Shopping in Denmark

Ever since moving here, over a year ago!, I've been wanting to post little blogs about what every day life is like for us.  I never got around to doing it, until now!  The problem is, we've lived here long enough now, that the things that seemed so strange in the beginning, are just normal to us now.  So, we'll see what I can come up with. 
Shopping in Denmark is SO different than in the states.  Excluding grocery stores, most other stores don't open until 10 and close at 5 during the week. And they close at 3 on Saturdays, if they open at all!  When we first moved here, nothing was open on Sunday's, but they recently passed a law, allowing stores to open on Sunday's, and it appears that more and more stores are taking advantage of that. These crazy hours were so difficult to work around, because if we wanted to go on an excursion shopping, we couldn't go in the evenings and we would have to carefully plan around the 45 minutes to 1 hour travel time, it would take us to get to most places. 
Grocery stores are a little different.  There are a few bigger stores, but most places are little corner markets.  I would compare their size to something like a large gas station.  Many of these places open around 8 or 9 and close around 6, but it seems like since we've been here, many of them have been extending their hours.  There are 2 of these little stores within 300 yards from our house.  Once now closes at 10 and the other closes at 6.  We do the majority of our shopping at a store called Netto.  It's the cheapest of the grocery store chains.  There are probably 5 or 6 major chains that you will see all over the place.  Most people go shopping every day or so.  This has posed a bit of a challenge for us.  I use to do a shopping trip every 2 weeks, now I try to plan out a week at a time and even with that, I always have so much more in my basket than ANYONE else!  You have to "pay" for your carts with a 10 or 20kr. coin, which you will get back when you return your cart.

 I've gotten into the habit of keeping a coin in my coat pocket all the time, just in case.  Most of the stores are pretty straight-forward grocery stores, although Netto is a little different.  You never know for sure what you are going to get there.  Sometimes you can buy broccoli and sometimes not.  Sometimes they will carry our favorite brand of cereal for several months, and then not at all for another couple of months.  Sometimes they are completely out of milk, but you can pick up a laptop computer or some thermal underwear.  And they always stock the shelves during business hours, so it can be quite a challenge to navigate the store.  They also have a tendency to put pallets of food in front of other pallets, so it can be quite tricky getting to some things.  Also, when you go grocery shopping, you usually have no more than 1 or 2 choices of something.  If you want spaghetti noodles, they have one brand.  Or canned beans, they come in cardboard boxes and only kidney beans, sometimes.  I guess taking the choices away makes shopping easier.  Although if you are wanting some leverpøstej (Liver paste), you'll have plenty of choices. 

Danes like to cook everything from scratch. As far as boxed foods go, this is about it.  And you can't always find these type of things either. I've never tried any of them, I just make most things from scratch too.  I was surprised to see Chocolate Chip Cookies.  You can't find Chocolate Chips here, so this was a surprise. 

Checking out is the most difficult, at least it was in the beginning.  The checkout stands are basically the same as in the states, although the checker is ALWAYS seated.  You put your food on the conveyor belt and they check you out.  But, you have to bag everything yourself.  The store will sell bags, but we always bring our own.  In the beginning, I felt so much stress at this point of my shopping trip.  Imagine, you're shopping with 3 kids, the store is SO crowded, you have probably 6 people waiting in line behind you.  And you are buying the most stuff out of anyone.  I'm sure they are always thinking something like, "Wow, they must be having a party or something!" So, the checker is hurriedly checking your stuff out and you are furiously trying to just throw everything back into your cart.  Then you've got to stop and pay and by the time you put your wallet away, the next person's items are coming down the conveyor belt and you are still trying to get everything back into your cart. Ugh!  In the beginning, I would just put everything back in my cart and then go outside and load it into my bags and then place it into either the bike trailer or my little wheeled shopping bag.  Now, i usually go shopping first thing Tuesday morning, when it's not quite so busy.  I always just bag my stuff now at the checkout stand.  I figure, the people behind me can just wait. =)  I'm much more efficient now.  And it's definitely not as stressful!
Another funny thing about most grocery stores, they have one way gates when you go in and unless you buy something, there is no way to exit!  This has caused many stressful situations.  I feel like I just have to buy something to get out the door.  And the few times I have just pushed past people at the check-out stands to get out, when i haven't bought anything, I always feel like everyone is just staring at me, and they think I've stolen something.  It's just an annoyance.
Ok, well, this is getting long, but one more thing.  Bakeries!

These are all over the place too.  And the pastries are so good, although usually a bit expensive, of course!  We love to just look through the windows and drool. =)  Most of the bakeries, you go in and you have to take a number to be served.  Actually, A LOT of stores have this system. At most bakeries, you'll find the same type of goodies, not much variation.  But, I love them!
Anyway, I'm sure I could go on and on about our stores and shopping experiences here, but there you have it.  Denmark shopping.