The Culture Shock of Grocery Shopping in the Netherlands as an American

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🎧: All the music in this video is sourced from epidemic sound
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00:00 intro
00:47 off to jumbo + albert heijn we go
01:20 weighing your own produce
02:30 heaven
03:14 sprinkles for breakfast???
03:20 room temp eggs
03:26 a little history on the dutch card payment system
06:32 leaving the store without a receipt
06:54 outro
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tags: #americaninnetherlands #smallyoutubersupport #netherlandsvlog #vloginspiration #usa #europe #expatlife

[MarcoNierop]

Fresh fruit and veggies are really fresh and not older than a day or 2, that is why they last longer, they are just many days fresher than what you have in the US. Most of the veggies and fruit are locally produced, or imported really fresh, straight from the airplane to the auction to the grocery store.. like green beans from the land in Senegal on your plate within 48 hours or so.

We also eat a lot of veggies and fruit, so the fruit and veggies do not get a chance to get old in the store. So everyday there is really fresh produce.

[timotheusvanesch]

Payment system in NL/EU:
Credit card companies make their money by charging the stores for purchases.
When I had a small business, they charged up to 5% on every purchase.
The higher the amount, the lower the charge became (5% -> 2.5% -> 1.5%).
But still. I had to sell for 500€ or more (in one purchase) to "only" pay 1.5% (7.50€)
SInce I was selling high-profit goods, that was acceptable (above 50€, I think our limit was), but in a grocery store the marges are often wáy too low.
Good, that's 20 years ago, but still. Maestro/debet only charged 50ct, regardless of the amount.

Now Maestro/debit cards are virtually free of charge (since internet got introduced it went down from 50ct to 10ct to, I expect, less than a cent per transaction these days)

[catharinaforbes-boeren]

If you look closely enough in the USA at the cereals you can see that they have all the same ingredients, the packaging and coloring is different. Most cereals from the USA are not allowed in Europe because of the high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients.

[Drrolfski]

The Netherlands is the second largest food exporter in the world. So you're basically living in the middle of all that fresh food, so it lasts longer. Also, high tech.

[sanderjansen]

The Netherlands is more of a bread country, cereal is just not a thing here.

[kaasmeester]

About the eggs. In the US, farmers clean the everliving crap out of their eggs to eliminate disease. That works... but it also eliminates the natural layer that protects eggs from decay. In the Netherlands (and much of the EU), we've opted to not clean the eggs, but instead to closely guard the supply chain from farmer to supermarket, and let the eggs use their natural protections. That will keep them for weeks. Both systems work, I don't think one is better than the other. A long as you remember: refrigerate your eggs in the US, do not refrigerate them in Europe.

[captainchaos]

The produce lasts a long time because it's very fresh. In rare cases it's possibly that it was harvested _the same morning._

[Wicked_Lady_Memoires]

Most fruits and vegetables are in the stores within 24 ours after they are picked and the natural sealbridge that they have are not washed off by chemicals. Thats why they last longer.

[suicidalbanananana]

We are consistently in the top 3 of biggest agriculture producers & traders in the world, this means our transportation industry etc is top of the line when it comes to fresh produce and we get everything "from the land" to the auction to the supermarket in cooled ships/trucks/etc at super quick pace, something fresh is _actually_ fresh instead of 'secretly' a week old already.

On top of that its the usual difference between foods in EU and US, but weirdly enough with opposite effect, while your average processed food lasts longer with more chemicals (and we don't like that here) plain fruits and veggies tend to be the opposite, they last longer with less chemicals/pesticides/etc.

[jolanda.c]

Google or Apple Pay is most of the time accepted as dutch Banks are connected with the debit cards. Maestro will be phased out as we will transfer to Mastercard or visa for our debitcards. Debitcards are the standard here, creditcards are mostly used online and abroad on travels.

[An]

In the shop where I worked, every payment with a creditcard costs the owner 2 euro’s ..almost 3 if I remember correctly. I worked at the dry cleaners back then and the trousers they had to be cleaned costed 7 euro’s. That means you give away al your profit. So this is probably the reason why most shops don’t want credit card payments.

[quincary]

Americans think they have a terrific choice of cereals...but it's all the same raw materials dyed different colours with different artificial flavours. a bit like most of their awful food. (With love from the UK!)

[niekkie]

My boyfriend throughout the video "heey I know that cat". With every shown cat 😂

[sharongaal]

If you are in a store where you need a receipt to leave, but you didn't buy anything, just ask an employee of the cashier team to open the door. Make sure it is someone at the self-checkout or servicedesk though, the other employees tippicly don't have a 'terminal' to open it with.

[henkvandervossen]

Stuff stays fresh longers because they are delivered very fresh to shops, due to short and efficient logistics.

[rope]

Ah, my dear, if you think this is a culture shock, go to a Belgian or French supermarché or a German one: then you really will be shocked about the sheer abundance of all what Europe produces. Dutch grocery stores are quite limited in what they offer. The profit margins dictates the selection.
And if you want to taste really nice food, stay away from the big ones; go to the specialists for cheese, bread and all that. Not as cheap, but so much more tastier.
You'll have to pay cash though, no visa.

[hunchbackaudio]

It’s all debit cards in the Netherlands, you have to get one asap. Across the roundabout at the Eemplein, checkout the large toko above the Jumbo, they have all the spices, veggies and asian foods they don’t sell at the supermarket. Great place to take a look.

[Lups-cvzf]

As a Dutchie I use American Express as much as possible. Jumbo is the only grocery store that accepts creditcards. You have to know which store accepts them.

[Andrath]

Mastercard should be accepted everywhere in the Netherlands. Maestro is being phased out. So, if a grocer doesn't accept it, that's quite rare.

[alexj.]

Vegetables are probably dutch, and haven't traveled over half the globe, therefore fresh longer