I’m in the french speaking part but very close to one of the country’s largest agricultural regions which may have an impact on the quality of the fresh fruit and veg here.
We often buy directly from the farm shops.
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Yes, I live in Aargau.
About going to the farm, it’s one of those things that changed with covid. Before, you had to find time in narrow schedule to be able to buy from them. Out of the opening hours, there was a metal box where you paid, but the items to sell were limited to potatoes, pumpkins and sometimes eggs. During covid times the farmer installed a self-pay system just like the supermarket. It’s open from 10h00 to 19h30 Mo-Sa, and you can pay with every card except Amex and PostFinance. It’s opening hours are even longer than the local Migros, the quality of produce is top, there’s no way to say no. So, go to the farm and be ready for small talk every once in a while 
PS. If you go to Aligro they will ask for a customer card. Don’t worry, it’s just for the points. For some reason, the card is mandatory to be able to buy in the Aligro Bern, Pratteln (BL) and Spreintenbach (AG). Must be a cantonal thing where wholesalers are not allowed to sell to the people.
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We are only two people, and we don’t eat a lot of potatoes. At least I don’t think we do!
I just had to go and weigh a potato.
It wasn’t a small potato. It wasn’t an especially big one either.
It weighed 307g which was more than your bag of potatoes!
I concur that you don’t eat a lot of potatoes.
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Indeed. We have Denner, Migros, Coop and Lidl. The quality of the products in each of them is actually pretty good (or at least if you know what to buy from where). I think Migros is a bit cheaper than Coop though, in case you want to buy something more specific or “special”. None of them can beat Lidl at prices!! (though Denner does a pretty good job at that but the selection is not very satisfactory; it is good they have wine and other stuff too which makes the whole shenanigan of Migros not selling wine for instance a tad hypocritical…)
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I’m paraphrasing here, but read a post from someone on the old forum who said that Migros was a safe place for people with alcohol problems not to be tempted whilst shopping. I’d never thought of it that way until I read that post.
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Either that or the founding family was on the religious conservatives side and they just carry on the tradition. But it is a bit annoying when you plan a dinner and want to finish it with a nice glass of wine or have guests and you want to do all your shopping as fast as you can in one go…Not to mention sometimes you need wine to cook certain recipes.
It was voted on by the cooperatives:
But I agree, a one-stop shop is so much easier when you have a lot going on!
That’s also our experience. Our local Migros, which is a pretty big branch, has low quality fruit and veg, but the nearby Coop is much better. I don’t know why it varies so much.
Aldi is about 10 mins drive away, but one of us is at risk of adding a power-washer, set of bongos and a two-man tent to our trolley of sumptuous fruit and veg, so we limit our visits.
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I raise you a ‘candle-powered’ raclette maker to my list of impulse purchases.
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Yours looks prettier than the one(s) I may or may not have bought at some point.
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Quality gear, that.
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It was Urs Max.
Perhaps they ought to have a supermarket without lots of UPF for people with a UPF problem?
A report in the UK news today said that even people of average weight are getting Type II diabetes and they think the cause is Ultra processed food. They believe that problems caused by bad diet are going to cost the health service more per year than all the cancer treatments combined.
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Two tips
How big is your Migros? Simple count the ‘M’s. One is small, two is medium (like porte de Nyon) and three is as big as they get. (Nyon La Combe)
Always, always, always check the dates on Coop packaged products. I’ve found stuff that were already beyond the sell by day.
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The big coop here is terrible for that, there are frequently out of date products on the shelves. Their stock control is obviously diabolical.
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I think this is largely a result of poor handling and varies between shops (even within the same chain). I know of one Coop where they literally had boxes of strawberries that were really just boxes of mould on the shelves and all fruit were poorly handled and of poor quality.
Conversely, the Migros on the other side of the street had amazingly good fruit and vegetables (actually consistent the best out of all Coops and Migros I’ve been to).
Before I had kids, I used to do weekly shops in France, Germany and Switzerland benefitting from the different stuff you could get. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat now.
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Aligro has plenty of meat in portions of around 1 kg, even smaller for fish. May be more expensive per kg then compared to the 5 kg ones, but easier to handle.
They often have tuna filet for 22 CHF/kg in portions of 700g or so. Great for tataki or shashimi.
1 in 3 US children diagnosed with diabetes are T2DM nowadays. It has started to occur in infants even, though the criteria for the diagnose may still a matter of discussion in infants.
As for groceries, there’s also Otto’s. They only have what keeps well, like canned stuff, nothing fresh. Their USP is price, and price only.
The only good thing about the Otto’s here is the Turkish butcher on the floor above that Treverus recommended.
Otto is good for staples. Can get big bags of pasta, things like Fairy Ultra and Fairy Dishwasher, Oxy Vanish big bucket etc for really good price.
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