10 Ways to Save on Groceries in Switzerland

Everybody likes to eat well, and there has never been a better time in history for gourmets. Swiss grocery stores and delicatessens offer specialties, beverages and fresh produce from across the planet year-round. Regional and organic grocery shoppers too are spoiled for choice.

All that luxury comes at a price. If your grocery budget is tight, check out these tips for grocery savings before opting for soup and bread or spending your weekends trekking to grocery stores in neighboring countries.

1. Try out cheaper foods

Buying cheaper foods is an easy way to save money. Leave the entrecôte and beef fillet on the shelf in favor of chicken and ground beef. Vegetables and legumes are generally much cheaper than meat.

You can also save a lot buy buying budget brands (like Prix Garantie from Coop or M-Budget from Migros). For some products, the difference in price between budget, no-name and brand-name items is very small. But for many items, products with famous brands can cost much more. The same applies to quality: A lower price-tag does not necessarily mean that the product is any worse. This has been repeatedly proven by independent tests.

The easiest is just to experiment yourself by substituting brand-name goods for budget alternatives. If you are happy with the cheaper product, you can buy that instead going forward.

2. Buy the sales

Special promotions can save you money. In the case of non-perishables like noodles, rice, cleaning supplies, and preserves, taking advantage of sales can be very interesting from a money-saving perspective. You can simply buy bulk when the prices are low. Swiss supermarket chains Coop and Migros, and discounter grocery stores like Aldi, Denner, and Lidl, all run many special promotions every week. The discounts that come with these sales are typically 15 to 20 percent off the regular price, but occasionally you can find even better deals.

You can catch up on the latest promotions in the Migros magazine, the Coop newspaper, and in the latest flyers from Aldi, Denner, and Lidl. You can find these online as well as in print.

Note: Retailers often run multiple special promotions for the same product throughout the year, but with different discounts. For items which you do not need right away, take a moment to check whether they have been offered on sale in the past. If the store has discounted an item in the past, you can safely assume it will offer similar promotions in the future.

Unfortunately, the big Swiss supermarkets Migros and Coop generally do not discount products in their M-Budget and Prix Garantie lines. That is not the case with their competitors: Aldi, Denner, and Lidl also run promotions for their affordable no-name groceries

3. Shop by red dots

Discount stickers on individual items make red-dot shopping in Switzerland a quick and easy way to save money. All of the big supermarkets like Aldi Suisse, Coop, Denner, Lidl, and Migros discount groceries which are nearing their expiry dates. Discounts are clearly shown (normally with a red or orange sticker), and typically slash the standard price by 25 or 50 percent.

Shopping by red dots requires some flexibility. There is no sure way of knowing what items will be discounted before you head out grocery shopping. Evenings and weekends are good times to hunt for discounted items.  

It can be worth taking a look at the expiry dates of products which are not discounted. Sometimes store employees miss or forget to sticker groceries which should be discounted. They will normally only charge you half for products which expire on the same day, especially if you ask them shortly before closing time.

4. Try out other shops

Many groceries cost more or less the same amount in most stores. But there are also many items which are much cheaper at some stores than at others. Discounters like Aldi, Denner, and Lidl offer some products at much lower prices than the two big retailers Coop and Migros. It pays to compare prices.

The easiest way to compare is to type the name of the item and the retailer in an online search engine. In some cases, you can see the prices right in the retailer’s online store. But not all retailers have online stores, and those which do often only offer a limited range of products online. For everything else, you will have to compare on your feet at individual stores.

5. Collect loyalty rewards

Many big Swiss supermarket retail groups run customer loyalty programs. The most popular are the Cumulus program (Migros, Voi, Migrolino) and Supercard (Coop).

Those two programs work in a similar way: Your customer loyalty card or app is scanned at the tills of the corresponding stores. For every one franc you spend on purchases, you get one reward point. With Migros Cumulus, you receive vouchers every three months. These can be used to pay at Migros stores just like cash. Coop credits points to your Supercard account. You can use these points to pay for certain products when they are on sale. You can also redeem them for gift cards which you can use to pay at the tills of Coop stores.

With both Cumulus an Supercard, 100 points are worth 1 Swiss franc. That means you will normally have to spend 100 francs to earn 1 franc worth of points. You can sometimes earn a higher number of points per franc as part of special promotions.

Note about loyalty credit cards: You do not earn additional points when you use the Migros Cumulus Mastercard to pay at Migros. You only earn the standard loyalty points which you would also earn with a normal Cumulus customer card. The same applies when you use the Coop Supercard to pay at Coop stores. If you want to get rewarded twice for your shopping, use a different rewards credit card (a cash back credit card, for example) to pay while collecting your points with your normal loyalty card – or use your Coop Supercard credit card to pay at Migros and your Migros Cumulus Mastercard to pay at Coop.  

Customer loyalty programs from Swiss retailers explained

6. Redeem coupons

Collecting coupons is a bit like playing the lottery. Sometimes the coupons match the groceries on your shopping list, and sometimes they do not. The right coupons can give you discounts of up to 50 percent. Taking a look in customer magazines like the Coop paper and in regional newspapers can pay off. You can also find coupons in the apps of supermarkets like Coop, Lidl, and Migros. Sometimes coupons are offered in supermarkets themselves, with some even posting them right on the shelves. If you buy groceries online, you can often find coupons for online grocery stores and delivery services on coupon and discount websites.

Important: Do not let coupons lure you into spending more money. Often, the goods being discounted are brand-name products which are still more expensive than competing products in spite of the discount.

7. Make it yourself instead of buying ready-made

You can save a lot of money by preparing your food for the next day yourself, and taking it with you to work or school. The reason: Buying ready-made meals is normally much more expensive than cooking your own meals. Even if all you do is put together your own sandwich, you will save a lot of money compared to buying a sandwich at the supermarket or bakery.

8. Shop at farm stalls

No matter where in Switzerland you live, there is a pretty good chance that there are farms close by. Many farms sell fresh produce directly to the public through farm stalls, and the price tags on fruits and vegetables at these stalls are often lower than those of equivalent produce in supermarkets.

Some farm stalls in Switzerland are open around the clock. You can generally pay the money into a safe box. Many farm stalls also accept Twint payments. websites like agriculture.ch make it easy to find many Swiss farm stalls by location. It is also possible to buy local farm-grown produce on online platforms. However, you generally do not get the same deals online which you can find in farm stalls.

You should be aware that many farm stalls also sell goods from other farms or producers. This means some of the items available have been transported from other locations. Farmers usually advertise which groceries have actually been grown there.

9. Buy bulk

The old market adage of “cheaper by the dozen” often applies in Swiss supermarkets and grocery stores as well. From breakfast muesli to frozen pizza, many foods are also available in bulk portions. While buying large amounts requires a larger outlay of money initially, the price per item can be significantly lower (discounts of up to 25 percent are not unusual). Note: There are less common situations in which the opposite applies, with smaller packages costing less per kilo.

Warehouse clubs like Aligro, Prodega, and TopCC are very popular with bulk shoppers, although some only accept business owners as customers. Aligro stores are open to the public, and at other warehouse clubs it is possible to get the club card as a private individual.

When you buy too much at once, there is the risk of food going off before you use it. Being aware of product shelf life and your own needs while shopping is important. If you end up having to throw groceries away, the effective cost of the food you do use can end up higher than if you had bought smaller quantities.

10. Fight food waste

Many retailers which want to reduce food waste partner with outlets across Switzerland which sell goods near expiry at low prices. Retailers may also reject perfectly good produce because it has the wrong shape (twisted carrots, for example) or otherwise does not meet standards. This food often makes its way into these outlets as well.

The Too Good To Go app is now fairly well known. You can use this phone app to buy surprise packages filled with an array of groceries left over at closing time. The app informs you when to pick up the package. Too Good To Go partners include various supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries, and takeaways.

Foodwaste stores – like the Äss Bar stores which sell day-old baked goods from bakeries – are more about preventing waste than saving money. But the prices are still well below what you would normally pay.

If you have a low income, you can also shop at Caritas grocery stores. These stores sell basic groceries at prices which are normally well below those of regular supermarkets. You have to either be at the minimum subsistence level, receive welfare, be busy repairing debt, or receive supplemental benefits from the OASI or DI. In addition to Caritas, there are also a number of other stores where you can buy goods cheaply or even receive groceries for free if you live at the minimum subsistence level.

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