Souvenir groceries?

I usually bring home some packets of schnitzel fix or flavoring packets for jagerschnitzel. I always bring home some Maggi bouillon. One year I discovered a sugar aisle in a store near us and brought home a box of beautiful large sugar crystals. I always look in the cookware aisle and have brought home some spätzle tools, good quality towels and dish cloths and the sturdiest cloth beverage container (6pack) ever. I use it for more than just bottles here at home. I always make sure I have enough individual packets of tissues for a year for me and my sister-in-law, were obsessive about this. I’m so excited, we’re heading to Germany in 3 weeks! What will I find this year?

EDIT: If you are checking a bag on the way home you can find the best small bread knives, brötchenmessers. And if you are into brötchen for breakfast you might also look for the small rectangular, decorative cutting/serving boards.

I like to bring back coffee (Eduscho brand from their shops), jam, honey & pumpkin seed oil (must be in checked bag), and cookies. i know most things can be gotten through Amazon, but I like to look and shop for them.

I'll be there in three weeks as well and I usually pick up:

• Mustard if I can find less than 3oz for carry on, otherwise I get a jar of Thomy, eat it there and bring the jar home to use as a tumbler (I have a whole set at home).
• Lebkuchenhertzen
• Chocolates (square chocolates are good because they are square, soooo German)

I've never brought sugar home but that is a good idea as they have lots of different versions you can't get here: Hagel Zucker (hail sugar for decorating), Rock Crystal Sugar that Mona mentions, Vanilla sugar (they don't use extract like in the US).

DJ

I just returned with the usual booty - but this is for driving and for the UK - from Germany which included several jars of jam, several squeeze bottles of Regensburg mustard, a year's supply of coffee maker water filters, McDonalds summer promotion glasses (a tradition for me, they change every year) and a bunch of German chocolate and German biscuits for my wife. This trip I didn't get any coffee in Luxembourg or toothpaste or sunscreen in Switzerland.

I usually bring back an electrical appliance or electronic gizmo or gizmos from Belgium or Germany (or Austria) but not this trip.

I indulge my sweet tooth. I always try to bring home several bars of Ritter Sport rum raisin bars, and a few boxes of lebkuchen. DH usually wants a jar of mustard.

Mustard! Yes! In tubes -what a great idea.

From Austria, a German speaking country: I brought back some souvenir cans of Austrian märzen beer.

I bring locally made mustards in little jars that can go on my carry-on. Also boxes of Knodel so that I can make an authentic German meal of some sort. Lebkuchen hearts are a must, with dark chocolate glaze. Used to bring coffee, but everyone switched to those capsule coffee makers. Tomato paste in a tube is good or Harissa or mustard in a tube.

Our big shopping at the last location (grocery store or drugstore): giant jars of Nivea cream (thicker than the stuff sold in the U.S. which is manufactured in Mexico); boxes of Nestle 3-in-1 coffee packets which contain creamer and sugar, great for in-room morning mugs; Tic Tacs, different flavors than at home; LOTS of chocolate bars

Cut the top off of your souvenir beer can with a good can opener and it become a souvenir pen/pencil holder.

Not on every trip but what I have brought back usually is coffee, Jacob's , or any other brands that happens to be on sale, much cheaper than buying German coffee from the Russian grocery stores in SF.

Flying back from Paris CDG, I aim to get coffee too.

Since a REWE is located across from my small hotel in Frankfurt, that helps remind me to get it instead of relying on the underground passage in Frankfurt Hbf.

I always stock up on Nivea in Europe especially Germany. Another item I collect is salt--lots of varieties I would not find here.

Katje's gummi bunnies (Grun Ohr) -- I can find that brand here, but not that particular candy. They are fabulous!

THis thread is so much fun! My plan is to take an extra carry-on size bag folded up in my checked suitcase, so I will have almost doubled capacity for the return trip. The heavier/sturdier stuff (chocolate bars, gummies) will go into the checked bag, and the lighter/more fragile stuff (lebkuchen, other cookies, Muesli, etc.) will go into the carry-on. I am very happy to have discovered that Katjes has a whole line of vegetarian gummies, and that the Ritter Sport store sells factory seconds!! Yes, I knwo there's alots of art and history, but I get much more excited about grocery shopping! Thanks for all the suggestions!

This guide from the USDA ('Know What You CAN & CANNOT Bring Back') should be helpful, as well as this warning from Customs. I would be risk averse and declare anything that is borderline questionable.
If you have a local Aldi store, you may find similar items there & not have to haul it back from Germany.

CJean, Rittersport are widely available here -- or are they not quite the same product as you get over there?

Andrea, yes, I can find Ritter Sport bars here, but not always the varieties I like, and they're almost 3 times the price as in Germany. Same with my favorite Lebkuchen- I can get it at one deli only in the Christmas season at a hefty price.

Okay, here's my list so far: Gummies (the few varietes Haribo makes that are vegetarian, and lots of Katjes), LOTS of chocolate, including Ritter Sport FACTORY SECONDS from their store, Lebkuchen, other cookies, Marzipan (somewhere online I saw what looks like a portion of currywurst and potatoes that's all made of marzipan -- hoping I can find it for a particular friend!), baking supplies (Lebkuchen spice mix, cake decorations, etc.), Muesli, and knitting yarn! I can get most of those things here, but it looks like there's much more variety at cheaper prices there. (Well, cheaper if you don't factor in the entire cost of the trip!) Maybe some Kinder surprise eggs, but I would have to eat the chocolate or at least remove the toy from the chocolate before returning to the U.S. -- they're notoriously illegal here, considered a choking hazard because of inedible things inside chocolate.

I've been entertaining myself and practicing my German vocabulary at the same time by studying the weekly brochures from the various supermarket chains, and I've got a map printed out with all the stores close to the hotel. Yes it's a weird hobby, but harmless.

In specialty stores in Frankfurt that are selling souvenirs specific to Frankfurt, you can find marzipan shaped into all kinds of things, Frankfurters and mustard, hand cheese with music, or fruits. Munich must have something similar. Look in candy stores or large dept stores that will have a candy section like Galleria Kaufhof or Karstadt. Around Christmas and NYE, you will find pigs made out of marzipan in many stores.

You might want to get some Glühwein spice packets. Usually found near the teas.

Not Germany, but...
https://www.eater.com/2019/8/28/20836588/disney-star-wars-thermal-detonator-soda-bottle-tsa

Whoops, Disney’s Grenade-Shaped Star Wars Sodas Aren’t Allowed on
Planes

Hachez pralines. I haven’t found anywhere to buy them in the USA and really wish I had brought back a few extra boxes! I ate the ones I had as slowly as I could over as many days as I could stand to wait... guess I’ll just have to go back!

An odd thing that I wish I could get more of is... deodorant. Its the same global brand that is sold in the USA but it had a very nice non-chemically fragrance. I haven’t found an equivalent fragrance... and I’ve searched! Haha.

Hachez pralines look wonderful!

I live a 20 minute drive from the Ritter Sport factory so for gifts/Christmas I usually send back a bunch of the seasonal or factory test stuff - it's a good deal. But even in a normal grocery store you'll get a far better selection of Ritter Sport at better prices than in the US.

The various flavors of mustard are decent at a grocery store, but I always end up impulse buying at Christmas markets for gifts to send home as well. But for fears of breakage the tube mustards (in addition to other sauces like horseradish and remoulade) are also great.

Also not a grocery store thing, but marizpan stuff shaped like other things is a real hoot.

I'm a big fan of the sweet almonds at the Christmas markets, too. One stall in Frankfurt had chili sugared almonds in many different heat levels, some of them extremely intense. I want more of those!

Otherwise my gifts tend towards preparation - spaetzle makers, that sort of stuff. There's not a ton of good dry goods that I want/crave in Germany that I couldn't find a better version of in California, unless I was wanting pre-made spice mixes, but I tend to make that sort of stuff from scratch.