3 weeks on 138 CHF

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
21
I fully agree with being frugal and not wasting, but life's too short to worry too much about it, remember, the last shirt has no pockets !

22
CHF 23 a day? My monthly grocery (food and household stuff) and breakfast/lunch budget is 450 a month and that gets me a Schoggigopfel from a bakery in the morning, a ham piadina from the Italian near work and still leaves enough left over to have a healthy meal with ingredients bought from Lidl for dinner. So I'm eating out twice a day 5 days a week on a budget of CHF 15 a day.

If I had to survive on CHF 6.9 a day, I guess I would eat cereal at home for breakfast and bring a sandwich into work for lunch.

23
Simons Budget busting chilli recipie

1 can kidney beans

I can white beans

I can green beans

I can corn (optional)

1 onion

garlic

1 pepper (if you have the money)

tumuric,chilli,pepper

2 cans tomatos

fry spices, onion, pepper till onions soft

add tomatoes, cook for 20 mins

add beans, cook till warm

Serve over rice, add grated cheese if you have it

eat monday till friday

24
For extra protein you could buy a box of frozen Seehecht filets (CHF6-7 for 400g). Team it with a tin of tuna, can of sweetcorn and whatever frozen veg you've got kicking about in the freezer, mix in a white sauce (flour, butter and milk) top with mashed potato and grated Gruyere and bake for 30 mins. For two of you, you have a fish pie that will last you at least a couple of meals.

Serve with a tin of baked beans. Heaven.

25
When I was backpacking years ago I met a young canadian guy who was travelling europe for 18 canadian dollars a day. I asked him his secret. His answer

Jam Sandwiches for breakfast

Jam Sandwiches for lunch

Dinner, you guessed it, Jam Sandwiches.......

26
There are large baked beans from SPAR which run around CHF2.20 per can. After you are done with it refer to this thread.

27
Buy a 5kg sack of rice from your local Thai shop. 15 CHF with enough rice to last a month.

Eggs..cheap and can be made a thousand ways.

Canned tuna (on sale).

Pasta (on sale)

Olive oil.

Visit the loading dock of your local Spar/Denner etc. after closing hours. They often put out fruit/veg for free that are slightly wilted, but perfectly good.

28

jacek, that picture is making me hungry...but then i'd have to post here after

tips on eating cheap? i'd go for the cereal route or porridge oats...

29
For the clearer days...

but do watch out for solar wind!

On a more helpful note, backed potato + butter + baked beans are

apparently quite a balanced (tho rather monotonous) diet

.

30
I would do it this way.

stock up on some of the following- preferably 'coop prix' or 'mbudget' or 'denner'

Rice - go to asian shops - 5 CHF (you will get 5 kg pack for 12CHF - thats a lot)

Pasta - 10 CHF

few bottles/packs of tomatoe sauce - 10 CHF

big bags of potatoes, carrots and some veggies - 20CHF

Frozen meat, chicken is cheap comparably. you could get 2 kilos for 20 CHF (protein covered)

Some onions and tomatoes - 10 CHF

5 liters of milk - 7.50 CHF

Yogurt - 7 CHF

Bread - 10CHF

Coffee/tea - 5CHF

Cereal - 5CHF

An try and get as many as possible on discount. The total is 110 CHF

Interesting thread, makes me re-think my food budget.I remember reading somewhere that if you write down what you are going to cook that week and stick to it,you will stick to your food budget also have a balanced meal.

31

thanks weejeem...making this tonight!

32
This is a great thread! we are in Dublin currently (Lausanne in May) (and when we move there we will still not be one of the majority here at EF whose salary is above 100k, so any CH on the Cheap threads are welcome!) but food seems to be equally expensive here as CH.

To the OP I think it is great that you are sticking to your budget. As you see your savings increase you will be glad you didn't dip into it whenever you needed a few extra francs.

ETA: a nice cheap recipe that we love is mexican moyettes (sp?). bascially, a bagette toasted in the oven then add black beans (smooth in a blender), cheese (and if you want you can add meat: chorizo, ham) and toasted again in the oven till the cheese melts. Top it off with a fresh salsa (mix of onions, tomatoes, lime juice, salt and coriander). You could make a big container of the salsa, 2 cups is enough for 5-6 uses for one person.The bread should be relatively cheap as well, the only thing i dont know where to find is (real) black beans. so you can use pinto's if you want...

33

A person doesn't really need to eat as much as we do here.

If I had to do that, I would say 120 CHF worth of bean sprouts. The rest on oil and seasoning. You can even go further if you buy dry mung beans and make your own bean sprouts. They are highly nutritious.

34
Apparently there is Cat on the menu?

That'll be cheap!

35
Apparently someone in the Southern Alps was arrested (at some unspecified point in the past) for 'adopting' kittens and then eating them. A ready source of free protein if you don't mind being gruesome and unwelcome in society.

36
There are cheap sausages at the coop/6 pieces cost 6,-CHF, bread 500g cost

1,10 CHF, Rice is also cheap(4 bags= 4 Days cost 3,75 CHF)

Apple Juice is also very cheap (1,5 L cost 2,50 CHF), French Honey 500g

cost around 7 CHF, and for the dessert you can have a choclate Bar (6 Pcs

of Mars, Snickers etc cost around 3,50 CHF).

When you want to have other meat, salami .......:

Buy late, there will always reduced items(by 30-50 % off)

37
Spinach-lentil-veggie curry + homemade Naan bread or rice;

lots of spaghetti in the larder - make some sauce with veggies and/or minced meat or just have it plain with saute'ed garlic in olive oil plus a sprinkling of herbs;

Alpen magronen;

bake your own bread (if you already have a lot of flour in your pantry);

toast with scrambled eggs with truffle-flavoured oil (already in pantry);

Spanish omelette (cheap, tasty and easy);

apples, bananas, kiwifruits, pears (whatever fruits on 'Aktion').

CHF138 for less than two weeks? Easy. February is a short month.

38
Wholemeal flour is 2.40 per kg in coop. Bake giant loaves of bread and while still a bit warm, eat with good butter, a sliced tomato, a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Team with a strong cup of english tea with milk. This is probably a 50 rappen meal and will taste incredible :-)

39
Buy a local newspaper. This will help your German/French/Italian. When you have finished reading it, cut it into small pieces and put these in a bowl. Add warm and a little sugar and you've got Swiss porridge. Add some fruit and you've got Muesli...

40
i have had survive on very little.....2 kids and a low budget actually made me seek out the old reciepes from the old days.....i now make my own bread ( so easy and if you are angry..very good to relieve stress!)

i make pizza soo cheap with my own dough some tomato sauce with herbs, meat and cheese ( and cold pizza is the best for lunch )

being british we eat alot of stew which is cheap but very healthy...i just use beef, onions, beef stock ( to the top of the meat ) potatoes, carrot and sweet potato very yummy also when you are abit richer use this reciepe with red wine

make your own sauces to go with chicken or beef

i make beef stroganoff with mushroom soup, onions,cream, mushrooms and worcester sauce, serve with rice......this is really cheap!

instead of buying sliced meat i buy a whole chicken and just cook that for inside sandwiches

good luck xx