I am from Canada and currently catsitting in France. It is a lovely (offsite) dream sit. I am also pleasently surprised how cheap the food is. In supermarkets many categories of items are even quite cheaper than in Canada.
I still have two weeks to fill in the second half of April before my flight back home, but great sit opportunities in France disappear as soon as they are listed, specially when they are cats only. So I am looking further away in Europe.
I noticed sits in Switzerland often show up. But I worry about the cost of living there. Can anybody with experience in both countries give examples of price comparison for basic food? I donât intend to go to restaurants and I am always happy to eat like a local.
I donât want to apply for a sit then cancel because I canât afford it. Looking forward your feedback.
We sit in Switzerland a lot (& we live in Turkey so imagine the difference ). Food in the
Supermarkets is not very different to France. Aldi & Lidl are your best bets on a budget and excellent quality produce @Dominique Also, all the sits we have done bar one have had cars for us to use which helped significantly with transport, parking, fuel costs
We found prices in Switzerland a shocker. But thatâs for restaurants and transport. I think if you can buy groceries from Aldi/Lidl, as @Cuttlefish said, then you will be fine. But I think public transport would also be more expensive. How much more, I canât really remember. It would potentially be a âonce in a lifetimeâ experience, so you might just want to take the gamble. Set a budget for yourself.
I had a sit of a few days in a village near Geneva and then it was clearly less expensive to eat lunch in Ferney-Voltaire (France).
But when I was in Weil-am-Rhein (Germany) I did not notice much of a price difference with Basel across the border. Although: I remember that renting a bicycle at the Swiss railway station was overpriced.
We spent a weekend in Zurich 2 years ago and eating anything out was breathtakingly expensive. When we shopped at a supermarket, it was more expensive than France but not shockingly so. But even a Lindt chocolate bar, made in Switzerland, was more expensive than in France.
Ps. Etc was beer and snacks. Again mostley purchased at supermarkets and consumed at home or in camp. Theyâre not essential so I split them out. But even a couple of beers each evening after a hard days ride adds up quickly.
I guess it depends where you are - I sat in Geneva some years ago and my mouth pretty much fell open when going to the supermarket. At least 2-3 times more expensive than in my (Western European) country!
in Zurich it worked a little better, as I had a greater choice of supermarkets, although even then I was buying very specific things that were sort of affordable & did not buy many other things that I normally would, because it was so expensive. There were no Aldi-s or Lidl-s nearby; had to cycle some distance to get there.
When I sat in Basel, I cycled to Germany to stock up at a big supermarket right on the border⌠to avoid the high prices in Switzerland for certain products.
To be fair, most places have cheaper groceries than Canada! I just returned to Canada last week after spending 3 months in Spain and my trip to the grocery store yesterday was⌠painful!
Itâs easy to not spend a lot of money for food in Switzerland if you have a kitchen to cook in. Eating what is in season for produce is the best rule. Youâll pay a lot more for something that is not. Meat is very expensive and most people donât eat much.
Lots of people eat soups and salad as their main meal. Beans and lentils are very inexpensive, onions, potatoes and carrots are as well. You can easily find quantities of greens for salads which are inexpensive. Fresh bread is delicious, inexpensive and plentiful.
Pasta, both fresh and dried, is also very low cost and you can find ready made sauces or puree to add.
Migros and Coop are the main Swiss supermarkets. They offer âactionâ each week which are the items they have on sale. You can stock up on those. Coop Prix guarantee brands are excellent, which is their private label. Migros has the same, called âbudgetâ brand. They are both high quality and excellent.
Yogurt is popular for breakfast and not expensive. You can also purchase a large bag of oatmeal, which is very inexpensive.
The best tip if you enjoy eating meat is to go to Migros and Coop in the morning when they reduce quite a lot of their meat inventory by 25% if itâs expiring in a day or two. At around 3pm, they reduce it to 50%. Youâll see retirees and students going at that time, stocking up.
During nice weather, many people will buy some fresh bread, fresh cheese, a bottle of wine and enjoy that for a meal outside.
Denner is the best place to buy wine. Inexpensive, especially if you buy any quantity.
Restaurants are very expensive no matter where you go, but they pay a fair wage and tipping is minimal, more of a courtesy for good service.
Hello everybody, thank you so much for your replies. It was very interesting reading you all.
I could have specified what are my own expectations regarding food and budget while housesitting, but I thought my question this is way was more open and of general interest for other futur readers who might search this topic. So now all your answers cover many topics, from meat to veg, drinks, etcâŚ
Personnaly; I am a foodie, not vegetarian, but minimal meat eater. I would never feed on rice and potatoes just to save money. As a full time nomad, I adapted my style of food shopping to my preferences and way of life. I can spend quite a lot on food to satisfy this, specially in my home country Canada.
In Canada I live and travel in a camper van between sits, so I have no space for preparing meals. I will chose to buy prepared chopped salads (all included ingredients in seperate pouches) over doing it from scratch, even though in the end it might cost up to 10x more per portion. Shakshooka (the poched egg version) is such a tasty and versatile meal, it is now my go-to cheap meal while on the road, and even sometimes abraod when I have to use up the HOâs leftover persishables.
When abroad, it is usually food-party time; specially in Asian countries. There are so many freshly prepared food options easy to purchase everywhere. Before France I was 4 months in UAE and SE Asia, so when I arrived in France I expected to allocate a much larger portion of my budget to food. Yet, I was pleasently surprised to find out how it is here just slightly more than it was in SE Asia, and about similar to UAE (only the fresh hummous was si much cheaper).
Many folks cook in their camper vans. I mention that in case you want to search for their videos on social media. Countless of them mostly cook, rather than eat out or buy prepared foods.
It is a camperized minivan. Definitely no place to cook. Just heat stuff, or at best cook all in one small pan (example sited above; shakshooka). I have been living like that for so many years I could have my own social media resource chanel, if I was not such an introvert!
Your choice, of course. There are plenty of van conversion folks who have cooking setups. Like one woman drives a Honda Element and has built out so her kitchen slides out from the rear of her Honda.
@Dominique I understand - we like dining out too when weâre abroad. Dining out in Switzerland made my eyes twitch and I ended up cooking at home more than anticipated. For example: we were in Italy for a few weeks and a main course would be around âŹ13-15. Got on a train to Switzerland and I browsed some menus as we arrived: CHF39 for a main meal. That is âŹ40 for a main meal. Even a train station sandwich was âŹ15. Thatâs just too much for me.
When Iâm in Switzerland and traveling without access to a kitchen, I will ask a local where they eat a meal. It helps to be polite and to know a bit of the language, but if you donât, have google translate open with your question, then ask them to type into your phone. I usually have good luck while waiting for public transit, or asking a clerk who works in a market.
When I was in Geneva, I took the paddle boat on the lake. Before getting off, I asked the workers where they went to eat. They spoke perfect English, and were happy to help. It turned out to be a small Italian restaurant, a few blocks away from the dock. It was a bargain and delicious.
In Montreux, a group of young people directed me to go to a place just around the corner from the Freddy Mercury statue. Not luxury, but very good. When I went, there was a choice of foudue or a half chicken with some sides. The check was under 15chf and it was a large portion.
Iâm not a foodie. When I have access to a kitchen, I eat a plant based diet the majority of the time, so lentils, beans and vegetables are what I usually eat. They are usually a bargain, healthy, and donât vary a lot in price no matter where I travel.
Switzerland is definitely more expensive than France. When we pet sat in Geneva we witnessed an interesting phenomena where the locals crossed the border to grocery shop in France because of the better grocery prices. For breakfast we used to rely on Migros for fresh baked pastries. They have this yummy pastry called laugen buttergipfel. (if a pretzel and croissant had a baby). Last year it was only 1.20 CHF. In California this will easily be selling for $4-5. Like it was pointed out above check the Coop in the afternoon after 3 pm for a variety of ready sandwiches, salads etc. at 50%.
Both Aldi and Lidl have reasonable prices, especially if you get their weekly sales items. If you download the Lidl app you easily switch between countries under Settings and that way you can see their sales specials in either country. You can also add variety of discounts that are only available if you have the app. They try to bring you do the store, so they will often have even in app free items.
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