Source: https://verify-veg.com/blog/vegetarian-student-germany/
Language: en

# The Vegetarian Student's Guide to Germany: Supermarkets, Mensa and Cheap Eats

Your first week in Germany, you queue at the Mensa with a tray and a payment card you barely know how to load. The menu says "Zucchinigulasch" and "[VG]", and neither tells you whether the sauce was built on meat stock.

Almost one in ten people in Germany say they are vegetarian or vegan ([Clean Energy Wire on the BMLEH nutrition report 2025](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/share-vegetarians-germany-remains-stable-2025-govt-report), retrieved 2026-09-24). Roughly 420,000 international students eat alongside you ([ICEF Monitor on DAAD data](https://monitor.icef.com/2026/02/germanys-foreign-enrolments-continued-to-grow-in-the-2025-26-academic-year/), retrieved 2026-09-24). The hard part is the vocabulary and the canteen mechanics.

> **Key Takeaways**
> - The Mensa is the cheapest hot meal of your week, subsidised by your Semesterbeitrag.
> - Canteen menus use a fixed code: [VG] vegan, [VEG] vegetarian, [LAB] animal rennet, [GEL] gelatin.
> - Eight German words cover most surprises: Gelatine, tierisches Lab, Molke, Butterschmalz, Schmalz, Speck, Saft, Sud.
> - Shop the discounters, then compare the Grundpreis (price per kilogram or litre) instead of the pack price.

**TL;DR: Eat vegetarian in Germany by learning the Mensa's menu codes, buying staples from a discounter's plant-based own brand, and checking the German words that hide animal ingredients.** The canteen is where your money goes furthest.

## Which German supermarket should you actually use?

Build your base shop at a discounter (Aldi, Lidl, Penny, Netto), then use Rewe, Edeka and dm for specific things.

| Chain | Best for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Aldi (Nord and Süd) | Cheapest baseline shop | Two separate companies. Best value for oats, rice, pasta, tinned pulses and frozen vegetables. |
| Lidl | Vegan own-brand depth | The Vemondo range sits beside the animal products, and Lidl has price-matched almost its whole plant-based range since October 2023. A 2025 ProVeg study put its vegan basket 18 percent below the animal one ([Lidl](https://unternehmen.lidl.de/pressemitteilungen/2025/251028_proveg-warenkorbvergleich-vegan-tierisch), retrieved 2026-09-24). |
| Penny | Cheap vegan own brand | Food for Future covers cold cuts, plant drinks and ready meals ([Penny](https://www.penny.de/clever-kochen/eigenmarken/foodforfuture), retrieved 2026-09-24). |
| Netto | Basics near campus | Two different companies share the name: Netto Marken-Discount (Edeka group) and the black-and-yellow Netto. |
| Rewe | Range and fresh produce | The widest mainstream plant-based selection. Rewe Bio's vegan Spätzle won a V-Label Award in 2025 ([REWE Group](https://one.rewe-group.com/en/magazin/magazine-article/item/Article/showMag/rewe-and-penny-honoured-with-v-label-award-2025), retrieved 2026-09-24). |
| Edeka | Big stores, regional goods | Most branches are independently run, so size varies. Vegan own brands sit under EDEKA Herzstücke and EDEKA Bio. |
| dm | Pantry staples between trips | A drugstore, often the cheapest source of oats, nuts, seeds, peanut butter, plant drinks and dmBio pulses. |

Shelf prices change weekly, so treat any figure online as a snapshot. What holds is the Grundpreis: German retailers must print the price per kilogram or litre next to the pack price ([Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg](https://www.verbraucherzentrale-bawue.de/wissen/vertraege-reklamation/kundenrechte/pflicht-zur-angabe-des-grundpreises-ermoeglicht-direkten-preisvergleich-10621), retrieved 2026-09-24).

## How the Mensa works, and what its labels mean

The Mensa is run by a Studierendenwerk, a non-profit student-services body, and it is subsidised. Each canteen prints its own legend, but the codes repeat nationwide.

Take Studierendenwerk Karlsruhe. Each dish carries a tag: [VG] vegan, [VEG] vegetarian, [S] pork, [R] beef, [G] poultry, [LAB] animal rennet, [GEL] gelatin. Allergens follow in brackets: (ML) milk, (Ei) egg, (So) soy, (We) wheat ([Studierendenwerk Karlsruhe](https://www.sw-ka.de/en/hochschulgastronomie/speiseplan/mensa_adenauerring/), retrieved 2026-09-24).

**[LAB] and [GEL] are separate flags, not allergens.** Animal rennet and gelatin are not allergens, so they never appear in the highlighted allergen block on a package either. They show up only in the ingredient list, which explains most of the surprises vegetarians hit here.

**The vegan option is often the cheapest.** On that Karlsruhe menu, the vegan bratwurst cost 2.40 € against 2.60 € for the veal one, and Karlsruhe runs a dedicated Vegane Linie with a vegan dish daily.

In Munich, students paid 0.90 € per 100 g at self-service counters, plus 0.50 € to 2.50 € on meat and fish dishes, and mains at the per-dish canteens ran 2.95 € to 5.25 €. Munich says three quarters of its offering is vegan or vegetarian ([Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern](https://www.studierendenwerk-muenchen-oberbayern.de/en/gastronomie/preise-und-bezahlung/), prices as of 1 October 2025, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Four sentences cover most canteen questions. "Ist das vegetarisch?" "Ist da Gelatine drin?" "Ist das mit tierischem Lab?" "Ist die Soße mit Fleischsud?"

## The German label words that hide animal ingredients

| German | English | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Gelatine | gelatin | Animal skin and bones. In gummy sweets, jelly, some yogurts and desserts. Not vegetarian. |
| tierisches Lab | animal rennet | Sets many hard cheeses. "Mikrobielles Lab" is the vegetarian version. |
| Molke | whey | Often Molkenpulver in crisps, baked goods and ready meals. Not vegan. |
| Butterschmalz | clarified butter | Concentrated butterfat for frying and pastries. Not vegan. |
| Schmalz | rendered fat | Almost always Schweineschmalz (lard). Not vegetarian. |
| Speck | bacon | Diced pork that flavours soups, sauces and "vegetable" sides. |
| Saft | juice | Harmless alone, but Bratensaft, Fleischsaft and "im eigenen Saft" mean meat juices. |
| Sud | cooking liquid, stock | The liquid something is cooked or roasted in ([Duden](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Sud), retrieved 2026-09-24). Gemüsesud is fine; Fleischsud and Hühnersud are not. |

Our [guide to common ingredients in German food](/food/germany/common-ingredients/) covers the rest, and [hidden animal ingredients in German food](/blog/germany-hidden-animal-ingredients/) covers the dishes where Speck and Gelatine do the most damage. Germany's vegan labels are voluntary, so the ingredient list is the final authority ([Verbraucherzentrale Bayern](https://www.verbraucherzentrale.bayern/wissen/lebensmittel/gesund-ernaehren/vegetarische-und-vegane-lebensmittel-erkennen-worauf-muss-ich-achten-68457), retrieved 2026-09-24).

## Where the cheap protein actually is

The cheapest protein is not in the vegan substitute aisle:

- **Haferflocken (oats):** the cheapest breakfast in the shop.
- **Linsen, Kichererbsen, Bohnen:** dried is cheapest, tinned is fastest.
- **Tofu and Tempeh:** the cheapest ready-to-cook block in the chiller.
- **Erdnussbutter (peanut butter):** the most protein per euro in the spreads aisle.
- **Nuts and seeds:** plain bags from the baking aisle or dm.

Our [vegan pantry essentials](/blog/expat-vegan-pantry-essentials/) list covers your first shop.

## How to check a product without speaking German

1. **Find the Zutaten (ingredients)**, a dense block near the nutrition table.
2. **Read the first three.** EU lists run largest to smallest by weight.
3. **Check the highlighted allergen block.** It catches milk, egg, soy, wheat and nuts, but never gelatin, animal rennet or meat stock.
4. **Look for "vegan" or a V-Label on the front.** Both are voluntary, so absence proves nothing.
5. **Photograph the list** instead of decoding it in the aisle, then scan the barcode or run the photo through an app.
6. **Compare the Grundpreis before taking the bigger pack.** Large is not always cheaper.

[Scanning before you buy](/blog/scan-before-you-buy/) covers what vocabulary misses, and [vegan grocery shopping in a language you do not read](/blog/vegan-grocery-shopping-foreign-language/) goes deeper, including for [diet-safe shopping while working abroad](/blog/working-abroad-diet-safe-shopping/).

## Your first week, in order

Get the campus payment card on day one, because the guest price can be nearly double. Shop once at a discounter, top up at dm, and check tomorrow's Speiseplan the night before: every Studierendenwerk publishes it with the [VG] and [VEG] tags applied.

That is the system: a canteen you can read, an own brand that undercuts the meat shelf, and eight words that reveal what a package hides.

> **Check before you eat.** The Verify Veg app scans a barcode or reads an ingredient list from a photo and flags ingredients against your diet (vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, Jain and more). [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/verifyveg-vegan-scanner/id6758276834) - Android is coming soon.

*Written by Samir Narain, founder of Verify Veg. Verify Veg helps people check packaged food against their diet by scanning barcodes and reading ingredient lists from photos.*

*Note: Verify Veg provides ingredient-based compatibility checks, not certification. Recipes and preparations vary by restaurant, region and cook, so always confirm with the restaurant, brand or vendor.*