One thing I figured out during my time in CH is that eventually, and I mean someday/somewhere/somehow on the horizon - maybe next week or maybe in 6 months - everything goes on serious "action" - even products that I thought could never be reduced in price.

From what I have seen in my attempts at cross border shopping, the 40-50% off "price shocks" here in CH are most often better than the prices in AL/FR, so if you have space, and patience, and you don't mind eating/using/consuming things at times that aren't ideal, you can always enjoy your favourite Migros/Coop action'ed product at some point...

If I have room in my closet of an apartment, and I see something on price shock, I stock up... sometimes this strategy leaves me with three large bottles of good olive oil or enough laundry soap or TP to last a year, but in the end I can normally get through each week eating, drinking and being merry with all my favourites at ~30-40% off the sticker price.... just one (cheap) man's opinion

(btw I am writing this while dipping bread in some darn good olive oil while I do laundry for the the third time this week; and I am improvising a napkin with a few squares from one of the 50 rolls of TP that I currently have, hehe).


-LM

Just a thought...

How much do we spend on rent/housing? About a third (some even more!) of our income.
How much do we spend on food? Maybe a tenth of our income?

Whatever you do, you cannot really compensate the big position with saving in a small one.

However, I consider housing and eating one of the most "basic" needs.
How much do you spend on ... things you need less?
Question of priorities?

As I said, just a thought. Or two.

well just yesterday:

sushi lunch - 40 chfs
starbucks coffee - 8 chfs
starbucks cake - 4 chfs

already over 50 chfs and that doesn't include breakfast or dinner!

It is very easy to live on chf 50 a week.
You will have to become almost a vegetarian though with the price of meat and look at the "Action" items for meat.
When I am in Switzerland due to my circumstance, my budget is chf 50 per week and manage easily.
It does appear to be made up of pasta with sauces and vegetable stews though.

I couldn't eat and be happy with the menu for a 50 fr a week. I am sure I would survive but without looking forward to having lunch, dinner or whatever. But that might be partly due to my inability to go for the good bargains most of the stores have daily, as I usually tend to fancy food it has no discount. In my case, lack of discipline and lack of motivation to manage with 50 chf a week, as I really don't see the point if one actually has more money to spend. Well, I guess I will never save a lot.

a 10CHF per day is a much more feasible (yet not excessive) budget.

Perhaps try that instead. You may be healthier for it.

Think potatoes. Onions. Flour. Eggs. carrots. cabbage. rice.

All are inexpensive but bought in bulk can go along way.

Not on a budget now, but used to be during my studies.

Maybe worth relinking this thread:

tips on eating cheap?

Some good tips in there.

Before I started renting an additional room in town, and two garages, it was less than 20% (now it's about 25%).

More like 15%.

Tom

Great thread. What is the German for beef cheeks please?

Must be "Rinderbäckchen". Don't think you get it other than in a good butchery...

I’ve only been in Switzerland for two weeks and was dreading the food bill after being told that everything was expensive! However i’m finding food shopping not too bad and will definitely be attempting to spend no more than 60-75chf per week on groceries for myself and my boyfriend on a permanent basis.


One thing I must point out is we’re vegetarians so I know this may change things however I do buy some soy products which tend to be expensive as I know meat is. (I’m not saying it’s equivilient pricewise so don’t beat me down, my weak meat deficient body can’t take it ).

I have been shopping as I did in the UK and have always done. We are not struggling for money and could afford to spend more on food however the money I save from that goes for the luxuries we really want (holidays, my shoe habit etc ...) I go to aldi for basics, take advantage of their cheap fruit and veg, they usaully have five items per week that are between 0.69 – 1chf. And have found migros quite reasonable for alot of ingredients.

I do have the luxury of time, I can shop in the day and have my afternoons to cook a meal for us every night however when I was also working full time we managed to cook well and relatively cheaply too. I have found it’s more about getting into a routine and planning in advance what you want to make, nothing as strict as - Monday = Always Pizza, Tuesday = Always Chilli but i’m sure you get the point.

As someone as also pointed out buy in bulk if you can but i’d also suggest cooking in bulk, lots of things freeze well. We often make a huge pot of curry sauce and then stick it in the freezer then you can use as and when you want and just throw in your meat/veggies in etc. Or if you have a few spare hours on a Sunday or whenever make a few pizza bases and also freeze them or a massive chilli.



I do love cooking and baking so it maybe easier for me but I’ve really just taught myself and am a great one for making it up as I go along and 99% of the time it seems to work . I find the sense of satisifaction of making a meal from stratch great motivation too!

When things get really desperate, how about a toast sandwich? See Toast sandwich is UK's 'cheapest meal' from the BBC website today. Apparently costs 7.5p in the UK - so that would probably be only about CHF 5 here!
If you're pushing the boat out there are also some suggestions for making more 'luxurious' versions.

In all honesty, I don't think the 5 CHF is too far off.
The sandwich is mostly free, but all the labour to create it is damn expensive here....

50 fr a week for good quality food in Switzerland is more possible now than ever,

as prices during +- the last 20 years for food didn't increase by much.


Just make sure you don't have to eat with friends or collegues at a restaurant (try, fight and taste the defeat ), buy half-priced stuff at Migros or Coop (check at what time +- they put the stuff, maybe send someone going to get it for you if you have no time), go to markets short time before they close,

try to cook yourself as much as possible,

make some stock in a huge closet, buy whenever it's cheap, try to convince neighboors in doing supermarket-shopping together.

It's going to be very hard.
I remember the rule of thumb being 5.- / Pers / Day for groups.
Then since you're two... definitely harder. I'd consider 80.-/week for two

Unless it's a challenge, the extra 30 bucks a week is a good thing to consider.

Hi!

I do eat with 50 CHF per week and I think I have a nice diet...

But I do not eat red meat apart from bresaola (because I don't like it).

I normally vary my diet a lot and I normally have breakfast with milk+cereals or yougurt and black bread with ham.
Luch with salad and pasta or salad with chicken/tuna/eggs/corn (vegan protein).
Light dinner with soup or rice and cheese or fish or pizza etc.

I prepare everything myself and I normally buy only product on special offer.

And off course I have during the day a snack, fruits, juices, etc.

Hope this helps!

I'm back in CH and getting ready to tackle the "Eat on CHF 50/week" challenge again, although I'll be taking advantage of being able to spend CHF 100 for two weeks in (almost) one go, as suggested earlier in the thread. More details to follow.

Before I go, is it my impression that some posters feel that by only spending CHF50/week you eat either "boringly" or "poorly"?

In my attempts to date to get to the CHF 50 barrier, I have been able to prepare some really top notch nosh on a limited budget (I knew all those 150 cookbooks that I have would come in handy), some of which (such as a sweet garlic risotto with a chile-tomato coulis I prepare for Mrs Train Doctor) would not be out of place on the table of fine dining establishment (IMHO ). Fine dining isn't about expensive ingredients, just good quality ingredients cooked with passion...

Have you tried bulk cooking?

I don't know. I think it's a fun challenge! I would do it with you if I were there.

Like I said earlier, I did something similar here in Argentina when La Presidenta made a speech saying something silly like a family of 4 could eat on 20pesos a day. Trust me THAT is not possible if you want to eat a healthy diet.

50CHF in CH: I'd take that challenge!

Let us know how it goes.

I tried only going to student mensa.... looks CHF 50 a week is a mission impossible...