similar options. The plastik traps moisture. I do regret that we use a second fridge for storage but the built in mini fridge in the kitchen won't hold 2 weeks of fresh goods.
yes if you buy the fresh stuff unless you are running a restaurant and you have coolers your food will spoil pretty quick. I always had to make sure i put the Oranges I would buy there in the refrigerator right away or with in two days the damn things start to rot.
I've been cooking and living with my brother for almost two years now. Every, single, time I have to throw out food, it's something I bought more than I need, or my grandma sent me for some reason.
If I need 2 red peppers for my stir-fry, I will buy exactly two peppers. Otherwise, a third one would likely be wasted. This of course doesn't really apply for stuff like flour, I usually keep the pantry well stocked with stuff that's shelf stable.
Fuck this reminded me of something that happened when I was like 14. I stayed with my grandma for a month or so, I am mexican so while we do have supermarkets they arent plus sized like in America so bulk shopping isnt *as* common, meanwhile my grandma lives by the border and its her daughters living in America that do her shopping most of the time so they do have the bulk shopping mentality.
Well, they bought everything for her in bulk, even little stuff like granola bars and cookies that my grandma just felt like having alittle of that day, she'd go "could you get me some x cookies?" and they would bring back an entire box of em, grandma would eat half a packet and then not bother with the rest, cuz, ya know, shes old.
So here is my 14 yo self alone at her house feeling hangry, I look into the pantry and theres so many cookies! I take a box out and.. expired. I take out another and... expired. And another. And another. She had like 6 boxes of granola bars, cookies, and candies. All expired, all half or almost completely full.
In complete disbelief, I just go "fuck, if thats how the candy is then what about everything else?" so I kept going, pantry after pantry I checked every single can, box, and packet. I swear. Every single fucken thing was expired. I cleaned out EVERYTHING. She had more expired food in her kitchen than fresh (or at least safe to eat) food. When I was done there was a mountain of expired food in the dining table and straight up empty cabinets in the kitchen. Ridiculous.
And that was because shes old and cant clean her kitchen anymore, I do not doubt for a moment that the rest of the family wastes just as much food except they dont see it because they do throw it away as soon as its expired rather than hoarding it like poor grandma did.
Finding yours and Adam Something's channels has been a fascinating journey. Even though I live what could be almost called a third world country (Serbia), I've been taking for granted thing's I could've never thought of.
My shopping routine is basically this: buy food that spoils for at most the next 3 days, and replenish shelf stable foodstuffs (like flour, pasta, sugar, canned stuff if I need it). I rarely have stuff in my fridge, since I only buy what we'll need. And grocery shop is either the one built into our building (I pop on my flip flops and go down there in my PJ's to pick up some tuna or sour cream) or to the store that's 200 meters away where there is a bakery, a butchers and a produce section, and after at most an hour of shopping, I'm back home with several bags of groceries. We even have several markets in the city, where you can buy anything from produce to cheap clothes or other stuff that was acquired in questionable manner in Western Europe.
Same for a walkable city and public transport. As much as we Serbs bitch about our city buses, they're still leagues above North American public transport. Almost every street has it's bus stop or a bus stop very close by. I can walk to the city center in 30 minutes if I take my time, and almost all streets have a bike lane (though some have seen better days) where I can rollerblade to my college.
Honestly, this has been quite a life changing experience to say the least. While we can definitely improve what we have here, I'm certainly going to take these things for granted a bit less now.
This has been the exact same thing for me, except a bit later than you.
I live in Hungary, and basically all of this applies.
I am guessing you're likely talking about Novi Sad rather than Belgrade. Am I right?
NS is flat, convenient, with a lot of bike lanes and tree shade.
BG is a cramped uphill-downhill naked concrete frying pan.
...but even so, YEAH, I can confirm everything you said about the convenience of living, shopping, and public transit there.
These comment sections have become nothing other then Dutch people patting them selfs on the back.
Yes, we are proud of our country!
yeah its just what we do
Nah i was on a trip in The Netherlands its kinda boring tho. Glad to be back to the unprotected streets
@@JamonSahar dont get shot
Because we can and because its true that we are just better in this kinda stuff.
As someone that lives in The Netherlands, this series makes me appreciate things I always took for granted xdd
OH head to an a amrcian name brand store on black friday and you will Have a "fun time"
true, i am always like: wtf i thought this was normal everywhere
I don't live in the Netherlands but I feel the same way when watching this channel, or in general when watching channels that talk about the situation in the US, there are a lot of things which I couldn't have dreamt of that they were that bad there, such as healthcare, education, number of people living under landlords or in a mortgage debt, them not having paid time off etc. and these are just the things that aren't mentioned on this channel.
Exactly remember everywhere has it better than the u.s we just won’t admit it we’re in deep denial
@@Lislio He does say in the video shops at walkable distance are pretty common everywhere (except the US and Canada). Here in Buenos Aires I always walk to buy groceries, not as fancy as in Amsterdam but hey
Going to AH and getting a half loaf of bread kinda blew my American mind. Being able to easily shop for one person while studying abroad was sooo nice.
Wow, this is very interesting and eye opening for me. I'm a sustainability consultant, who often consult and advocate the effectiveness, benefits, and sustainability of public transit and pedestrian oriented development.
However, even I often considered grocery shopping as an exception, where car is the preferable choice. I knew these types of cities with easily accessible grocery stores exists, yet it never occurred to me how it works.
Thanks a lot for the very informative and interesting video!!!
As an American I learned real quickly when my company posted me in Hong Kong that what I thought was normal was quite ABnormal in most of the world. The refrigerator there was half the size I was accustomed to and when I asked, I was told there was no need for big fridges because everyone went to the market 3 to 4 times a week to buy fresh stuff...
If you have a dutch style cargo bike you can go a little bit further and buy more food, but still avoid using a car. That's what I do in New Zealand, where my nearest supermarket is 2.2km away.
@@jbrizz99 Similar thing for me here in Australia. However I am lucky where I am that I can get to the nearest store by sticking to streets and dedicated bike paths. Most places in Australia you would need to brave a stroad to get to one.
The habit of buying groceries once every 2 days or every day is something the shops like aswell. You're more compelled to buy impulse items, so you end up spending more on a weekly/monthly basis.
Also the idea of grocery staff bagging my items sounds so weird and uncomfortable to me as a dutch person.
Wait you like the fact that you need to do more work yourself and also spend more money in the process?
teamfortresswiki yes.
@@tfwmemedumpster More work yourself? What work is that exactly? Putting an item in a bag? I can deal with that don't worry. We don't need handicapped carts to haul our fat asses along the isles
@@tfwmemedumpster As a dutchtie that's like the most normal thing here. If you ask for someone to do it for you, then everyone will laugh at you.
I just came back to The Netherlands after living overseas for 3 years. I don't like that I have to bag my own groceries again, even though I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself... 😂 I'm lazy
Going grocery shopping was never something I enjoyed back in the States, but now that I live in the Netherlands, it's one of my favorite things!
@StriderCX 2nd You do you, we do us. If we meet we'll try to be nice and decide. Everything that doesn't impact us is fine. Everything that does impact us is negotiable and should be vice versa. That's about how the typical Dutch person thinks. But come over and check it out. :)
@StriderCX 2nd As someone who has Dutch colleagues and spent some time in the Netherlands, they are really nice folks. Very straightforward, helpful, hardworking and a lot more open minded compared to Americans. This is just my experience though, I've had my European friends from places like Czech Republic and Hungary as well complain about this as well. The Dutch won't generally show off, one of my colleagues who was friends with the President of TU Delft would mention that the President of Delft would bicycle to college. To put into perspective imagine the Dean of Harvard bicycling to campus.
The one downside is the weather is quite grey even sometime during July and I personally don't like it. :D The fish and cheese however is really fresh and good. Also, you can get Belgian chocolates at affordable rates and great quality beer.
Im dutch and I hate grocery shopping.
@@ronnieraven9010 maybe you like doing it in the US
@@kehbab Lazy people don't like grocery shopping, period! ;)
Living in rural US, it's such a joy seeing your videos. It's definitely helped me figure out that car-centrism is both the reason I would never want to live in a US city and what I don't like about living outside of a town.
So it’s making you relize you hate living in the u.s
Having moved to Italy recently as part of year long study abroad. This has been a adjustment to shopping daily and still adjusting to it. But am coming to like it. It's nice to do a little shopping at a time and get some other errands in the process done as well. Like going to the hardware store, the drugstore, and grocery store all within a half mile walk of my apartment is nice and that i don't need to schelp multiple bags when I can just carry it all in one or two reuseable grocery tote bags.. This makes me feel more productive than back home in the US where I'd need to hop skip and jump across the city and metro area to get all said errands done. Then come home feeling exhausted for how much time it took to get all done.
Awesome! Everything can be done by bicycle! ESPECIALLY grocery shopping! Keep spreading the gospel!
Why would you need a bike when you can walk on water?
@@kali888 because water is not everywhere like roads are.
@@larsdikwijls5388 have you seen the Netherlands? They have lots of canals
@@sovietbot6708 i'm Dutch. Yes I have.
@@larsdikwijls5388 i should've known. Still, you have lots of water.
"why grocery shopping in Amsterdam is better"
The rest of the Netherlands: am I a joke to you?
It used to say "Netherlands" but people got all upset that I mentioned Amsterdam first (even though I also show clips from Haarlem and Veenendaal). So I changed it to "Amsterdam" and enjoy trolling people.
Not all of Netherland is like this, though. Plenty of towns do have a few larger (though not Costco or Hypermarché-sized) supermarkets in shopping malls surrounded by parking lots (though not American sized parking lots).
@@eendjesman9723 more like 16.3m
😂
@@NotJustBikes You enjoy trolling people ? You must be well integrated in our small country !
That hand held scanner is honestly genius. Now I'm realizing how over-engineered that Amazon Go shop is.
You could have filmed this video in almost every city in Europe. I live in France, near Paris, and very often, when I return from my job, on my bike, I stop to do some shopping in grocery shops. Just enough to fit in my backpack. I love your videos, and your description of North American cities is frightening.
Why am I watching this when I’ve lived in the Netherlands since I was born 😂
Don't ask me, but you're in good company! 48% of my viewers are from the Netherlands! This was supposed to be a channel telling other people what the streets are like in the Netherlands, but it's all Dutch people instead! 😁
@@NotJustBikes we like to pretend that we're not patriotic but actually we monitor closely what foreigners say about us 😜. JK, I think it has more to do with just an interest how people perceive this country. The Netherlands as you might know is quite international and our education tells us to look beyond our borders (which is also why we learn 4/5 languages in highschool). Therefore, another way of learning the differences between us and others is to look at what others say about us. ☺️ Your videos are very well made by the way! Very practical info
Heb ik dus ook last van 😂
The Dutch love to talk about how great their country and culture is and get off on hearing the praise from others. On the other hand to also enjoy complaining about everything they think can be improved. But never talk bad about them!
Comment sections on videos like this are typically nothing but a giant dutch circle jerk.
I love how the cut at 1:10 makes it look like you pull up, lock your bike, and then pull some bags out of some random cargo bike's bags next to you
There's a lot to be said for having a nice grocery store within walking distance of your home. The locations of many Trader Joes stores in the US are perfect examples of this kind of convenience...and they are always wildly busy...
I loved shopping for groceries in Japan. Besides neighborhood stores, most train stations have markets and specialty food stores close by, so on the way home from work it was easy to pick up something for dinner. Larger shopping trips might require a taxi ride home as we lived one mile from the nearest station, but otherwise we'd walk/bike the mile back.
The supermarkets have trollers that only fit 1-2 hand baskets . No massive trollies, no conveyor tills. All about those baskets, if you have your own basket, you give it at check out and your grocery is beautifully stashed inside.
As a spatial planner one of the things I remember most distinctly from uni was the concept of the 'urban food desert*'. Studying in the Netherlands, you can imagine it took us a while to wrap our heads around this concept.
*This refers to inner cities with a lot of high rise buildings, where it's very difficult to find fresh produce to cook yourself at home.
That’s strange. I’ve never heard of an “urban food desert” but I have heard of the latter.
Learned about Food Deserts from a video I would say 6 months to a year ago.
Not a neighborhood with high rises, but multiple neighborhoods of only houses and almost no business including food stores. Mainly will only be convenient stores with candy and alcohol and used tire and used car lots. Very depressing looking.
Ah so that's the term
@wolfchild In USA "food deserts" exist mainly in neighborhoods of old housing in inner cities. The small shops are now mostly closed, or used as tattoo or manicure parlors. It's a melanin-based system. It's intentional, and yeah, it sucks.
I live in a food desert. Within 5 minutes of me walking are 6-7 liquor stores but it would take me an hour to get to a grocery store, I hate it.
This must make life a lot easier for students who often have very little food storage space and no cars!
Yeah, for sure, but it makes it easier for everyone. We have two kids and it's so convenient to be able to run and buy anything you're out of in less than 10 minutes.
I am 36years old living in a South German City, I don't have a car, not much reason to own one. This city is very bike friendly and I can reach everything by foot, bike or bus and most of the time I don't even have to travel on the same roads than the cars. But unfortunately our culture is still very car centric as well, it is no way near as bad as in America but compared to the Netherlands we still are far behind. We have a lot of hills and people are lazy so they still prefer cars over bikes but recently with the boom of bikes that have an electric motor it is getting better and better. I think it is so strange that the US and Canada don't have convenient stores at every corner and it is even stranger that many places don't even have sidewalks. I assume it is because North American Cities are still very young and did not have time to grow naturally over hundreds of years like cities in Europe.
@@jonesjeremiah it's because they've been designed for cars with zoning regulations that don't allow for "organic" mixed land use. South German cities are high on my list should I emigrate from the UK.
@@armadillito We have the lowest unemployment rates in Germany but rent and property is incredibly expensive at the moment. Also there are too many Germans that are not good at English (I blame our entertainment industry that translates everything). If I were a foreigner I would probably rather go to the Netherlands instead of South Germany but maybe it is because I grew up here and I have a different view. That said finding work is probably easier in South Germany that is for sure.
@@jonesjeremiah with an engineering degree and enough German to start from I wouldn't be too worried. The Netherlands is a good bet, too, but I really like Western and Southern Germany.
I'm a hybrid shopper.
I buy long term staple and freeze foods in bulk once a month - frozen vegetables, beans, condiments, pita bread, long term soy/almond/coconut milk
Fresh salads, avocado and bananas in small amounts weekly.
I went to Amsterdam in 2018 while on deployment. It is now the gold standard for the city I want to live in. The culture, design, and efficiency present in that city were astounding! I love the bikes, and people there. I was dumbfounded how truly amazing it was seeing all of the bicycles and walking. Just those 2 things paired with the ability to do them pleasantly, was a very refreshing experience in my life and inversely similar to the situation not just notjustbikes chose to become a city designer, where his hatred for Houston made him want to have things better, it was the sheer bliss that being in Amsterdam for those 4 days made me want to become a city designer aswell. I've really been enjoying the content on this channel, and it has really shone some light on the issues with America. Consumerism has been engraved in the very roads we walk on here, you have to have a car. And all of the expenses that go along with one....
You do not need to take a handscanner entering the store e.g. in case of just a few items.
You can scan those directly at the self-checkout .
not all shops have em
@Morris Jonker Which isn't a problem when you just need a couple items, like he mentioned.
@Morris Jonker not everyone wants to drive on the highway
I do this as well. Shop almost every day in small quantities like discussed in the video.
I have my stuff in a basket, scan everything at the self-checkout and put it in my backpack.
An extra reason for doing this is that there's this creepy feeling of being watched every step of the way. Of course they already do that with your mobile phone if you have wi-fi and/or bluetooth on - but I'm not going to actively help them in that process. You have your Bonuskaart which unlocks one scanner. This is linked together to your customer "profile".
They know every thing that you buy, when you visit, the path you take in the store, and likely are aware how much internal conflict you're going through whether you need two packs of cookies, instead of one.
Maybe it's time for a tin-foil hat. Maybe privacy needs to be valued again, I dunno.
@Morris Jonker bespaart elke keer wel 5-10 minuten als je maar een paar dingen hebt. Ik maak vaak gebruik ervan en het bespaart me veel tijd (it saves you every time maybe around 5-10 minutes if you only have a couple of items. I've used it a lot of times and it saves me a lot of time in total.
That hand scanner that eliminates triple handling has just made me hate every shopping trip in my foreseeable future!
Phil Martin Some UK stores have an app so you can use your own device.
@@ianmoseley9910 Albert Heijn, where this video is filmed, has it too
More stores are getting them. In the US, walmart recently got an app that works the same way. Also, in the northeastern US, Stop & Shop has them.
@@momentomori1747 Stop&Shop actually has the same parent company as Albert Heijn (store pictured in video), Ahold Delhaize.
@@momentomori1747 apps are MUCH slower than a scanner
Dutch: shops 3x per week
British: shops 1x per week
Italians: shops 3x per day
Americans: shops 1x per month
Americans tend to shop closer to 3x per month in my experience.
That’s pretty accurate, 1x a week and 1x a month are pretty much what most people do.
how is it fun shopping all the time??
@@khlothostonney5760 You go in, see something fresh and looking gorgious and just buy it. You know, European people eat much more fresh produce than Americans. Fresh vegetables, fresh milk, fresh fruit etc. It is not annoying to shop on the way to work or on the way back, you hop in, buy your fruit etc and continue your way to work.
As an American I agree and disagree with us shopping once a month But then again its well over and hours drive to town but when i have days I have to run out to town I pick up other items as well. Fyi and hours drive is if i'm doing 80 mph.
As an American watching you go in and out of the store was absolutely breathtaking! It’s a whole ordeal here. The scan your item system and receipt system is ingenious! Truly every day I’m learning that I’m missing out on so much living in Texas.
There are a few stores here that have that system already.
As a Dutchie the American supermarkets gave me anxiety
Denn that’s not a typical American grocery store. When people (mostly restaurant and corner store owners) want to buy in bulk, this is where they go. Most places like this require membership
I was in the US last year and did not see huge supermarkets like the one in the video, the supermarkets were good. And there's even someone to help you bag the groceries (just too many plastic bags)
@@CherokeeMoor We also got those. Called Sligro. Those stores look about the same.
Net als de Makro
I spent 3 months in Gouda and when I returned back to the states i would get anxiety attacks every time I went to the Grocery store. They are unnecessarily big here.
Albert Heijn is always one of my first stops when I get to Amsterdam. Even before I get to the hotel. After a long flight from Toronto I'll stop by Albert before I check into the hotel. I'll have a nap and then enjoy what I picked up. A salad kit, bread and cheese and a bottle of wine. All for around 12 euros. I love Albert Heijn. There's a good one under Museumplein (the escalator's always broken). My Dutch friends think I'm nuts. I have a big blue Albert Heijn shopping bag and I often take it with me when I shop for groceries here in Toronto. I'm always hoping that some Dutch person in the street or driving by will see me with my bag and yell "Hey! Albert Heijn!" No one ever has.
I have my blue albert Heijn shopping bag here in S.L.P. México too. and believe me I have the same feeling.
@@mariadej.torresdelatorre1345 Comrade! A Mexican and a Canadian that love Albert Heijn. My Dutch friends think I'm crazy. We know better. ;-)
Your comment made my day, if I ever see a a Appie bag outside the Netherlands I will hi!
Spread the Albert Heijn love! May Harry Piekema be with you♥️
The dutchies don't interact with eachother outside of the netherlands 😂
Hahahaha this is so funny - I never forget the first day I arrived in Canada, I plopped my stuff in a small hotel room downtown and went shopping for groceries, looking forward to my first dinner as part of my new adventure. So I walked around all of downtown and - COULDN'T FIND A DECENT GROCERY STORE...!!! I finally ended up at a 7-11 or Mac's Milk and got some pepperonis and chips, and that was it...
Amsterdam actually makes shopping for groceries so much more enjoyable. Anytime I gotta go shopping in the US, I gotta get in my car, drive through a few lights, fight for parking, try not to get hit by other drivers looking for parking, grab a cart, go around the entire store just go get whatever I need, wait even longer in the lines, try not to get hit by drivers looking for parking, and drive all the way back home.
Yep, sounds horrific. I am so happy I live in Europe the more I know about how life in the US is like.
Costco looks like the place you collect your furniture at Ikea
Costco is not just groceries, to be fair it is a warehouse store but it has clothing, furniture, appliances, electronics, books, liquor, auto service, a gasoline station, office supplies, and even a small restaurant. It's more like a self-contained mall or a departments store without the deparments that also sells groceries. The most practical use for costco is to buy staples, OTC medicines and paper goods in bulk for a significant savings. I've looked through the produce section but it's not really any different from the produce at my local grocer's.
Because they're both warehouses...
@@KYoss68 how sovlless..
Its not just Amsterdam local groceries is throughout the whole country. ;)
Of course! That's why I included clips from Haarlem and Veenendaal! 😁
Weeeeelllll.... Until you get to some tiny village and you have to drive 10km to the nearest a bit larger village that does have a shop
@@karsnoordhuis4351 a tiny village never had a supermarket before. In our village ( 3000 people) there are 2 supermarkets ( LIdl and Jumbo) and in a larger village ( 13.000 ) at 10 km away, there are 5 supermarkets ( AH, Jumbo, Lidl, Aldi and Poisz).
@@NotJustBikes Haarlem (160K) and Veenendaal (66K) are smaller, but still fairly large cities. But even here in the north , a village of 3K has two supermarkets (Lidl and Jumbo) and 10 km away , a larger village of 13K has even 5 supermarkets.
@@karsnoordhuis4351how small do u mean like a 1000 poeple or less?
I am grateful to be living in an older Montreal neighborhood where we have dozens of options for food, basics, specialty, bakeries, butchers, you name it, 10 minutes on foot any direction.
I loved Montreal when I visited, I found it to be very walkable. We saw most of the city on foot, even though there were trains available we didn't need to take them
I feel like Amazon’s new store idea where they use AI to track what’s in your bag to eliminate the hassle of check out “simply walk out” is pointless when considering this type of shopping. Their system where you just bring the scanner with you is genius! Checkout is a non issue here. They’ve already solved it! So cool! We should start implementing this here in the states!
The problem with this Netherlands system is it expects that the consumers will be honest in scanning everything they will purchase. If a significant portion of the people start taking groceries without scanning them the shop will lose money.
The Amazon's system you describe would work better in places where it's expected that a few people will try to take stuff without paying.
@@eliezeretecap Dang, I didn’t think about that 🤔. I wonder if there are any measures to prevent against theft there, and/or if they are just more honest. I also wonder if there are any good and easy means of prevention with this type of system.
@@eliezeretecap how is that any different from the way stores work here? it doesnt matter if you scan it yourself or at a checkout, its just as easy to hide something if you're going to steal it
thats why walking through the doors with an unscanned item will set off an alarm, its probably the same there as well
@@bensonboys6609 there are random controls at the checkout machine. A member of staff will come over and check whether you scanned everything before you can pay.
@@eliezeretecap There is already a scanner at the exit door so if any unscanned item will rang the alarm so it is already kept in mind.
I love the way you point out all the things we Dutch folk don’t ever even ponder over. I’ve been to the US a dozen times for work, and rarely had to opportunity to leave the hotel in the evening or weekends, as there’s nothing walkable.
It obviously depends on the population density of the area you hotel is in.
@@STEVEID1946 you’re right Steve. Just my personal experience. I’m sure there are nice places wil lots of things to do. And it also depends on the activity you’re looking for I guess.
@@STEVEID1946 th
the reason why there are so many supermarkets close to eachother is because 1 supermarket was gaining a monopoly very fast buying up smaller supermarkets and so they put a law in place that in a certain radius there has to be 2 more supermarkets from a different company for you to open one yourself. Usually they are oposite of eachother
Reminds me in Singapore where there has been some concern about supermarket chains expanding into areas further from town centres, against which markets and our traditional _mamak_ (general stores that're often traditionally run by Indians) shops might have difficulty competing against (the former because they often are open only in the morning & the latter because they have less economies of scale & thus higher prices). This was especially after the supermarket company Sheng Siong (whose business also boomed during the pandemic to the extent that it gave it's employees a ~1 year bonus in 2020) proposed buying 10 wet markets to convert them into "air-conditioned markets" (though the general public probably saw that as a euphemism for 'supermarkets'). That company has been observed to be expanding rapidly into newer towns (that're less likely to have wet markets & the _mamak_ shops) though to be fair I think they can replicate the wet market experience better than other supermarkets e.g. even their smaller branches have open displays of seafood on a bed of ice, where shoppers can choose the exact fish/prawn etc. they want to buy, and pass them to the fishmonger on duty there for chopping/filleting etc. Other supermarket operators meanwhile may only let you choose from pre-packaged styrofoam boxes of seafood, except for their larger branches which're more likely to have the aforementioned open displays of seafood too
Here in Germany in the rural areas you often see a discounter next to a supermarket, you can buy your Basics at the discounter but if you need anything special too you go next door to the supermarket
That's kinda dumb.
@@gamingvault6027 It isnt. It is to make sure the country doesnt become one big wallmart. Nobody wants that lmao
@@anglerfish61 Ya but they also offer you stuff a lot lower then you can't get anywhere.
To be fair, living in Europe and having grown up here, you still very much have the more car focused grocery stores. Mostly you’ll find them only on small towns or “suburbs” but basically whenever the population density is too low to put 10 different grocery stores in the area, the grocery stores will just get larger and add a huge parking lot.
Most of the times you can still pretty much walk there easily and since they are still in living areas, they are still friendly for bikes and pedestrians, but you can clearly see the difference to the more urban supermarkets.
My mom for example lives literally 200m away from a grocery store, but in the suburbs and since the next grocery store after that is 1km away, she rather buys food once a week with her car and it feels very normal where she lives. On top of that the grocery store where she lives closes at 8pm.
I live in the city and I have 4 supermarkets that I can reach by food in less than a minute, plus a vegetable store, a market on Sundays, a bakery, the last store closes at 12 pm and another 10 supermarkets if I would walk just for 5 to 10 minutes longer.
Where I live there are no parking spots at any of the supermarkets but my city still has those when you just leave the center far enough.
I always felt like the rural Europe is basically like a more human friendly version of North America.
Most people only get around by car because things are too far away, you can still reach them by bike tho and everyone younger than 18 does, you mostly only have the occasional bus that for many situations is useless and only used by students and you have big parking lots in front of grocery stores and everything else to make driving easier.
Like things are way better than in the US, but I still feel like I need a car to completely enjoy the area whenever I’m at my parents.
European City life is the greatest tho and nothing can beat that in my opinion!
At least we in rural Europe get a choice. I can shop at my local grocery store 500m from my house that doesn´t have a very large selection and is more expensive but really convenient, or i could stop at the big box store once a week on my way home from work and get everything for a much better price. So i mostly shop at the big store, and only bike to the local grocery store whenever i need something in a hurry.
This kind of living is a dream in the US. I was able to live like this when I was in downtown arts district in L.A. but even then it was a bit of a hassle since the walk to and from the market was not pedestrian or bike friendly. Having to walk even a short distance on sun baked asphalt is not something to be desired.
Also some of the motorists here in L.A. are openly hostile to bicyclists. It was a big deal when one street in the San Fernando Valley had its bike lane protected by bollards so drivers don't swerve in to try to crush the bicyclists.
I was lucky enough to live with a Dutch friend for almost three months. I truly miss the ease of grocery shopping, especially for someone who relies on a wheelchair to get around.
@4Freedom4All My wheelchair is manual. I usually have a bookbag on the back of my chair to carry some of the items. Depending on the amount of groceries I get, I will put what I can in the bookbag, hang the reusable bags on the push handle bars (the bars on the back for someone else to push), and balance the rest on my lap. If I know I need to get more than my balancing act allows, I will make sure to bring a friend when I go.
As long as there aren't many inclines, rain/snow isn't much of a problem. Drying off my wheelchair when I get back is the big hassle. I make sure to put the stuff that needs to stay dry in my water proof book bag.
@4Freedom4All I have lived most of my life in the US. My time in the Netherlands was unfortunately short. Most of the Dutch people I stayed with had small refrigerators, and usually only kept groceries on had as needed. The grocery stores were so close that it was almost impractical to buy a week or month's worth at once. In the US, getting groceries once a month where I live is basically a necessity. While the stores are accessible, public transportation and things like sidewalks are lacking.
Since my disability keeps me from driving, in the US I am stuck relying on having my groceries delivered instead of getting it myself. In the Netherlands, even the few times I was caught in hevige regen I actually didn't mind. I could go out, get what I needed. The bicycle culture really was a boon, because the town I spent most of my time in had wide wheel friendly paths.
The only time I really got stuck was when I went to Escher Het Paleis, the effort was clearly made to make the the 18th century palace accessible but the elevator was so small my wheelchair (I was using my smallest chair that day) barely fit.
Overall, I truly felt more independent when I was in the Netherlands. I was able to travel to 15 different towns and cities using the public transportation (most of the time completely solo😎). Maybe I am wistful of the time I had over there because where I live currently I rarely get to go anywhere on my own. There's no public transportation in my town and the roads are downright perilous for pedestrians, so I have to rely on the gaps in my friends and family's schedules just to get to VA appointments and to do errands.
@4Freedom4All Paratransit is typically pretty shitty. Have to schedule well in advance.
Making lots of grocery trips is perfectly compatible with a large fridge. I grew up that way in Chicago. Full size fridge and basement chest freezer. No car.
Many cultures put a higher value on fresh food than the US does. Fresh fish, fresh-baked bread, fresh vegetables. Sure, we can buy bread for two weeks, but it's considered vastly inferior bread.
Most supermarkets in the Netherlands give their products away when the date has expired, but is fine to eat. They give it to the "voedselbank". The "voedselbank" is for people with a lower income or for people who cannot work for a reason. They give away meat, bread, fish, vegetarian products, shampoo, clothes, vegetables, fruits and more!
Do they? I thought they had to throw it out for safety purposes. That's what i was told by everyone i know who has worked in a store.
@@tess2082 you have different kinds. Sometimes you can't eat things healthy anymore. But most of the time it is an advise, there are volunteers at the voedselbank they will sort the foods that are good or not good anymore. They also have a bin with "on your own risk" with meat and fish. Sometimes the products are perfectly fine but a supermarket got too much products and don't have the place to store it.
@DontShaveMe yes I love the discounts!
@@Maevelittooij do you know which chains do this? None of the grocery stores i know do.
@@Maevelittooij yes there is literally an expiration day on table salt....the mineral that is probably hundreds of years old if not thousands if it comes from a saltmine....
I don’t like shopping, but huge supermarkets make me want to give up the will to live! Not just because walking is painful and I have so many allergies I can’t have most of it...
But the going up and down aisles, then realising I missed something or it’s been moved & I have to go back.
I see staff pushing those big trolleys for delivery orders and I pity them...my idea of a he’ll job. Even without pain I’d go crazy. Just the image of walking around the damn aisles for a whole shift🤦🏼♀️
What?? You literally get an awesome job beginner job stocking groceries. Way better than working in a fact food chain with cramped and hot conditions. Your username just adds to your nonsense.
Thank you for pointing me to this video! The USAmerican grocery experience is so incredibly stressful for me, and I think part of the reason is because it's such an ordeal. If I could just pop in for a quick ten minute trip to get food for the next couple of days, I probably wouldn't mind going that frequently, but spending ages winding up and down aisles to get food to last a couple of weeks is surprisingly exhausting mentally (even worse during a pandemic, and especially when so many shoppers aren't masked or are wearing their masks on their chins rather than over the mouth and nose)
And now we even have an app called ‘too good to go’ which lets you buy a ‘magic box’ containing foods that are due to expire that day for a low discount price to prevent even more food going to waste!
My local supermarket just labels these things 30% off
Wow the grocery stores in the US or Canada look like warehouses. I didn`t know...
I`m already complaining that, in smaller cities, the big stores are taking over the small shops. There are still specialized shops but a lot less than before... I might adjust my thought on that after seeing those big warehouse stores though :)
This isn’t at all what my local grocery store looks like. I’ve never shopped at a Costco’s in my life. I shop at a place called Apple Tree. It’s 70% produce.
Not really, they're not this big. That's a bulk store shown, if you've ever been to a Jumbo foodmarkt (big jumbo haha) they're about that size more or less.
Supermarkets in America look much like our big ones. Of course there are some supermarkets in the US, that sell about everything known to mankind. What I found weird in America, is that the price on the shelf is not the price you pay, for they leave out taxes. And I was amazed by the extremely high price of everything, especially fresh produce. Like bell peppers (paprika's) cost three times as much as here. In Europe it is cheaper to eat healthy meals. In the US it seems to be cheaper to eat unhealthy meals. No wonder the poor get so fat.
They aren't all like that. The deeper into the suburbs you go the bigger the stores. In the US I like cities and rural small towns, but the suburbs are the worst of everything, nothing to do and tons of traffic. But of course France has Carrefour hypermarkets, which are getting closer to our warehouse stores. Dear Europe, DO NOT follow the US model. Thank you!
@@gardenjoy5223 Display prices in the US are something we don't even really think about here, even though it's unique to us (and maybe Canada?). Sales tax (basically the same as VAT) is implemented at a state level, with counties and cities typically tacking on their own as well. Since the final price varies so wildly, it's impossible to say on the packaging what it'll be, since anything between 0% and 10% will be added to the price by taxes. We'd also feel taken advantage of if a store in a low-tax area upped its price (and thus profit) to match a high-tax area, so pre-tax is what gets shown, even though the store knows what it will ultimately charge. It also lets us calculate the tax on the whole purchase instead of per-item, which avoids compounded rounding errors. But I can see it being frustrating for a visitor who finds their mental math is several percent out when they get to the register.
small groceries stores also mean they have fewer regular customers and if you visit them frequently enough, you will become like a friend or acquaintance. It's nice to have small talks with the owner or the staff every time you go shopping instead of just standing awkwardly next to each other
I do the big, weekly grocery store trip because I don’t like crowds. A few years ago, I had to sit in the car for a few minutes just to collect myself enough to enter into a shop alone. It’s better now, but I still hate crowds so I go to the store as little as possible despite the fact that there is a shop which is a five minute walk from my house.
I couldn't do that, only eating fresh food for 3 days or so and only eating fresh bread once a week.
...what crowds? It's fairly common for our neighbourhood grocery store to only have 1-3 other people in it, besides the 1-2 staff. Now that's a few people, sure, but hardly a crowd.
I’m loving your videos, they give me a much more positive view of the city I live in. I’m dutch so it just seems normal the things we do and the way we do them, and complain about everything of course. Thanks for the fresh insights I’ll share your channel with my friends and family!
Shit me, these videos mostly just inform me of how utterly distopian North America is.
Welp welcome to reality
Or the reality
The hardest part about grocery shopping if you're not using a car is getting the groceries back to your house. Also I always feel like I'm going to get arrested if I walk into a Walmart carrying a backpack.
I actually have a trailer for my bike, google “Croozer Cargo”. I only use it a couple of times per year though. I cycle 3 minutes to the supermarket so usually I just carry a sturdy shopping bag. I refuse taking my car to the supermarket.
@Not Just Bikes Excellent video!
I think the thing missing here that I constantly hear from friends when discussing this topic is this:
Smaller, human scaled grocery stores do not have the desired "variety" of food products that people "believe" they get in North American supermarkets. They want everything all in one place at one time. They think small scale grocers won't meet their needs.
I try to tell them that the reason they feel this way is BECAUSE they are communiting in bus transit for 30 minutes to a supermarket that is less than 2km away or driving 20-30 minutes to the nearest supermarket (London ON) and then navigating a massive parking lot full of cars, dealing with a massive warehouse grocery store (which is the North American Standard) with crowded parking lots and long checkout lines. They understandably don't want to then have to go to a bakery or a butcher for specialty items because in their mind that means more commuting and running around town on more bad transit or in heavy traffic before going home. It also means more running around after they already drove into the suburbs away from the stores.
The alternative you describe here is much more appealing and I believe much more sustainable and functional for small towns and cities alike. Unfortunately it seems impossible to attract grocers of this size in North America (do they exist in small towns) and we are left with big food deserts that create further food insecurity and food waste. Many say running a small scale grocer is not viable; however, there is a significant need.
When I did a month long educational experience in Oslo, Norway the area I lived in had 3 grocery stores equivalent to the size of a typical NA covenience store within a 5 minute walk. They each had fresh produce and all of the basic items I would want and expect in a big grocer in a fraction of the space. My trip was much shorter, involved much less thought, and was more pleasant, as you have expressed. Other specialty shops were on the way or nearby. What a treat!
I am dying for a model of grocer like this to be adopted in Canada. So many main streets would benefit from this and the tertiary benefits would like see more local specialty food stores (butchers, cafes, bakeries) and likely a greater return of people to Main Streets as they now can meet their daily needs.
thanks for posting.
in my almost 50 year US grocery experience, which primarily excludes large cities, we can easily drive in most suburban areas to a standard supermarket that has 95% of what you'd want to buy in 15 minutes or less, and possibly several. These stores have large produce areas, seafood counters, delis, butchers, bakers, etc. There are small convenience stores at every gas station. All of the chain pharmacies Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, etc. have convenience food sections. Within 20-30 minutes you can get to a Walmart, Target and/or a Costco/Sam's Club/BJs wholesale club for bulk purchases. Dollar stores are common. Especially in the summer months, there are numerous weekly farm markets and fruit/vegetable stands to buy fresh local produce. Most larger towns and cities have ethnic and specialty food stores. Along the coast you can find plenty of fresh seafood markets. For many, it is easy enough to stop by these stores coming and going from work, etc. if you need to pick something up outside of a larger weekly or monthly shopping trip.
When it comes to small mom & pop sized grocery stores, outside of cities I've seen these be most successful in tourist towns where they are nearby vacation homes and hotels.
That said, like most things in US suburbia don't expect it to be easy to walk or bike to a grocery store unless you happen to live close by or are in a large city. The food deserts are primarily in poorer urban neighborhoods and more rural areas.
I like the idea of smaller unique groceries and have used them when practical, but the economics in car-based suburban and rural areas reduce their viability.
@@jimzecca3961 if they weren't so scared of socialism these various mom and pop stores could form a local co-op.
1. Take advantage of economies of scale, assuming they can get a critical mass of collective customer base in their neighbourhood.
2. They can negotiate with each other what they sell so they don't directly compete with each other.
3. They can collective negotiate with the suppliers for better prices.
🙂 I generally shop at the small local shops, but as a treat every once in a while I go to a big supermarket and walk up and down all the isles. It's fun but there is so much 'stuff'.
I grew up in the 70's where there was only seasonal and no imported foods ie salads were a spring/summer food and tomatoes in the winter came from home canning.
I love the variety now, but it can also be overwhelming
Im dutch but this so interesting to watch. To see how weird this is for a foreigner but so normal for us. Great videos!
I visited the Netherlands a few years back and my wife and I wanted to pick up some food to take back to our room.
Until this very moment, I thought we just went to a "convenience store", not the "grocery store".
Incidentally, I have been bitching for years that our neighbourhood doesn't have convenience stores... imagine the possibilities!
this is not weird lol, its like living in any major city in the states
Do you know what the situation is like if you live in a rural Dutch village? For example I live in a tiny medieval village in the East of England (a very rural region), and instead of supermarkets (which are generally only found in towns) there are at least 3 farm shops within a 10 minute drive (that sell home grown vegetables, fruit, preserves etc), family run butchers in every large village/ town, a local dairy, many small farms that sell fresh eggs, a fishmongers not far away as well as bakeries within the larger villages/ towns etc, and not forgetting smaller “village shops” (that sell everyday items). Which is obviously a different way of life to city living, for example when I lived in Cambridge (which is also in the East of England) I would instead use the market in the centre of the city for fresh produce and then the inner city supermarkets such as M&S food hall, Little Waitrose etc for everything else.
You are so lucky..
I really miss living in Germany!! Loved the ability to go to different stores for fresh baked bread and Brotchen, lunch meat, bakery, flowers fruit and vegetables!! The larger stores were nice for some things ( American commissary- marshmallow creme for hot chocolate)! He's right about less food going to waste!! Being single I don't need a package of lunchmeat, just a few slices will do!! Wish the us would consider changing a few things:)
As a brit the size of american grocery stores kind of terrifies me. We do have large supermarkets like Sainsburys and Tescos, but grocery stores tend to be small shops like those mentioned in the video, and supermarkets are never nearly as large or warehouse-like as that.
American cities are the worst. There is no sense of togetherness whatsoever. Everything is so big and far apart.
Suburbs, american cities use public transportation
I think it's because originally a lot of American cities were just multiple small towns that grew into each other
Wat zit ik nou te kijken? Hoe iemand boodschappen doet? Ik moet echt nuttigere dingen met m'n leven gaan doen.
nou ja het is wel leuk. Ik woon 10 jaar in het buitenland en boodschappen terug in NL is een andere ervaring dan hier in Amerika of Canada. Ben het nu gewend maar leuk om terug te zien! Amerika zit vast in de jaren 90 nog
Hahaha en dat was voor de crisis
@@tahirrizwan6759 Zeg maar rustig de jaren 60.
@@tahirrizwan6759 echt? zijn de daar echt achter gebleven?
@@rowan5075 Jazeker, in Amerika is het heel simpel, beetje ouderwets, en uitgerekt Allemaal lange gangpaden. Het bereik van sommige winkels is heel moeilijk vooral in Californie. Ik woon nu in Canada en de ervaring hier is veele malen stukken beter in Canada dan Amerika. De winkels in Toronto zijn beter onderhouden zoals in Nederland en veel moderner maar alsnog Amerikaans in stijl maar zoals in Amerika wel moeilijk te bereiken maar in plaats daarvan zit Toronto vol met kleine winkeltjes of convenience stores .Ik bedoel in NL heb je om de 10 minuten lopen een AH of een Hema. Ik heb het wel naar mijn zin in Toronto omdat het loopvriendelijker is en het openbaar vervoer beter is geregeld. Amerika qua infrastructuur zit nog vast in de jaren 90 of de jaren 60 haha.
I really enjoyed visiting Amsterdam. Most of Europe is like that, smaller grocery stores, bakeries etc. I just loved it. It’s refreshing to be able to walk and get what you need.
When I bought my house I made sure that it was relatively close to grocery stores. I walk/bike every couple of days to pick up only what I need for a particular recipe. It gives me a purpose to bike. I like it.
In Canada and the US we need to take lessons. I wanna shop like that.
I once stayed in a building complex that included an apartment tower and a grocery store. There was a three-story parking lot as well. So it was totally possible to
1) arrive there in your car
2) park in the parking lot above the supermarket
3) take the escalator downstairs and buy your stuff
4) take the escalator into the parking lot, then go through a locked door to which all residents of the apartments have a key
5) take the elevator to the floor your apartment is at
6) and come home
without ever being outside. Great on a rainy day!
Oh, and you forgot something you absolutely need for the meal you're planning to cook? Leave apartment, take elevator, go through door, take escalator, buy whatever you forgot, escalator, door, elevator, and you're back.
Even the weekly budget hauls can be done without a car. Throughout the country, whether it’s a big city or a small town, chances are high there’s a grocery store within walking distance from your house.
You simply ride the fully loaded shopping cart home, unpack your groceries and ride the cart back.
That’s how I do it anyway.
Taking the shopping car with you to your home is against the law though. Alot of people don't return them. Even if it takes 50 cents to unlock them at the store, you can only use it on the parking lot of the supermarket. Alot of shopping carts also have an automated braking system where it locks one of the wheels once it goes too far away from the store.
IJ V haha I never knew it was against te law. I always return them though, but I get it, some people don’t.
I dont think it would make the street looks nice if everybody used their shopping carts on the sidewalks on their way home instead of a normal stroller of some sorts. Not even to speak about the metal noise it makes when the road is bumpy. It would look a bit like detroit I guess where hobo's use shopping carts as a camper.
It sucks when you get that one cart with the crazy left wheel xD
Platteland gang where u @
I live in Gemrany at the moment and every time he shows Netherlands or Europe in general I see something I van relate to but as soon as he shows US it's like an alternate reality alien hellscape.
I'd however strongly discourage everyone to buy the 'maza' brand humus as you did at 3:24. It has the lowest amount of chickpeas and tahin, and is likely also the most expensive one.
What’s the alternative? Usually it’s Maza or home brand which is often worse (except AH)
@@stijnbos LIDL home brand is king!
@@stijnbos With an immersion blender you can very easily make your own humus. Just add olive oil/water while blending chickpeas. Tahin, lemon juce, paprika powder and garlic can be added if you want. Takes about 5 minutes and is a grate thing to bring to parties!
Make your own at home, at literally takes 5 minutes.
2:56 my God this looks like a storage of ikea
Similar to Sligro or Makro here in the NL 😊
yup
The one shown is not a regular supermarket at all. Their supermarkets look like our big ones. (And some are selling half the world, but still you see the products on the shelves.)
It really does
We do have wholesale stores but it is not so common to go there. A company called Makro which is setup like the USA wholesale stores but it is mainly aimed at companies but normal people can go there as well
No you can't because you need a Makro pas for which you need to register online and on paper only you need to be in the KvK to get it, so it's not as easy as lets say Walmart.
Mocro pas
@@daanlammers5571 indeed daan, friends of mine have a buisness, including food sale, and i borrow their card , its not easy to get into these stores without
@@daanlammers5571 you can get a 'day pass' at customer service....
So far each and every time I have checked the prices, it was cheaper to buy the product at the local supermarkets, then at the Makro (except when they are on a special sale (aanbieding). Guess I know where to buy what. Even Amazon is cheaper then Makro. Have no idea why such stores still exist.
I love how you show us and demonstrate that there is a better way. I’m from Utah, and while I don’t see this happening in the US any time soon unfortunately. I am hopeful. Keep up the amazing work!
I lived in AMS for 5 yrs - I now live in Colorado. I watch these videos to remind myself how lovely it was.
One thing I miss the most about Germany and the Netherlands (visited May 2019) was the fact everything in the city was accessible by public transit within the hour (Berlin usually took the longest because of its size, but still within the hour).
I live in the south of France and commute to work by bike. I do my shopping on the way home and I can eat whatever I want without having to do any extra exercise to keep the weight off.
Fresh food, free exercise and stress free commute on bike lanes. Its even faster than using cars and public transport.
The only down side is bad weather, but I learned how to deal with it.
Live in the suburbs, in the US. I don't have a car. My closest grocery store is a 30 minute walk. having to walk back home with all the grocery is the worst. Plus no sidewalks at all.
American here. Noticing that your eggs are sold in cartons of 10 instead of 12. Makes more sense to me.
Meanwhile dutch people who live at the borders go to gemany or belguim where everything is cheaper
We dont, we’re fine with the local appie
@@amypearson2369 drm zeg ik ook wie aan de grens woont. Maar duitsland is echt veel goedkoper
Grocery shopping in Belgium? Cheaper? Whut? No. I've lived in The Netherlands all my life and studied in Belgium for 2 years. Belgium is way more expensive, 25-50 % more on basics like a single chicken breast or some ground beef.
Germany is cheaper though. And a lot is of higher quality as well.
I used to do that, I live at the border. But it’s so incredibly fucking busy at the German lidl, like my anxiety is going insane. It’s like the entire Dutch population is going shopping every fucking damn day and they’ve left their manners back at the border. It’s healthier for my mental health to just shop in the Netherlands. Except for gas.
Not true, I live at the Belgium border and a lot of them come to shop over here because of the prices. Albert Heijn is expanding into belgium because of this.
I have 4 grocery stores within 5-6 minutes walking distance in my neighborhood. AH, Jumbo, Aldi and Lidl. And two coffeeshops btw....
Just found your channel, lots of the ideas resonate with me (I moved from the US to Germany about 10 years ago). The new strong towns series is especially interesting, keep it up man!
I like the accessibility of food shopping here in the Netherlands so much as well! Very helpful for those living a busy life.
Don't forget about the bus grocery store. My grandparents always have a dude come by in a big bus which he's packed with fresh bread, vegetables, meat, etc. My grandma gets what she needs, pays, gets out and away drives the grocery store
Huh, I've never seen that anywhere. Parts of Los Angeles have grocery trucks but they're parked on the street, kind of a pop-up convenience store.
This is basically europe overall. We commonly buy food 2-3 times a week.
Yeah, and I like that. But my mother has always been the type to go through at least one store EVERDAY after work, even if it's just for one or two items... and she expects other to live by that rule too. One can overdo it in that regard...
@@XDarkGreyX I assume you're still a kid?
My dad was very similar when I was a teen, but I just stood up for myself and he'd go on his own at times. Shouldn't let your parents force you to do things u dont want to do.
I miss precorona where i go back from uni or work and just grab some food on the way home. Corona made me really grateful for these small things
Speak for yourself, in Poland we are willing to buy enough meat for a whole month or two and freeze it, because it was on sale
@@ninoski4043 Poland is also quite the poor country so making use of sales is more important.
I would like to mention the contactless shopping was also immensely helpfull during the pandemic to limit contact.
@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 The COVID-19 pandemic, of course.
You sound brainwashed. Respiratory viruses don't spread much by touching, they spread mostly with coughing and sneezing
growing up in the USA and now living in a village near Utrecht NL, I definitely love the convince of grocery stores and it was the first thing I noticed. Mine and my fiance's first apartment was in the city center in Utrecht and our fridge and freezer was a built-in mini-fridge! And we lived less than a 3-minute walk to the grocery store. Now that we moved out of the city our fridge and freezer are bigger, we do more 4-5 day shops but still enjoy a short walk to the store in case we missed something or are in the mood for a milka or some fresh croissants.
And this is what it's all about. You can't plan out meals for a week, you do what your mood makes you do. No "oh but I planned to eat so and so today, but I really feel like eating something else".
I make sure whenever I look for an apartment, it’s within a walking distance of a grocery store. I don’t drive, and I don’t even really like waiting for the bus. I want to get my stuff and walk back to my place
I live in the U.K. I spend about £15 per week on fresh produce and never waste any of it. I walk 10 minutes there and back and always go late at night when it's quiet. ^_^
Getting a pannier rack for my bike here in London has been a 100% game changer, can do the big shop every week with a backpack and a "bag for life" bungee corded to my bike
I remember living in a really rural part of Texas. We'd go to the grocery store once a month. we'd freeze bread. We only had fresh produce for the first half of the month. There was a little shop nearer to us than the grocery store so we could pick up things like milk when we needed it, but it was certainly different. At the time, as a child I thought it was kinda cool.
This channel makes me appreciate what I take for granted and gives me an insight how it compares to (mainly) America! Super interesting stuff :)
Every American needs to see this
every american will cry after their job is gone, and replaced with tech workers
MaksimIzer Sounds like it’s time to vote #Yang2020
@@MaksimIzer In a supermarket without an automated checkout, there are generally only 1 or 2 lines staffed. In a supermarket with an automated checkout, there are still generally 1 or 2 lines staffed. It only makes a difference when you live in the Randstad. In every other case, it is just a bit of added convenience for the customers who want to use it.
And how about fixing the system instead of demanding that progress gets halted? There are plenty of progressives running in every country at this point. It is time to ditch corporate monopolies/oligarchies and make control by the workers the standard.
I'm an American who's recently been watching a lot of European supermarket videos, and it honestly makes me want to move LOL
@ryan miller That weird moment that's coming when the world realizes that the Amish got it right... :P
It's the same in Tokyo. We bought the same size fridge we had in Toronto, only to realize that we didn't need half the space because we were shopping by bike.
(Not sure how 523 people found something to thumb down here?)
the approx 500 ppl: "But if I have these small stores then I will have to walk/bike multiple trips with groceries instead of buying more than I need and stockpiling it in a car then moving it to a fridge"
@@damapan Must be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the land of excess, we can't comprehend someone being happy with less
@@iluvcamping I suspect we're going to learn.
That's 523 profoundly embarrassed American city planners ...
Lots of food in the UK doesn't last more than four days anymore so we have to shop often.
Dutch grocery stores are great but I have always loved going to big foreign grocery stores on vacations. The trip isn't an issue because I'm on vacation anyway and it's cool to see just how much stuff there is and especially all of the foreign goods that I've never seen before.
When I went to a bigger grocery store in Greece I was confused why I couldn't weight the fruits on my own. An employee would stand at a scale and would do it for you (well at Lidl they also do it for you at the checkout). For me this was so weird. I like to see what they sell I can't get easily here in Switzerland. For Camping gas I have to visit a "gardening store". In Greece you'll find it in every grocery store (for greek coffee).
When you go to a smaller towns/villages there are parking lots with supermarkets. Still pretty good to reach by bikes though.
Yes. Even in those places, you don't have to walk over the whole parking lot, you can just walk safely, or put your bike in front. I'm bothered by one of the Ikea's I used to live near, because they treated bikes like cars, making you have to cross the road on the parking space. Instead, most students ignored the designated bike parking and locked their bikes to a fence near the enterance.
Legendary.
I went to visit a friend in Texas in 1989, 16 years old, and I always thought. These people are insane, they don't know it, but it is redflag when you can buy a riotgun at a supermarket. It is redflag when a 200kg woman sell swastika flags along the road. It is redflag when people idle their 3,2 liter motor car for 15 minutes just to allow the airconditioning to cool the car. Redflag when your supermall has a 24/7 icehockey ring in the middle when it is 40C outside. Redflag when three teenagers do a 'count the fat people race' in six flags and the tally is about 450 to 500 unique morbidly obese people in 5-10 minutes.
Redflag when the regular TV explained that this month 9 cops got killed, with Chicago winning with 4 cops killed.
What is does mean = insanity. I was 16 and I predicted insanity. in1995 a friend and me concluded that a civil war within 50 years is a reasonable assumption /-';
As an american, you nailed it, and now it's getting worse. Just last week a law about abortions was overtured, and several states are looking at birth control next. It sucks really bad.
I've been watching your videos for a while and I subbed to your channel today :)
Grocery shopping is something I am always fascinated about. I could literally tell you the price of half the items on the grocery shelves in North America, but I really like the Dutch approach - practical, no waste, help local stores, and no cars
I enjoy seeing grocery stores in other countries. Very interesting. Would you think of sharing a video of what you buy, or a video of a family meal? I live in Western North Carolina and we only have one grocery store in our entire county. We drive about an hour once a week to grocery shop.
I so much love Albert Hejin and those smal train station shops, the stuff they have there is so unbelivably awesome like the moist banana bread or the fresh almond pates.
Where I live in Europe I go to shop and get back on foot over 20 mins time with full bag loaded with groceries
OMG, that question, I know! And the followup, "But how do you buy groceries for a FAMILY?" Despite this being doable even in parts of the US (my Chicago childhood.) (One answer: smaller trips on the way home from work. Another answer: personal shopping carts. Yet another: send the kid out for a gallon of milk, since that's simple but heavy.)
Japanese markets can be like the Dutch ones in no car parking and lots of bike parking, but I haven't seen self-scanning.