I went shopping in the USA and Germany. The difference shocked me.
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- Опубликовано: 26 июн 2024
- One year ago, I compared the cost of groceries in the USA and in Germany. But with inflation hitting record highs this past year and the cost of food outpacing general inflation many of you asked: how much have prices changed? So, I traveled back to the United States to answer that very question.
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🔎 Video Highlights:
0:00 Introduction
00:37 Sales Tax, VAT and Important Things to Know
03:46 The Cost of Bread
04:35 The Cost of Eggs
06:01 The Cost of Milk
08:44 The Cost of Yogurt
09:43 This is Bananas
11:31 Where Things Get Expensive
13:29 Surprisingly More Expensive
15:06 The Grand Total
16:30 National Data on Inflation in the USA vs. Inflation in Germany
17:27 Why is everything still so expensive?
19:59 Disinflation vs. Deflation
Episode No. 134
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The bananas in Germany from last year were not labeled as organic...this years they had the Label organic 😅 that's propably there reason for that unreasonable prize 😉
Hi there! I added a note in the video to clarify, but you are correct. I accidentally put bio bananas in my basket this year. I caught that mistake at the checkout counter and went back to look... it appears that whomever stocked the shelf, but bio bananas in the non-bio area. So to make sure I kept things accurate, I calculated the price for the listed "non-bio" price and not the ones that I put in my basket.
hello, in Europe, there are much cheaper foods in different countries. For example in Czech republic, i was buying 1L of Czech milk on discounts at kaufland supermarket for 60cents per 1L@@TypeAshton
Buying the chiquita bananas is not very smart. Die quality of the cheapest is not different, but the price is just the half of the chiquitas. I can afford them but it is useless to spend douible the price. And for you used chiquita bananas compared to "BIO" bananas. So you did not buy the same bananas. No wonder that the price increased about 90 ct.
When you can fly to Germany, I wouldn't cry about food prices FFS.
I live in Scotland and as soon as you said $4 for a loaf of bread, I was like, 'Holy sh1t!' Seriously? How can prices be that high for such a basic item in the USA? I would be raging if bread was that expensive in the shops here. And they grow wheat in that country don't they?
and it is not even bread..😆
I thought the same! In the Netherlands, a basic pre-packaged loaf of wholewheat bread (the cheapest kind, similar to the ones in the video) is about €1, so about $1,10. Even the most expensive rustic, stone oven baked spelt wholewheat bread (actually named "love and passion bread" don't ask me why) is now on sale for €2,39, so about $2,62.
You have to consider the Marie-Antoinette factor. What US call bread is a cake by EU laws due to the high sugar content. 😉
they earn a lot more ...
@@roarbillion2255The average wage per annum in the USA is about 1k more than the Netherlands. So, no.
You ignore the fact that "standard" food quality in Europe equals organic food in US.
US meat is polluted with hormones, US eggs are produced far beyond EU standards, and the list of additives in close to everything speaks louder than the price
Americans earn much More so they have to spend more
Real talk. I buy organic eggs because the regular brands have water for whites. Likevthe yolk looks normal, but no mucus consistency to the white, just straight water.
Not quite. Standard food items in the UK are usually chemically fertilized and sprayed with pesticides while organic food anywhere is not.
@@emjayay eu has way more standards on use of antibiotics and growth hormones for hens. Also, ive compared the eggs on my kitchen counter. For whatever reason, the organic brands are less likely to have disturbingly sickly eggs.
this entire video is complete bullshit because you also have to look at the fact that salaries are much lower in europe....
As a German, I struggle a lot with the inflation. I'm very poor due to health issues, and already had just enough money to get by before the prices rose. Now it's crazy! I only shop at discounters like Aldi or Lidl, and I don't buy the expensive brands that were shown in this video. In the past, I could fill a shopping cart entirely for about 30 Euros per week. Now the cart is only half full or less, and I have to pay about 50 Euros for the same items I always shop. The bread I usually buy, cost 89 cents in the past, while it's 1,49 euros now. That's almost 60 cents more! A can of beans that used to be 39 or 49 cents now costs 89 cents, a can of corn that was 49 cents before now costs 99 cents. A pack of spaghetti for formerly 39 cents now costs 99 cents as well. Flour that used to be half the price is now around 1 euro. Even the price for bottled water went up by about 10 cents per bottle. Don't even mention fresh fruits and veggies! I now usually only take what's on sale that week instead of what I'd *want* to buy, because I just can't afford things that are double or more the price they used to be. I'm lucky I don't eat any meat products. This has happened to so many items, that it adds up insanely.
That being said, I was always shocked at the prices in the U.S., inflation or not. Especially when I saw videos about the prices for fresh fruits and vegetables in the U.S., for example. If I lived there, I wouldn't even be able to afford apples on a regular basis! That's very sad! In this video here, the 4 dollars for a loaf of simple, white bread, which doesn't even have nutrients, is mad! Wow! I'd starve if the little money I have to get by with was the same in the U.S. as it is here.
As a retiree, I understand your frustration. I hope you find some relief.
The thing is many companies in Germany just raised prices without reason, for example the gasoline prices were high, even when global prices were low. The toast has a much cheaper ingredient list than bread, although I would argue noodles and flour had the highest price spike last year. In my opinion sausage for example is now much more pricey than before. Besides I think middle income goods usually will not be raised in price that much, as people do have a limit for unnecessary things and won't just buy them.
And no thanks to the war in Ukrain, whether real or opportunistic effects
@karldibidu667 She was not comparing the cheapest options, but those cheapest options is where you see the inflation the most. Products that already had a high markup just for the brand name can keep the prices for a longer time. The cheap no-name products already had a very small margin to begin with and have to raise prices more and earlier than the named brands.
That's also a reason why inflation hits poor households harder, since they were relying on those no-named cheap products a lot more.
Would be interesting to see the comparison she made with the no-name products.
@beegdawg007 that is also because of how electricity is priced, though, and the lack of a good connection between north and south (thanks CSU). Renewable electricity is A LOT cheaper even than nuclear power but we don't see these price benefits because of the lack of renewables in the south and the lack of energy transfer between the north and south. Iirc. the general energy market also does not distinguish between cheap renewable electricity and more expensive fossil fuels instead you get an average which prices the north a bit more unfairly as they have more supply of renewables.
When I moved to Sweden, 15 years ago, food costs were 15-20% higher in Sweden. Now, Sweden is 10-15 % cheaper than in the US. Given that Sweden imports much of it's food, it shouldn't be that kind of difference.
Because Swedish currency has declined in last 15 years
@@hasinabegum1038 Which should mean the prices should have gone up, since swedish currency has gone down in value. You know, more expensive too import.
@@RoshmeckPrices remain low in Dollars but increased in Swedish currency and many things Sweden produce locally
american corporate greed ruins everything
I lived in Canada in 05-06 and it was MUCH cheaper than in Sweden back then. Especially soda, donuts and meat. I haven’t been there since so don’t know what prices are now but you would back then often pay 99 cents per pound for ground beef on sale. Soda was about one third of the price here so I drank way too much Coca Cola.
I lived in Hamburg Germany in 2019 and 2020, then moved to Cincinnati Ohio. My grocery bill, buying the same group of food products, was double in the United States. I shopped at Rewe in Hamburg and Meijer or Kroger in Cincy, middle of the road retailers. If you add in beer/wine on top of that, those products are also 2x+ more expensive in the US.
Wait till you see the prices in Canada 🤦🏽♂️
You can get a loaf of bread at Krogers for less than 2 dollars. I shop in Xenia, which is outside Dayton. Milk is 2.99 a gallon or less. Hamburger depends on which kind you get. Chicken breasts are 1.99 to 2.99 a pound. She had to have gone to the most expensive store in the state, and many states don't have taxes on food. Food would be cheaper in Ohio because we don't have a sales tax on food. I have heard many things are cheaper in Germany and better quality.
What you have to consider is that Ashton bought expensive brands in Germany which are about 40% more expensive than the no name products with the SAME quality. I've just bought Bananas for 1€/kg. Moreover Rewe is a rather expensive store. I have no idea how this compares to the American store, though.
Given the higher transport costs I'd expect higher prices for bananas in germany than in the US (we're much further away from south america and our fuel prices have hiked much more)
Bananas here fluctuate a lot, often doble or half the price from one day to another...
bananas in Europe can come from Canary islands ,(spain) or Africa, closer than South America
I agree with you on the product brands. However my personal experience in NRW is that for most of my needs REWE is actually a little bit cheaper than ALDI. Though there are a few products that I can only get at ALDI.
for a cost of living comparison this would matter, for a look at inflation it does not. She bought the exact same items this year as she bought last year. all we care about is if the same item in the same store costs more or less, and by how much.
I’ve lived in both Germany and USA my whole life. Some things are cheaper in each. Overall groceries are a bit cheaper in Germany but not nearly as much as 10 years ago. Aldi and Lidl have helped bring down prices in the USA tremendously.
@@jondhoe7023 Have you ever traveled to or lived in Germany? Based on your foolish reply I already know the answer is no.
But the funny thing is that both Aldi and Lidl are German stores or is that your point?
@@jondhoe7023 you act like we all eat garbage in the US. We buy and cook good food too. You act like we all eat burgers and fries. Ignorant!
Think using Aldi would be a better comperasion for doing this kind of price cost comperassions, as its a store that you can find in the US and Germany, and hence better compare the products more fairly with the same products up against each other.
That's not possible, as there are no Lidl, where her American family lives.
Then go to part of the country of Germany that there is a comparable store to Aldi’s, comparing different brands in different countries, makes no sense. The price of chicken breast and ground beef is considerably less now than a year ago, on sale or not. I live in Kansas City I buy both meats and have for many years, and only at the very top of our inflation was ground beef over eight dollars a pound, and the same goes for chicken breast! I recommend you shop that sells… Completely absurd comparison the same price! Honestly I don’t know why I even watch anything on RUclips anymore it’s all complete misinformation in both directions, a real shame. I’m sure this content Creator has not intentionally done any of that, but Sara Lee bread is not comparable to the bread she chose… honestly most of the time you just have to use your own common sense and daily observations, for most of this. Of course that wouldn’t get any clicks… The quality of the video and charts were very good, not as impressed with the Contant. Thanks have a good day!
@@johnhenry103 This comparison was about the inflation in both countries, over a period of a year, so in that sense, valid.
She should have compared them,her taste are expensive, oh well if you have the money
@@akyhne I said Aldi, not Lidl. And there are Aldi in Kansas at least. So it would be a better compression.
I’d love to know how much is actually cost of production and how much is corporations padding their pockets - especially for more processed foods. Here in the US the profit margins of some of these massive food corporations is shocking!!
worth mentioning that usually when I go shopping in REWE I end up paying around 30% more than me buying stuff in LIDL. This is not only caused by price differences though, but also by buying more expensive stuff because of the presentation etc.
I live in San Antonio, TX and work at a massive grocery store here in south Texas (HEB).
Was in Munich for a week last year and shopped at REWE that whole week. Can confirm this video is 100% spot on, in terms of the sharp difference in price, and not to mention, the difference in quality. Germany has a massive advantage, especially if you shop at discount stores, or even maybe the Turkish grocery stores
Thats quite interesting. I am often commute between Austin and Los Angeles. I found that CA is significantly cheaper than TX (like 25%). She is pointing to kind of non US standards. It is better to buy 1gal of milk for $3.69 instead of half gallon for $2.69. Same with yoghurt. Meat, beef high quality cost $4.99/lb. Pork 2.49/lb. Yes in bigger packages. At Costco.
What also is a pretty big difference between Germany and other EU countries and the US is that Food is generally more healthy than in the US especially if you compare bread or the strange stuff that is called bread in the us
Yes, I remember that I had a loaf of bread lost in a cabinet for a whole month while in the States. It never molded, which means it was never real bread! Americans also pump their farm animals full of hormones to plump them up too to get more bang for their buck, something which I don't think EU countries would permit.
i guess for that's thing called bread in US are more useful applications possible, one you can instantly throw it away...
US beef, chicken, eggs, and dairy products are banned in the EU because of the use of hormones and chemicals that are deemed unsafe… The comparison on price alone is incorrect.
Don't even get me started on cheese.... The abomination sold as "swiss" cheese is an insult to us Swiss.
Correct!
A Canadian situation shows that food prices rose faster than general inflation, AND that the major grocery store chains' profits rose even faster... The grocery CEO's also made HUGE salaries, too, so...
IT'S CAPITALISM & GREED!
Studies found no intrinsic driver for the overly-rapid food price increases, the only cause was profit.
I find it kind of funny... people complaining about inflation. I remember a time with over 200% inflation in my country. So, seeing 10 or 20% doesn't impress me.
Inflation is calculated on a number of items that everybody uses. Some of these are food, but there is also fuel in there. If fuel becomes cheaper (which it has) or doesn't go up in price, it's pretty obvious that general inflation is lower than the price increase in food items.
So that conclusion of yours is a little too quick.
It doesn't mean that the phenomenon you mention didn't happen, but you cannot draw that conclusion based on general inflation versus food prices inflation.
I live in Canada and while you are correct, the grocery divisions of the large chains were not separated from the totals. Loblaws owns Shoppers Drug Mart and I’ll bet a big proportion of the gross profits came from there. I would like to see a separation of the profit streams.
@@octavianpopescu4776 10-20% inflation still are a catastrophe. We should compare to the better not to the worst.
@@nochnfux It's not a catastrophe. It is indeed unpleasant, but nowhere near to a catastrophe. People have this doom and gloom attitude today. This is part of why I stopped watching the news: too much over-the-top language and apocalyptic rhetoric. It's not nothing, but at the same time, it's not something unfixable or unsurvivable. And a lot of this clickbaity wording made people think this way and miss the bigger picture. Humanity has survived worse, we will survive this too.
Being a U.S. supermarket junkie for many years, I’ve been exploring/comparing the grocery scene in both eastern and western Europe now for several months, I’ve come to a few conclusions. In general, staples (milk, bread, eggs, potatoes, apples,water) and wines - are much more affordable, available,and likely higher quality in Europe vs the U.S. Other non-staple items not so much. Cereals, snacks, meats, seafood , can be as expensive in Europe as the U.S. Where the U.S. excels is in specialty items, variety, and also big box stores, I.e. Costco! When compared to the Paris Costco,U.S. Costcos are light years ahead in every way. But at the end of the day, I’d rather have a 1 Euro French baguette than $4 Sara Lee any day.
I want to remind You about the tons of additives in US food
You call the average US box of sugar "Cereals"? Nice try.
this comparison has value only in the context of comparison after tax income which in general is higher in US
@@giladshulkin1443 in US Minus health insurance, -student loans, -out of pocket medicine etc.
Ashton made a really advanced comparison between Germany and the US, just check it, You will be surprised
I have Linked In so it is easy to compare the income for my job, and in average the US is plus 30% but the cost of living etc equals the difference very fast
Super market junkie for many years.... Lol what are you on about
The fact you mentioned several times how such a comparison must invariably be far from perfect makes it a very good report. Thank you Ashton for giving a practical example of how to apply rational and critical thinking in everyday life.
Kind of makes it a useless comparison.
I am German but have been going back and forth to the States for almost 20 years now. Even though you came to a different conclusion in your year-over-year comparison this time, I bet you could shop way cheaper in Germany than the States if you stick just to the store brands. Just remember this, Walmart failed in Germany because it was to expensive! Maybe next time or in addition to this Video shop at Aldi in both countries. The US Aldi has a lot of store brand items from the German Aldi. That would be a true one on one comparison or by in each store just the cheapest store brand product.
I do store brand here in WA state too and sales!!! We also grow a lot of produce ourselves. This year is going to be 20 different varieties of plants being in the 1,000 range of each, and 2,500-3,000 for sale.
I do store brand here in WA state too and sales!!! We also grow a lot of produce ourselves. This year is going to be 20 different varieties of plants being in the 1,000 range of each, and 2,500-3,000 for sale.
You could do this to other way around too. Many of the Products in Germany can be more expensive than in this video.
I have no data for the US, but I always had the impression that most foodstuffs are definitely more expensive in the US. Even more so when it comes to locally produced stuff. Like, US mass-produced branded cheese (there is Wisconsin cheddar, Wisconsin cheddar and Wisconsin cheddar? ;-)) is more expensive than mass-produced German emmentaler or Dutch gouda. Sprout's or Whole Food's compared to German cheese from local dairy producers and agricultural co-ops - whoa! Talk about sticker shock.
I would also point out that the Schwarzwaldmilch is one of the more expensive brands, even though it is local to Freiburg, and that REWE will take a significant mark-up. I buy my milk from my local dairy plant outlet at (currently) 90 Cents per liter. The very same milk sells for 1,59 Euro at the grocery chain store down the road. Well, I admit to a bias. The outlet is on my way to work. And the milk at the grocery chain store has to do a 120 km detour courtesy of logistics.
Bread, yeah. I would see that strictly as a courtesy title even for "Golden Toast" ;-) OTOH you can get the same as an off-brand product. Same factory, different packaging.
My household bookkeeping gives me +3,2% in 2022 and +5,0% in 2023 for food overall.
Walmart failed in Germany because it's business model was incompatable with German culture. Their low wages & union supression just didn't work in the strong union mindset of both the German workers & government & the Team-building motivation exercises that begun every morning wasn't really the German style. Also the German shoppers were attached to their usual grocery stores & supermarkets & few changed their ways. Europeans & Americans just have different shopping habits.
It's below-cost strategy too, which works well for the chain in the USA, just didn't wash in Germany. They were prosecuted for unfair competition & the high court ordered them to raise their prices inline with other outlets, which also made them less attractive.
There were a few other contributory factors but after 9 years, Walmart gave up & left Germany in 2006 with a loss of $3 billion.
In most states in the US, including California where I live, sales tax is not applied to grocery items meant for consumption. Prepared food, alcohol and soda are taxed, but bread, yoghurt, eggs, etc. are not.
A quick google search says only four US states do not charge tax on food. I paid it an hour ago in Missouri.
@@stevesecret2515 Actually, grocery food is exempt from most state-level general sales taxes. Among the 13 states that tax it, only Alabama, Mississippi, and South Dakota levy their full tax rate without any credit or rebate. So no state tax on food in most states and a reduced tax in some others. However, there may be local taxes on food in some states.
Missouri is one of six states that have the same state tax on food as on other purchases.
@emjayay Thanks for the clarification. Saved me the trouble.
Only 13 states tax groceries.
Your videos are absolutely amazing: high quality, well researched, very objective, professionally edited and presented, interesting and educational - and for us as a Canadian-German couple - very relatable. Please keep doing what you’re doing - so we can enjoy more of your amazing, insightful presentations! ❤
Wow, thank you so much for watching and for the kind compliment.
@@TypeAshton truly deserved (the compliment) - as your videos are so insightful, informative and professional in comparison to so much else that is out there on RUclips. There definitely is no shortage of ‚vlogers‘, and/or ‚influencers‘ etc. - but the level of quality I see in your contributions is rare ! By the way: happy New Year to you and your family on that note …
Happy New Year to you and your family as well!
The only 😮
I lived in the US my whole life until moving to Sweden a bit over a year ago. In the last several years, even before the pandemic, food prices in the US had started to significantly rise before everything went up insanely during/after COVID. In the area I had lived, I was spending around $200 a week at the grocery store, and I live alone! The financial strain along with my ridiculously overpriced rent was difficult to deal with, even choosing discount stores and cheaper items wasn't enough so quantity had to be sacrificed.
In Sweden, I spend about 1/3 of that on groceries each week, and along with lower rent, it leaves me with a comfortable amount of savings. Now I actually feel like I have a chance to make it in life, maybe even buy my own home in a few more years. More importantly though, I'm happier and healthier than ever, and having access to affordable high-quality foods probably played a huge role in that.
How do I do what you're doing?
Very well done with very reasonable assumptions to not make things overly complicated while still providing a robust outcome, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching!
One thing I have observed when looking at the prices you compare is that in Germany you tend to buy organic products / "expensive brands" but did not in the US.
... but this makes a huge difference especially in the US.
It´s not so much about bargaining as you said you didn´t do but the price difference between organic and regular food in the US is much larger than here in Germany.
@@bigdog8008 Although it's fair to add sales tax to the prices in th U.S.
In Germany (and the rest of Europe as well) sales tax must be included in all published prices.
@@MHG1023 Many states do not charge sales taxes at all on grocery items. The only reason I didn't say "all" is because I don't feel like researching tax codes in 50 different states (not even mentioning county and city add-ons), but I think it's more likely than not, and even if it's not 100%, it's probably the usual suspects of NY, CA, and etc. that have asinine tax rates to begin with. Kinda like Europe.
I don't know about retail stores in the US, but the German products you chose are actually on the medium to high end price range. With eggs, for instance, there's a range of products varying from 1,99 to 3,29 EUR per container of ten, depending on the way the chickens are handled (the more expensive the better, at least that's the claim) while totally ignoring the size (this has puzzled me for a long time - you get containers from the same category for the same price with egg sizes from S (small) to L (large) for exactly the same price - crazy). With milk this depends on the percentage of fat (with lower percentages being cheaper than higher ones). The brand on the other hnd doesn't really make a difference in my opinion, so the average price for a store brand (like "ja!" from Rewe) for a 1 L container with 1,5% fat is around 95ct. Thus while comparing US to German prices this could influence your comparison quite a bit. Of course that's not the goal of this video, which I find highly informative, so thank you for your effort!
Also: bio bananas. Might've been the only ones available, but those are usually a lot more expensive than the non-bio ones.
hi there! I also noticed my mistake at the checkout counter. I went back and it appeared that whomever stocked the shelves had put the bio bananas in the non-bio banana spot. So to keep things accurate the prices shown in the video reflect the listed retail price for Chiquita (non-bio) bananas and not the ones that I actually purchased.
It was right didn't you see the note.
A chicken which lays smaller eggs doesn't make less work to the farmer. Of course you cannot expect them to be cheaper. Would be maybe 1 cent per egg anyway. And for the 3,29€ max prize: I bought a ten-pack for 4,99€ a few days ago. In northern germany. Milk is 1,19€ for the ja-brand. 1,74€ for the name brand milk.
@@Penqvino I've seen in-house brand milk (probably what most people buy) at 1.19 about half a year ago, and it's back to 99 cents now (for 3.5% fat, 1.5% is about 5 cents cheaper), which is still more than it used to be (88 cents a year ago).
And that milk in the video is basically a regional upper price brand. So comparing 1.69 and 0.95 is quite the difference.
Pasta on the other hand used to be 69 cents for 500 g, and is still at 89 cents.
And yes, the price difference with our eggs comes down to production methods. Cage eggs are the cheapest, then "Bodenhaltung" (the chickens have actual soil to walk on), then "Freilandhaltung" (they can go outdoors and see the sun), and the most expensive is Bio.
In the U.S. bird flu heavily impacted egg prices for a period of time as the supply was much smaller. Once new hens were raised to replace the ones eliminated, the prices dropped. Costs for farmers (including heating and cooling for chicken living, feed, regulations to cull all of the birds if one is sick) and transport to stores have impacted prices. I'm in the South which is closer to ports where bananas arrive.
I was going to make this same comment about the bird flu impacting prices for eggs! Thanks!
Eggs at my local Krogers are $1.19 per dozen.
@@jamesodell3064 where are you located? I’m outside Washington DC and eggs are pricey, but we go through a lot in a week since we’re vegetarian so maybe that’s why I notice.
Detroit area. That was about the price I remembered paying and I checked the price online. At Aldi the price is under $1. Of course these are not organic. @@katie.r.vannuys
“”””bird flu””””
Looking forward towards part 3 of the comparison next year 😊
I live in the Netherlands, close to the German border. I think the price differences between the two countries are interesting. People on both side of the border know what to get on the other side. Meat, flour, pasta, alcohol and things like shampoo are cheaper in Germany. Whereas produce (including frozen vegetables), coffee, rice and household items such as garbage bags are cheaper in the Netherlands.
Considering that discount supermarkets and their cheaper store brands are such a huge segment of the market in Germany, this comparison probably does not really reflect the shopping habits of most people, e.g. I bought a carton of 10 large eggs at Lidl the other day for 2.29. I've also never found any additional value in buying Golden Toast products over the much cheaper store brands. Also, I noticed that you bought "organically" grown bananas in Germany. Was this also the case with the Dole bananas in the US? Anyway, it's not easy to meaningfully compare products across very different markets and I appreciate the effort. It's certainly an interesting topic.
Just to let you know not evebody shop at Penny or lidl specially the eggs. I avoid it.😊
i appreciate the " " around organically. such a load of bs marketing
Chiquita aren't organic. At my discounter organic bananas tend to be cheaper than chiquita but still more expensive than the budget option, though. You pay extra for the brand which is understandable, after all, think of the shareholders of United Fruits, they have to recoup the loss of South American slave plantations...
Same in the US. Consider that
@@amazonas410 You don't need to shop at certain stores for the retail price. These prices are identical across all stores. A package of Spaghetti is the same price at Aldi and Kaufland.
Every time we travel back to the US to visit family, we cry every time we go grocery shopping. A huge part of our vacation budget goes to food. My wife finally refused to get Greek yoghurt last October. She did not want to pay $8 for a tub (not even 1kg). Even at Walmart! It's €1.98 for a tub of 1kg
Happy New Year. I'm from Germany and I have found that the prices for vegetarian or vegan products have continued to fall over the last two years. For example, oat/almond milk is now cheaper than lactose-free milk, vegan bratwurst is cheaper than the meat version and 40% vegetarian/60% pork minced meat is cheaper than 100% minced meat. I'm now looking closely to see what the cheaper option is in the supermarket.
oh wow thats actually pretty awesome =)
ive been going for the veggie alternatives a lot lately, but i didnt pay much attention to price differences to equivalent amounts of meat
and given that veggies are much more efficient to produce, thats honestly the way it should be... meat should be pretty expensive compared to most veggie products, given how much goes into producing meat
so either the "green/vegan" markup is slowly going away or the meat prices rise faster than veggie prices
I think a lot of that has to do with increased production and availability. Vegetarian or vegan alternatives aren't the strange thing in the back corner of the store anymore, but are pretty much right next to the meat version.
Yes, I noticed this, too. I'm not actually a vegetarian or vegan, but I have to watch my calorie intake for health reasons. Recently, I have noticed that many meat substitutes not only contain up to 2/3 fewer calories, but are also cheaper than comparable sausage products. So my diet is slowly becoming more and more meat-free. That's fine by me.
where were you shopping? the price of vegan milk from oat increased here from 1.99€ to 2.19€. It's still great, but i would love to see vegan products being cheaper then animal products.
@@vuhdoo7486 I buy from Netto, the BioBio oat/almond milk costs €0.95 (NOT a promotional price) and is 24 cents cheaper than the lactose-free milk. Of course, if you want to include a brand name, then you'll pay €2 per liter. For me it's the content that counts, not the brand that's on the box.
Thanks for this video! It is something I’ve noticed moving from the US to Germany and then visiting the States recently (in a family home, so I buy normal groceries there) is how much more expensive groceries are in the US. Meat is obvious more expensive per 100g in Munich, but I find the quality to be better than the same standard US grocery meat.
Great video.
And, as expected from this channel, not just a rant about rising prices but a decent explanation why this happens.
Thanks Peter! Glad you liked the video. Happy New Year.
@@TypeAshton Also a happy new year to the four of you!
Her prices are also way, way off.
You either didn't watch the video or you didn't listen.
I can tell you, that most of food inflation, has to do with countries selling their food to China primarily and other countries, as well. Shorting the food supplies at home, causes shortages, which causes food prices to go higher. In fact, selling food abroad, means that the citizens subsidize other nations to eat what the citizens are being deprived of.
Thank you for the video. What my wife and I are struggling with is the cost of housing. Where we live in the USA houses are no longer affordable. Houses a few years ago that were affordable in the $250K price range are now > $500K. It really is disheartening to feel like we cannot move.
Here in Germany people dream about houses that cheap.
@@noergelsteinIn Germany people Don't really buy houses
I live near Aachen and I recently had a trip to Boston and compared my grocery prices between the areas. It was about 3x more expensive in Boston than it is where I live in Germany. When I look at cost of living calculators that also seems about right. What I notice is that areas of the USA I would never live in do have food that is about the same price overall but anywhere I would actually want to live has food and housing costs that are 2x-3x higher than in Germany.
I have family in SWFla but grew up in Boston. We visit annually, prices are most definitely much more expensive, even when comparing store brand, in the US. Prices are higher, quality is lower there.
My experience too, East Coast U.S. (both rural and urban) compared to Hessen/Rheinland-Pfalz, the German prices are half of the U.S., for better food. That's been true for 10 or 15 years.
@@mdwlark1 I looked at what I would have to make to move to Boston compared to what I make in Germany just to break even on the increase in housing and food costs and it is quite a lot more. The equivalent of a 1200 euro/month apartment in Aachen seems to run about 4000 usd/month or more in Boston and the prices in Boston keep increasing rapidly.
So what you are doing right now is comparing Aachen to a city like Boston, which has the 4th highest median wages in the world. That seems a bit absurd.
Good thing about Germany is also that there are great cities throughout the country, for example Aachen. Medium city not as expensive as the big cities but still great cities and you’re not in the middle of nowhere.
As a Californian I'm shocked y'all have tax on groceries. That's illegal here for non-prepared food. We also are seeing prices go down overall.
California has the highest sales tax in America. You're just not taxed on food.
Could you once compare the prices of ALDI in Germany and ALDI in the US?
Absolutely! That's on my short list of videos to make this coming August when I return to the US for a short family visit.
I would be happy to provide prices from Aldi or Lidl in Switzerland. --Peter
Evan Edinger did this last year for ALDI US and ALDI UK; US prices for comparable items then were on average almost 100% higher than UK! ruclips.net/video/TmWBqjBLVYM/видео.htmlsi=Rq6n9IkqjtP8xRoM
How about a visit to Swiss grocery stores? They have a reputation for less food processing and more organic in quality.
@@JoseLopez-tk4tq Ashton was looking at inflation - not food quality in this small scale study.
Inflation in Switzerland is typically lower. Overall 2% in the last 2 years, normally less. But food prices may indeed have seen higher increases.
Same story in Canada as in US. I eat pretty basic , so I’m actually thinking about how much money I could save by living in Germany (or the Netherlands for that matter). That German meat, bread and cheese is of great quality is another bonus.
I lived in the south of Germany (close to Stuttgart) 5 years and the last 15 years in Montreal. The food prices in Montreal were roughly 15-30% higher in Montreal than in Germany even 15 years ago. But...if you are highly qualified professional in life science industries (pharma, biotech, medtech) or IT, your income before and after taxes is at least 2 fold higher in Montreal with relatively comparable overall living costs. 6 figures salaries are very typical in Canadian pharma for mid magament and are very uncommon in German pharma.
However, people with regular jobs would be better off anywhere in Germany than in Canada.
Same. I could probably afford to eat healthier in a place like Germany. I make all my food from scratch and still save a lot going to ethnic food shops.
We lived in the UK half the year for the past 21 years and always the food prices were significantly higher than in Florida Not so in the past two years. I was floored to see how much our grocery prices had gone up in America. Today I put back a bag of citrus fruit because it was way too expensive….and I live in Florida !
Hey Dr Ashton Happy New Year🎉🎉 i hope that you and your family had a great and fun New Years Eve?😊
As always a great fun and informative video well done keep up the great work👍
And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱
Happy new year! Thanks for watching!
super informativ like always, thank you!
2 Things, usually you can find the 'normal' price of goods on sale on the 'bon' you get in the end, at most supermarkets, because they want to show you how much you saved by shopping reduced goods. Also, it makes total sense for bananas to be more expensive, because the way is way shorter in the US or can even be grown in the country itself, while Germany often has to import half around the world, and given prices for fuel are a big factor the increase makes total sense.
The difference in distance for bananas between the Netherlands and Germany is negligible, the price difference isn't (much less expensive in the Netherlands).
I look at the receipts I get from my local stores, and if I haven't "saved" at least a quarter of the original price, I feel I'm not doing a good job. While I have shopped in Germany on my own, I don't know if they have the coupon culture that stores have fostered here in the US.
Those "savings" that you see on the receipt are probably a mirage. "Sale" prices are often semi-permanent, and the "regular" prices are just there for show. This was the rationale behind Walmart's "everyday low prices"; stop the pretense and give the actual price right off the bat.
@@jamesheartney9546 As I shop in 2 stores pretty consistently, I do see that the sale prices are lower than usual. In another comment, I mentioned that I bought a 10 pack of chicken leg quarters, they were on sale for $0.97/lb. Normally, these are $2.99/lb. But I just wait for the sales and seal and freeze things. In my freezer right now I have 2 racks of baby back pork ribs. These were $2.50/lb. on sale, normally $5/lb.
that is not total true @@apveening. South Germany is about 700km away from the seaports in Rotterdam. Any truck that transport items from Rotterdam to Freiburg Im Breisgau will increase the price of a product. I bet there are some ports closer to Freiburg then Rotterdam (Antwerpen) but transport by trucks or trains will always add costs.
Another typically well researched and entertaining report, thanks. Things are similar here in Austria. Although we're _Europameister_ in rising food costs, it's still quite a bit cheaper than in the States. What has skyrocketed in the last year or two are restaurant prices. Luckily, we get most of our food from farmers and our balcony.
Cheers and _ein frohes neues Jahr_ from snowy Vienna, Scott
This has been a very insightful video for me and I'm looking forward to the one next year. Danke.
And this is not considering the fact that EU food standards are FAR HIGHER than the US. It would be interesting to source and PRICE a grocery basket in the US that meets EU standards.
Please don't call that abomination at 4:00 bread.
You compared German .non ecological bananas from last year to ecological bananas this year in Germany. Surprisingly enough non ecological bananas are chaeper.
I would never buy cheap chlorine-chicken.
1:20 And the reason prices are outpacing inflation is because supermarkets have been caught _repeatedly_ to increase prices much higher than necessary purely for profit, as they think consumers won’t notice the price gauging due to inflation. Despicable!
Excellent video, very insightful.
Happy New Year for the Black Forest Family 😉 and all Viewers!
Happy New Year Arno.
Frohes Neues, Arno!
Happy New year to you as well Arno!
German, here: prices for veggies are variing largely from week to week. So it's important to take a close look at the price per kilogram. Which I always do.
I.e.: last summer, we saw prices for red bell pepper to go up to 10€/kg. Reason: 'cause of the gas prices, there was no more production in glasshouses in Germany. And the crop in Sain was low, 'cause of the draught. Shortly before, the price at ALDI had been 2,89€/kg.
Over the last half year, the prices of a single organic cucumber at ALDI went from 0,83€ up to 1,89€ and is now at 1,39€.
Comparing prices is a very important thing for me. I.e.: YumYum instant ramen noodles are 0,59 at our local turkish supermarket (and lately at ALDI for a week), 0,69 at EDEKA and 0,79 at famila. Last time I bought them at our asian grocery store, for buying 10, I got a reduced price of 0,30€, each.
The price of veggies also depends on the season, and if it's in season. Chinakohl varies between 1€/kg while in season up to 6€/kg out of season. The only exception to this are all kinds of berrys, which are always expensive at the store.
The information you present is so straightforward, thorough, and helpful. Thank you!
That intro was top notch!Happy New Year to you and your family and off to a successful year 2024
Happy new year! Thanks for watching!
Boneless skinless chicken breasts in the US are typically $2-2.50 a pound, even organic is $4 something, not sure what the chicken you are buying is but that price is insane.
Bread - ok, we NEVER buy processed bread here in Switzerland. We always buy Vollkornsauserteigbrote in the Bäckerei or perhaps in a Supermarket if they do their own baking. When on trips to Germany I love going to the supermarkets which host a local Bäckerei at the front door. Thinking of Edeka, here.
Now all this is "interesting", but one really should factor in the comparable incomes and what proportionally what costs where. Here in Switzerland almost everything is much more expensive, sometimes double what it is in Germany. But ... incomes in Switzerland are also often much, much higher here in Switzerland, so that the proportional costs of staples here may actually be lower than in Germany. If we are earning 3 times what one does in Germany, but food is "only" double the expense here as in Germany, the pocketbook experiences those purchases as "less expensive" in Switzerland. But in terms of raw numbers, when we travel to Germany, it's like getting our food for next to nothing.
Schön für die Schweizer ,uns Deutschen geht es so wenn wir zum Einkaufen nach Polen fahren, aber wo fahren die Polen hin,in die Ukraine
@@aubergine1236 und die Ukrainer nach Russland 😆 (nicht mehr)
your videos are always very well thought out and have a lot of value. thank you for investing all that work 👍
Happy new year! Really liked your video, excellent research. I would be very interested to see how much subsidies the food industries are receiving and how this impacts the pricing.
I was shocked to hear that Kansas has a sales tax on (grocery) food, as none of the states I've lived in (CO, NM, NJ) tax food. It looks like the sales tax on food in KS (at least the state part of the tax - dunno about local taxes) will be eliminated in 2025! I also lived in Germany, but that was in the 1980s, so I don't remember much about how the prices compared.
"I was shocked to hear that Kansas has a sales tax on (grocery) food"
I'm quite certain that was because of the huge state budget shortfalls caused by that idiot Sam Brownback's "Kansas Experiment" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment
IDK about Kansas (she could be confused and think normal sales tax applies to unprepared food?) But Tennessee has a 5% sales tax on unprepared food and we are one of the few states that does it (but at the same time we have no income tax so....)
Last year I was in Germany and I grabbed 6 beers, a can of coke, loaf of bread, three yoghurts, some lunch meat, a tube of mustard, and a packet of cheese.
I expected it to be €30. The total was €12.65
Six beers €3.50
Happy New Year to xou n your family. May 2024 bring us, your fans, MORE informative vids dealing with diff. topics. ❤
This was a wonderful analysis and really useful. I very much appreciate your work. Yes, I would find it very interesting if you would revisit this next year.
Our family do the once a week grocery shopping in Germany usully at Kaufland. So we pay less than you pay at Rewe. But inflation here goes on. Right now I see a big price increase at convenience products like frozen pizza.
There are 2 things I would take into consideration comaring these prices:
1st: The overall income in germany is lower compared to the US. So the same rise of cost in groceryshopping would have a somewhat larger impact compared to the US.
2nd: Even if it is in theory the same product the quality in germany / the EU is way higher compared to the US. I would not even consider buying non organic chicken for home use in the US. As for bread and some other products there is not even help buying organic porducts as - thanks to genetic reengineering those products are genetically altered, but have not to be labeled as such. The only help would be to bake your own bread with fkour from other countries...
Taking those quality issues into consideration the US is even more overprized compared to the EU.
The statement about the income is not quite correct. In both countries the median income is roughly the same, as of 2023; prolly even with a slight advantage of Germany, because a German barely has to spend on, say, healthcare. In the US it's about 2,376 USD/month, in Germany it's about 2,280 EUR/month. Net incomes, the value for the US was found on Quora, the value for Germany was obtained from the Statistisches Bundesamt.
Well articulated and produced, these are very good videos to help everyday folks understand the difference not only in parts of the world, but the inflation, cause.. and outcome. Thank you.
An investigation into the subsidies behind these items for each country would be fascinating! Even just a review of where the food comes from would be enlightening for both peoples!
As for the bananas i would think the difference would be the distance they need to be shipped
I had the very same thought. No surprise at all that they are more expensive here in Germany.
Plus the "German" bananas were organic and I doubt the Dole bananas bought in the US were.
Fortunately, you missed our "egg-citing" egg shortage that occurred mid summer 2023 where eggs jumped to $6/dozen! It came due to bird illness that was wide-spread in the US egg suppliers.
Actually it’s been shown that it was mostly due to price-fixing. The egg flu was an issue initially but then corporations just kept the prices high even when the issue subsided.
No.... The problem is that the US farmers should improve the hygienic standards instead of focusing only on profit.
Toast? - Das ist doch kein richtiges Brot? - Warum vergleichst Du nicht richtiges, gutes, eßbares Vollkorn-Brot?
Comparing the price of meat is complicated. Much US beef would not be legal in EU, because of the use of growth hormones. Could you compare the price of hormone free, grass fed beef. Same for free-range chicken.
I'm in Germany, and since Corona I now typically do biweekly grocery shopping (in Edeka) for 4 people. About 12..15 Months ago was typically around 300 Eur, and now for essentially the same I have to pay around 400 Eur. Since it's a large amount of stuff discounts, as well as higher prices for single items have very little impact on the whole. I think this 30% Price increase is what most people here experience as well, independent whether you go to a discounter like Lidl, or a supermarket like Rewe/Edeka.
Edeca is not the cheapest store in Germany. Switch to Aldi or Lidl and shop smart will reduce your costs.
Hi Ashton, they DO tell you the original price in most stores. The on sale price tags are usually simply stuck in front of the original tags, so you can just bend the plastic covers a bit and check behind those.
Fascinating. Very well done.
Thank you! Cheers!
As a Swiss, it's always fun to travel to the US and see how cheap things over there are (With a few exceptions like amuesment parks, parking in touristy areas, ..)
You need to add cheese. 100 gram of Emmi Le Gruyere is $10.
Another great video Ashton! As a German expat living in in Atlantic Canada, I am astonished how the food prices here have gone up, far more than general inflation, while grocery giants have recorded record profits… insane! A local potato grower told me the retailers mark his produce up over 300% of what they pay him! Hard to justify despite the high transportation and distribution costs. “Shrinkflation” is also a factor not to be ignored! Smaller packaging, higher prices… In Germany, shopping at discounters like Aldi or Lidl is still affordable.
Ontario is bad too
It really is pretty tough. The item where i probably noticed it the most was cauliflower. It currently costs like 5€ at my rewe (organic, per piece). I know that it's not in season anymore but still this is a pretty tough price. I just googled it now and seemingly this is actually a thing others noticed too and it's partly being sold for 7€ per piece. I mean if i remember correctly it was 2-3€ last year. Also something i noticed was how the gap in tomatoes feels like it's getting wider and wider. Imported discount tomatoes are still really cheap for like 1€ per 250g or so. While the regional (not even organic) ones are like 4€ per 250g at the same store.
Of course many things have stayed the same and many items are getting more expensive but not as much. But those were just 2 that stood out to me personally. Also just a subjective feeling, maybe i misremember something and it always has been like this.
Tomatoes are not in season either, so the local ones are grown in heated greenhouses. Energy prices!
I was shocked at the prime of cauliflower recently. Also, Saladin are sometimes double the prime they used to be here in Germany. I wish it wasn't the healthy food that was hit this hard.
You can buy frozen cauliflower
wow - In Denmark (Bilka) organic cauliflower costs about 2,5 Euro/piece january 2024. Organic vegetables are not much more expensive than traditional grown.
@@mortenhansen2578 Honestly in germany organic isn't that much more expensive either. The problem is that while the organic cauliflower costs 5€ the regular one still costs 4€ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You do exellent work! Can't praise you enough.
Thanks for the video! price of groceries has def been on people's minds as of late!
one question: did you shoot the grocery store stuff on an iPhone? The exposure seems to be a bit wild in those clips. My suggestion is to check the color setting in your editing software to see if you're in the correct color space to make use of the phone's HDR. In Premiere, within the media window, I'll change the clip's color space from Rec.2100 to Rec.2020. I'm sure there's a way to do that in other software like FCPX or Resolve
thanks again!
Our personal monthly grocery shopping increased by 30% in the last 12 months... This includes that the kids started eating more, but still 😮
We have noticed an uptick as well, especially in the summer when we tend to grill a lot more. I was shocked at the price of meat lately.
ruclips.net/video/6CrmxzdyTAY/видео.html mentions +28% on grocery in the past 24 months in Germany.
Really interesting development but I must say, as I live in UK - I feel the pinch of inflation more severely than in Germany.
I track weekly: cheese, eggs, bacon and chicken and all these staple items have gone up by whopping 58% on average since 2021, never mind that UK was on egg rationing amongst many other fresh produce.So, Germany is well placed and food inflation is relatively moderate compared to my country.
Brexit.
A lot of the sky high UK price increases are down to excessive profiteering by unscrupulous companies.
Food prices are likely to rise even further in Blighty when the UK finally starts custom checks on EU imports at the end of this month.
Since the UK imports more food than it exports, and since those exports now have an extra markup because the UK left the EU's common market, it's not surprising that prices have risen more than on the continent. Also, UK farmers have lost EU subsidies, which have not been replaced by the UK government.
@@SeverityOneThe government could drop those import fees for those products that they really need to import. It's a choice of the government in the end. Just like with subsidies. All of a sudden those billions they would save from leaving the EU seem to have vanished.
When I worked for a German company, when execs came to Alberta Canada, all these Germans wanted to eat was beef steak. The biggest they could get. When I went to German and ordered an extremely expensive steak, you could fax it, it was so thin
So good to see you Dr Aston ❤❤😍😍
Great to see you again too! Hope you have a great start to the New Year!
Nice Video. I think a comparison like yours is much more relateble than a dry statistic.
All been said food in Germany was very cheep to beginn with. Meat for example has to be more expansive to ensure the animals a treated …. A little better.
For those wondering why she didn’t go to Aldi or a similarly low price store: Aldi is available in the US, but it’s not available everywhere. Aldi’s website doesn’t show any locations in the Pacific Northwest, for example. Some cities that have Aldi might only have 1-2 in the whole metro area, and driving 30 minutes or taking a bus an hour out of your way might not be feasible for a few bucks of savings. I think comparing two mid-priced grocery stores is a more realistic comparison for the sake of this video.
In the Northwest we go to WinCo. A store brand 550g loaf is $1.29, and brand name loafs are $2.00-3.49. And Sara Lee is probably the MOST EXPENSIVE normal brand here.
The difference is that euros will use their food, while us Americans will likely not sell most of it. And, we will likely let half rot once we get it home
17:27 Not complicated, it’s ✨ *Greed* ✨
Demand doesn’t force higher prices, that’s a conscious decision companies and corporations make, because of *Greed* / bc they can. It’s not actually necessary.
Those prices... 4$ for a loaf of bread... yet some of them, especially the german prices were cheaper than up here in Scandinavia.
I think a missing factor is that there has been some forms of price gouging. Grocery stores are reporting record profits, so clearly not all of the price inflation is coming from increased production costs.
And that bread was upscale, you can get a similar bread but without the name brand for 1.49 in germany.
Ok bread in Germany can cost 4€ aswell BUT i talk about bread. A real huge loaf of bread from the baker made in a woodfire oven 😊.
In my case even 4,50 but one person can eat a week on it until it's gone. Huge loafs i tell you 😁.
The Sara Lee Bread from the video is more comparable to the 0.99 EUR bread in Germany from its quality and taste. It;s kind of as it wanted to be cake but failed to become a cake even though with all the added sugar it's too bitter to be considered a cake 😂
Hello Ashton, I hope you and yours had a good Übergang. Ty for taking a quick trip to the US for this video. ;)
When you put one "stayed-the-same" price (e.g.: at 5:25) in red, but another "stayed-the-same" price (e.g.: at 6:43) in green, you suggest, that "the same price" depicted in green is somehow better, than "the same price" depicted in red.
That's because red is connotated with warnings/something negative, while green is connotated with something positive.
So...why use two different colors for what's basically the same thing, in the first place?
It's an editing error. I had meant for it to stay green if it stayed the same. Sorry for the oversight.
Basically all the German brands she bought are on the more expensive side of the spectrum and she went shopping in the German supermarket chain which is known to be one of the most expensive chains in Germany... so you could even easily cut those German prices in half by simply shopping differently 😅
Good comparison. I wish an Aldi store near me here in Ohio had as much choice as some local and national chains nearby. Even though prices have gone up a bit at Aldi too, I still enjoy buying whatever I can at Aldi. Nothing beats paying only $1.39 for 150 grams of Choceur chocolate 🍫
My plan is to head to Aldi when I am back state-side in August and do this comparison with discount grocers as well.
Frohes Neues. Wow Ashton, you skin looks great. Did you start to use sun screen?
Thank you Ashton for this well-produced and informative video on increasing food prices. All I know for sure is that on my fixed-income in the US, I can no longer afford beef. The price of beef, with my memory for prices, which is highly accurate, is almost double what it would have cost me two years ago. I've even resorted to shopping for food at Walmart, but I refuse to wear my pajamas and slippers as many there do. 😁
In the US the consumer also pays for chickens to be bathed in chlorinated water and eggs to be washed and to be refrigerated in supermarkets. Also, the US consumer pays for the chemical additives to food to ensure a longer shelf life for those products. I first thought those US chicken fillets in your video were pre cooked, because of their brown color. Offcourse the US consumer has also to pay for longer shelf life as time costs money.
Ein gutes neues Jahr
Happy new year :)
Happy new year!
It's exactly the same here in Austria. I add up my supermarket spending every year, which resulted in an increase of 482 Euros (approx. 10 percent) in 2023 compared to 2022. And it would have been even more if I hadn't paid particular attention to discounts and other promotions last year. The prices of cheese, yogurt and fruit juices in particular have exploded.
When we are planning our next year’s holiday we always check on food prices at the place where we want to go by comparing current prospects prices from the places we want to go to our local prospects to get a general idea of the prices we will be facing.
You also need to factor food quality as well as price - such as the use of antibiotics in the food chain in the US, and the need to chlorine wash chicken because of the unhygienic manner in which chickens are reared.
Germany uses Paper egg cartons, Paper milk carton and Paper Yogurt container vs plastic & Styrofoam containers in US. Meat in Germany comes in a bag or plastic vs a Styrofoam tray in the US. Styrofoam is not accept to be recycled.
Good job. One tiny flaw of the comparison that I can see might be that you compare "less American" with "typical German" food, which may result in some distorted results. BUT in general that's pretty accurate. And you need to count in that you a) earn more $$ in the US b) that you have smaller product sizes in Germany but better quality (what you tried to balance via calculating per grams). But very surprising and nice conveying of the results. I just like to add that the prices can be very different in the US per region than the prices in Germany per region. Mostly all German regions have the same prices, unlike the regions in the US. I love how you added the supply chain difficulties and the international sea trade prices. the uptick in insurance costs for shipping.