Christmas Dinner Planning: Your December 2026 Shopping Timeline

In 2026 Christmas Eve falls on Thursday 24 December, Christmas Day on a Friday and St Stephen’s Day on a Saturday: in many cantons shops stay closed from Friday to Sunday, so the fresh shop has to be done by Thursday. The method that works is to split December into four weeks: menu and orders in the first, long-life items in the second, make-ahead dishes for the freezer in the third, fresh food only from 21 to 24 December. The timeline below tells you what to do in which week.

Updated October 2026. Sources: weekdays checked against the 2026 and 2027 calendars; cantonal public holidays from the list of the Federal Office of Justice (bj.admin.ch, as of 1 January 2011; cantons may have changed their lists since); the Thursday promotion cycle from the Migros press release of 26 January 2026 (since 5 February 2026, also Denner) and foodaktuell.ch of 21 January 2025 (Coop’s switch); quantities per person from Swissmilk (“Mengenberechnung pro Person”, seen 5 October 2026). Opening hours are not on this page: they differ by shop and the chains publish them in the autumn.

Which days are public holidays in December 2026?

Day-by-day opening hours are covered in our guides to Christmas grocery shopping in Switzerland and to grocery shopping on public holidays, which point to the chains’ store locators. Do not trust last year’s hours: with Christmas on a Friday the pattern is different from 2025.

What should I do each week, from 1 to 24 December?

Week 1: menu, guests and orders

Decide everything on paper before you buy anything. Count portions, not people: a small child counts as about half a portion. For cuts that are usually ordered ahead, such as a whole roast, the meat for fondue chinoise (thin slices cooked in hot stock) or a whole fish, call the shop this week and ask for the Christmas order deadline: it differs from shop to shop and you will not find it in any table.

Week 2: everything that keeps

Drinks, wine, flour, sugar, chocolate and tinned goods can be bought at leisure, and on these items a December promotion is genuinely worth using, because you will use them anyway. It is also baking week: what Christmas cookies really cost is covered in the guide to the cost of Christmas cookies.

Week 3: cook ahead and freeze

Stock, gravy base, stews, homemade filled pasta, doughs and many desserts freeze without losing quality. Everything you prepare this week is an hour less in the kitchen on the 24th. Storage times are in the guide to freezing food.

Week 4: fresh food only

From 21 to 23 December you buy vegetables, salad, dairy, bread and fruit. If you can, spread the fresh shop over two trips: Monday 21 or Tuesday 22 for what keeps a few days, and Wednesday 23 for bread and salad, and leave Thursday 24 for forgotten items.

How much should I buy per person for the Christmas meal?

The Swissmilk quantities are a good starting point: 150-200 g raw meat per person for a roast or meat on the bone, 100-120 g for stew or sliced meat, 100-120 g of fish fillet, 150-200 g of cheese for fondue or raclette. For fondue chinoise, the sources cited in our fondue chinoise guide, Swissmilk among them, agree on 200-250 g of meat per person. With a starter and a dessert you can stay at the lower figures. All other quantities, from side dishes to bread, are in the portion sizes per person chart.

Put the safety margin on side dishes and bread, not on the meat: extra bread, potatoes and salad cost little and can be reused. Leftover meat and fondue come in handy on the 26th and 27th: ideas in the guide to using up leftovers.

How do I organise the Christmas list so I do not shop three times?

1. A separate list for the holidays, apart from your everyday shop, so you see at once what the menu still needs.
2. Split it by week: next to each item, note the week of the timeline in which you buy it.
3. Split it by shop: butcher, supermarket, bakery. The shop of 21-23 December becomes a single outing.
4. Share the list with whoever shops with you at home, so nobody buys the Christmas cake twice.
5. Follow the products: for expensive but long-life items (chocolate, coffee, wine, hard cheese) wait for the week they are on offer, by 20 December at the latest.

The general method for building a menu and a list, outside the holidays too, is in the guide to how to meal plan in Switzerland.

How does Rappn help plan the Christmas shop?

In the “Carts” tab of Rappn you create a cart just for the holidays (“New cart”), next to your “Weekly shop”, and share it with whoever shops with you. Items are grouped by category, you can assign them to a store, and for each store you see an indicative “Estimated price” of the list. For products you buy in December anyway, you set up a “New alert”: you choose the stores and the “Price range”, switch on “Only offers” if you like, and under “On products you follow” you see when they are on promotion. You plan the menu recipes day by day in the Kitchen. Prices in the app are indicative and change by store and by week; Rappn is free and has no commercial agreements with any supermarket.