Admittedly, it was in Globus. But CHF 98 per kilo for entrecote (rumpsteak)? What the heck do the feed the cows here -- caviar? For comparison, I just looked up the same steaks at Sainsbury's in the UK: GBP11.48 (CHF 20) for exactly the same thing.

I'm a new arrival. Still having some sticker shock at the grocery store. And elsewhere. Blimey, this is an expensive place.

Guess I'll not be eating a lot of steaks, then...

i am vegetarian so not an expert on la viande but....Manor is at the top end of supermarket prices but the quality is 2nd to none. however, i know from carnivourous friends that Coop and migros also do good cuts of meat and marinaded stuff for the barbie quite a bit cheaper. here in basel there is a large turkish community and they have great prices and super fresh and great quality meat and fruit and veg at their local supermarkets, maybe it is also so where you live, worth checking out for sure

Where are the Turkish butchers in Basel? I will definitely check them out!

My swiss friends dad works for the company that supplies meet for Manor and Coop.

They tend to be more expensive than migro but generally better quality. Also a useful hint buy over the counter instead of pre packed stuff tends to be cheeper/higher quality.(also get to practice your french/german)

But yes meat is expensive shocked me at first too.

Does that explain your avatar?

Well one thing it does explain they dont feed them caviar

you've been swiss steak-oed. Go to France or Germany. The petrol you use will be worth it.

Watch out for customs though, the allowances are pretty meagre.

Thats if you get searched.... ahem.

A friend of mine got nabbed at a tiny border crossing in the Vallee de Joux with a live chicken. The guards weren't concerned about transporting a live farm animal over the border but the fact that it was slightly over the weight limit. Discussion about the 'final' weight after dressing got him nowhere so he let the tasty bugger go on the French side.

Yes, meat is expensive here. But you won't get scragg-end.

You have to take the whole salaries/ taxes/ prices package as one to see the advantage. See Swiss wages and prices...

You'll probably also want to avoid the smoked salmon steaks from Marinello, at a cool 140 per kilo ;-)

Not a problem; the Permanence staff at HB knows how to treat scragg-end...
.

Not caviar but Swiss mountain grass. Check out the cows grazing on your next hike in the mountains and the price becomes pretty easy to understand.

It is simply a subsidy for the Heidiland we all live in. Personally I am fine with that so I continue buying my meat in Switzerland.

Welfare standards are also generally higher, so you're paying to make sure that some of the more offensively cruel practices that occur in other countries don't happen to the animal that ends up on your plate

I'm also fine to pay more for my Swiss meat (and milk, eggs etc). It's just a pity that other countries don't think as much about how to protect their rural communities / way of life / animal welfare etc

We just set a limit and only buy our meat for under 20chf a kilo.

Mostly we get it through the week at 50% off and chuck it into the freezer...

I'd die for a really good lamb roast, though...

Oh, and I bought the most marvellous lamb shanks at the turkish grocery store near the HB - EGE turkish grocery store Josefstrasse 53, Zurich.

They were about 4-5chf each, and there was twice as much meat on them as we would usually get in Australia...

Switzerland is a meat fiends worst nightmare. It's expensive, small in quantity, and the sausages are on average appalling. I seem to live on chicken and fish, but I do buy pork joints when they're on offer.

JLP just got me some lamb steaks from France. I'll be making them into a roast later on

Entrecote is really overpriced. Steak lovers how know their cuts ask for hohrücken (rib eye) and pay around CHF 45 per kilo from a butcher. Coop charges about CHF 55 per kilo. I served it at a dinner party last night with potato dauphinoise.

We only buy Swiss meat when it's on special offer and really reduced in price. It's of the highest quality, usually. ( Before I came here from the UK, I didn't realise pork has a taste!).

Being a family of five, we're able to pick up 2.5kg of meat when we shop across the border. 0.5kg per person. ( Chicken, poultry, processed and non-red meats - 3.5kg per person ).

I agree that Swiss sausages are awful. Indeed most continental sausages are. You see it's the 100% meat that ruins the taste. A banger is no good unless it's less than 45% meat, the rest being made up of non-meat animal bits, rusks, sawdust, rat droppings... yum.

Shop at a butcher. The meat will be well sourced and usually 40% cheaper than Globus.

We go to a Turkish shop in Weil am Rein for our meat. They have very good meat and they cut what you want.

The place's name is:

Narli Market
Haupstrasse 411
(near Rhein Center)
Weil am Rhein Germany

Nil