It is not „Apple Season“ yet in Germany. The harvest begins at the end of September. Then you will get regional fresh apples that are very tasteful. Especially at farmer markets. 😀

Concerning
#1 - Package sizes - Milk cartons, can be stacked, compared to plastic bottles and are easier and more compact to transport. Demographics also factor in: Smaller packages cater to single house holds and the elderly population. It also reduces the potential waste of food turned bad.
#2 - Apples - That's because apples you get in the discount stores are not the traditional local varieties of apples, which usually are less sweet, less "colouful" and have harder peels. Local varieties like Boskoop or Goldparmäne taste "fresh" compared to the world traveled apples in the supermarket
#3 - Cigaretts + Sweets vendors - In the past, those were re-stocked by the same companies. I remember having one location on my way to school in the early 80s and when the guy came to fill up the cigarettes, he also put in new bubble gum
#4 - supermarket groups - Edeka + Netto belong to the game group, REWE, Penny & Toom belegong to the same group and Lidl and Kaufland also belong to one group

I have to add that you can always get big blocks of cheese at the counter if you want to. And I think sometimes you can get little packaged blocks as well.

The apples you can buy now are stored apples from last year  (exeptions are imported apples from New Zealand or South America).
Harvesting season for  apples will start soon and they will be super fresh.
For the cigarett vending machines you need a proof that you are 18 (ID card, drivers license or bank card), children cannot simply buy cigarettes.

As a single person, I would appreciate being able to buy more things in small quantities.

It warms my heart that you and your mother have such a good relationship.

Apples are very crispy in Germany, but only in the season which means autumn and winter. You cannot expect apples to be fresh when they are bought during the summertime or spring or they have been shipped in from around half the globe.

You look so happy. Enjoy the time with your mother.

Hello Antoinette. it's absolutely ok to complain about Germany. If no one complain , then nothing would change here. 👍🏼

I live in an apple area, and other fruits. We bought our apples in the fall from the farmer directly from the farm, you can do that today too. We stored them, like the potatoes, in a rock cellar, which has the same low temperature all year round. There are around 2,000 varieties of apple in Germany. I don't buy imported apples, and none from the supermarket.

The german apple saison is starting in a few weeks, maybe you should try the "new harvest" would recommend a farmers market or the small vegi and fruit shops. Supermarket apples often didnt have the best quality. Would recommand Topaz, Elstar, Natyra (if you can find them)

Fresh apples and freshly pressed apple juice will soon be available in Unnerfrange (end of September).
Lake Constance, Hamburg, Altes Land...actually, every German state will soon have fresh apples. The ones in supermarkets and discount stores are storage apples. They're often not juicy.

I recommend freshly pressed apple juice. Some farmers offer to have your own apples pressed. If you let the apple juice ferment a bit in a wooden barrel, it's delicious. Apfelwein (apple wine) is also becoming increasingly popular. In Germany, however, it's usually very sour.

4:18 and we like a variety of cheeses to choose from in our fridge at home. „Everyday“ cheese isn’t a thing in Germany.
Next time she could come visit in fall. And you go to Altes Land to try out all the different apples when they are fresh. Maybe she will find her favourite apple sort.
Fresh an crispy now: Grafensteiner
Later: Cox Orange, Topaz, Boskop
Try local old varieties. And tell the seller on the farmer‘s market what you like and what you need the apples for: they will help you, even let you try.

Yes, your mom is right. But, that's how it is, when you persist to buy a fruit 6 months out of season transported half way around the globe. Buy fresh apples from here in season, and not those sorts, that are "created" only to withstand 6 months ore more.  Taste is gone!!! In supermarkets, they only have those sorts left, even when grown here. Find a specialized dealer for , what once was normal, and now it's special. They exist. But the principle  of seasonable fruit out of season stays the same everywhere.

we have shops always around the corner, so usually the consumers can buy day by day instead once a week. I think (with traveling several times for weeks to New Zealand in the years from 1988 to 2010, so with some experience ... sadly not in the recent time) more people in NZ tend to go to big supermarkets only once a week, so they prefer to buy bulky packages - that's the same I saw in the US, Canada, as well in Australia. Concerning apples: In the groceries you get only the industrial produced apples, but on markets you can even get better "home"grown old apple varieties. we have in our garden some apple trees with such "old" apple trees, and they can compete with the apples from NZ. what I miss here in Germany are the Nashies, and of course the more southern Fruits like mango etc, which are nice to get fresh but here the imported fruits are not ripe. But it is true: New zealand is a Fruit Paradise!!!!
you are wrong with the variety of super market companies - now we have more less only four:
Netto (except the black NETTO -Scotty) belongs to EDEKA, Kaufland and Lidl are the same (Schwarz-Gruppe), Aldi Nord & Aldi Süd are sister companies, Penny belongs to REWE.. look here how narrow the market is: https://www.sales-hunter.de/post/wer-geh%C3%B6rt-zu-wem-im-lebensmitteleinzelhandel
So there is not much competition.

It's great that your mum is with you. I can well imagine how happy that makes you. Have a wonderful time together.

It sounds like such a wonderful visit with your mom.  Precious memories.

One thing I love about Germany is the recycling of plastic and glass bottles.  I like how you return them to a machine in the store and you get a phand coupon  toward your groceries.

I enjoyed this video.  Have fun making more memories with your mom.😊❤

Edeka and Netto are Connecticut (damn the automatic corrections. I meant "connected"), as are Rewe with Penny and Lidl with Kaufland :)

I prefer to buy different types of cheese than a 1 kilo block, because I love variety. I don't want to have to eat the same cheese for weeks so that it doesn't get moldy because the large pieces can't be eaten fast enough in a 2-person household. And I don't want to eat the same cheese three times a day. I prefer to have a choice of 6 or more different cheeses at the same time. These would simply not be manageable with one kilo each.

Thanks and please give my love to your mum! Brigitte