I don't think I could rise to the challenge of 50chf a week but what amazes me, is my hubby loves my Mum food. I was lucky to grow up with a mum who had a natural nutritional instinct. I knew this by the kids who got spaghetti hoops on toast and loved to come to my place for tea. (as we called the evening meal). Pulses, grains and offal were par for the course but always cooked in an extremely palatable manner.

To this day my mums grandchildren will go for soups, stews and natural stuff as opposed to quick food.
I think her biggest accolade was when a step/grandchild walked into her home and said "hmmm, grandma bezzie can I have some of that smell to eat!

__________________
www.thehappynest.ch

I often go several days without spending anything. Mind you, I'm at home so I each lunch 'in' most days and I avoid going to the shops most of the time.
I'm trying to manage to feed a family of five on 150 per week, including lunches for three. I cook everything from scratch, go across to Germany for my groceries and take advantage of offers and reduced stuff. I think we eat pretty well on the whole.

Well, you don't sound like a miser to me! I'm not really a spender anyway. So there are quite a few days were I spend zero. Of course I spend it on other things. Like today I spend quite a lot at the spa. I'm neither a miser nor a plastic girl. I'm some where in between.

I hardly ever go shopping more than once a week, except when in the USA. Here I just have no time for such, and it's easy to get through with one well organized shopping a week.

hey how its going? are you still on with the challenge or already exceeded 50 CHF limit:-)

I'm on various business trips for most of November. But when I get back, I'll see how close I can come to the goal of eating on CHF50/week

I thought of this thread yesterday when I saw that Leclerc in St Louis has whole chickens on sale, EUR4.99 for two...

IMHO, it is not that a person spends a lot of money on eating but rather he or she would spend more on fatty foods like cakes, meats, sausages all other stuff which will end up eating very unhealthy as a result spending wastefully a lot of money!

If you want to eat very healthy but still 50CHF / week its quite possible but one should buy only healthy foods:

pasta
rice
all sorts of beans(soak it and pressure cook it - which is cheaper than buying in cans)
only seasonal veggies and fruits
only aldi, budget M (for example cheapest milk one can buy around), prix-garantie (cheapest onions one can buy around), LIDL(but personally i found its not so cheap unless it is in a special reduction)
do your own yogurt
No choclates and biscuits
No eating-out at all!

Bottom line is, eating unhealthy naturally costs too much. If you eat healthy surely one can reduce the spending per week. There are two different things in eating, eating to be healthy or eating for pleasure (this type of eating needs lots of money and eventually leads to health troubles by increasing cholesterol levels and lot more)

I like this thread very much because of not just spending less but think environmental-friendly and give respect to our own health rather than attracted to useless food and drinks around.

happy to hear more opinions...

You do not have to give up "pleasure" to eat healthy. That's just wrong.

You could literally buy everything on your shopping list from the COOP "Action" section or those things that are 50% off.

Also, things such as rice and veg are far cheaper from ethnic shops (Indian, Lebanese, etc) just got to look around.

If you think carefully about what you want its doable, you can easily buy 10 tins of Tuna for under 10 francs....

Just got to be creative!!

if you have a small appetite perhaps? otherwise, unless you have a lot of time to prepare food in advance and freeze it etc, nope. no chance

I totally disagree!!

Look at the following options:-

Tuna pasta (bake)
Bologonese sauce with pasta of choice - Can be easily adpated to Chilli con carne by adding red chilli plus peppers
Basic tomato sauce (ragu) made with chopped tomatoes
fry up!
buy a whole chicken = 8 portions if chopped into pieces and cheaper than buying pre-chopped.

That's just a few ideas, and to be honest on that budget your going to hav to put some time in so thats a necessity.

Thought this might be of interest..one of Australia's biggest metro newspapers has an article on eating cheaply and what you can make. 7 dinners for $25.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/home...111-1na5i.html

Just because it is 50% off at Coop doesn't mean that it is a good deal. For meats, you should always look at the price per kilo. I see 50% off steak that's 100 CHF a kilo Lidl offers much better value at full price.

Eating on CHF 50 per Week. Is it Possible?


No.

Have you tried? What was your experience? Where did you find the problem?

You need some time and a good schedule for the whole week. First make your schedule,then buy your groceries accordingly. Pls do not take me wrong, only I made one week schedule as an example.
Monday
Pasta-Yogurt- Green Salad
Tuesday
Chicken with potatoes and rice -Carrot salad-chocalate pudding
Wednesday
Tuna sandwich with parsley-fruit
Thursday
Spagetti Bolognese-Green salad
Friday
Friedrice (with eggs so that you both get your protein and carbohydrates)-fruit
Saturday
Chicken satay (like shish chicken)-a small portion of french fries (you will prepare them at home)-Yogurt
Sunday
A vegetable soup-green salad -feta filing pie -fruit

This may sounds costly but lets say you buy your groceries based on two weeks budget
Pasta- app 2 chf (at least 5 portions)
spagetti-app 2 chf (at least 5 portions)
Whole chicken-app 7 chf (at least 4 portions, don't forget for the satay you will make cubes of the breast)
For bolognese; minced beef-app 5-6 chf for 300 grams make a healthy 3 portions but your favor make it two portions
Yogurt-app 1.7 chf.You can use the whole cup for the whole week-lets say 5 portions
Potato-2 chf-enough for two weeks
Bread-8 chf- even that is too much because you get your carbohydrate from rice and pasta.
Feta-1.5 chf (In aldi danish feta ex)-enough for two portions for the filling
Pie crust- app 2 chf in aldi-enough for at least 6 portions
Egg-app 2.5 chf for 6
Rice-4 chf (enough for two weeks)
Puding-app 1 chf
Tuna in can-app 2 chf

Around 45 chf ; with the rest you will buy fruits, vegetables, greensalads, olive oil ( app 5 chf in Denner.I use that one and believe it is quite good), salt,tomato puree ( less than 1 chf in aldi), milk .
It is not important how much you eat. Everyone needs to eat what is necessary and good for the body. In your budget you can go around these, but you will get your protein, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins,Ca.

Mine was only a suggestion. Good Luck !

Of course it's possible!
Take rice and or pasta as your staple food, add vegs, salad, fruits and eggs and you can do it for less even.

But of course:
-no fast food
-no snacks
-no convenient foods
-no expensive meats

I've had to live on a students budget for ages, now that I make a bit more money I still haven't really changed my eating habits, and I believe I eat quite well and healthy.
The only thing where I wouldn't save is good oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and spices. Only a few cents per meal but make all the difference. A good cook can make great meals out of easy ingredients, but spices are the key.

You can eat for 2 for more than 1 week for 0 CHF!
It's called freeganism. It's getting more and more popularity in Switzerland. I followed a radio program about it and families with kids are doing it!

- Swiss radio RSR about freegans. (in french).
- Freegans of Fribourg

For me and my wife our current food budget is about 350-370 CHF per month. My wife is breastfeeding, so she must eat rather healthy and she eats a lot.

Ok, shopping sometimes takes a lot of time and careful planning, but we are quite satisfied with our diet. If we shopped in Germany, I think we would have no problem on getting by on 200.