Meal Planning

Planning your meals is the simplest way to shop once a week and throw less away. This group collects the guides for doing it in Switzerland: how to make a weekly meal plan, how to turn it into one shopping list, how much to buy per person, what to keep in the pantry and which day to shop with the promotion cycle.

There is a guide for each situation: families with children, cooking for one, packed work lunches, quick weeknight dinners, a gluten-free or lactose-free week, the Swiss food pyramid, seasonal cooking and Christmas dinner. Two templates print for free as PDFs: the weekly meal planner and the grocery list.

How to use them: the guide explains the method, then in the Kitchen of the Rappn app you plan the week, send the ingredients to your list and see where they are on offer, for free. The guides stay neutral, with no agreement with any chain, and are published in four languages. As of October 2026.

All guides in this category (23)

3D diorama of a kitchen built as five steps from fridge to cooking pot, with a yellow shopping bag

How to Meal Plan in Switzerland: 5 Steps

The 5 steps to plan your week of meals, the best day to plan around Swiss weekly promotions, and paper, app and Rappn methods compared.

Glossy 3D icons of a calendar, a bowl, a cookbook, a list and a grocery bag linked by a path

Meal Planner App in Switzerland: Plan the Week, Then Do the Groceries

How a meal planner app works step by step, from plan to shopping list with deals, and an honest comparison: paper, recipe apps, chain apps and Rappn.

A gouache illustration of seven bowls in a row on a kitchen counter, each holding a different dinner.

Cheap Weekly Dinner Menu Switzerland: 7 Dinners Under CHF 5 a Portion, Planned Around This Week's Deals

Build 7 dinners around a CHF 5-per-portion goal, planned around this week's deals. The step-by-step method plus 7 budget ideas, compared neutrally.

A white technical drawing on green paper: one shopping basket linked by fine lines to seven different plates.

Vegetarian weekly dinner menu on a budget: 7 nights

Seven cheap vegetarian dinners: lentils, beans, eggs, seasonal veg, pasta, rösti, soup. Plan the week around this week's offers, live in Rappn.

Market stall with five filled meal-prep boxes beneath a green awning.

Meal Prep Grocery Shopping in Switzerland: The 2026 Weekly Guide

Meal-prep five lunches for CHF 25 without giving up protein, fibre or variety. The Swiss bulk-shopping guide for Aldi, Lidl, Migros and Coop.

Five full plates and two with leftovers on a table beside an Alpine lake.

Weekly meal plan on a budget: cook cheaply all week

Realistic planning saves: 4-5 dishes plus 1-2 leftover days, around the promotions, with a shopping list (savefood.ch/foodwaste.ch).

Cork pin board with an empty weekly grid and paper cut-outs of vegetables, bread and fish

Printable meal planner: the free PDF template

Download the free A4 weekly meal planner template: seven days, three meals, a shopping column. With a filled-in example week and tips to stick to the plan.

Ink drawing of a supermarket floor plan with a route highlighted in yellow through the aisles

Printable Grocery List Template, Sorted by Aisle

Free A4 PDF grocery list template with eight sections in a typical supermarket order, tick boxes and tips for shopping in a single round.

Seven graphic tiles with one plate each, the seventh sliding out of the grid

Meal Planning Mistakes: 7 Reasons Your Plan Fails (and How to Fix Them)

Why does your meal plan fall apart? Seven common mistakes, from a rigid plan to an unshared list, each with a simple fix.

Technical blueprint on green paper: from a plate to a checklist to a grocery bag

How to Plan Your Weekly Grocery Shop, From Menu to List

Menu, home check, list by store and aisle, one trip: the step-by-step method, one big shop vs several small ones compared, and a weekly checklist.

Swiss small-town square in the morning, a grocery shop opening with a yellow bicycle outside

Best Day to Buy Groceries in Switzerland

When supermarket deals start in Switzerland, what to do day by day, end-of-day markdowns and Sunday shopping, with dated sources.

Vintage kitchen scale with a bundle of spaghetti, next to rice, potatoes and meat

Portion Sizes per Person: Chart for Pasta, Rice and Meat

How much pasta, rice, meat, vegetables and fondue cheese per person: the raw-weight chart with Swiss sources, portions for children and for guests.

Paper pop-up book: three dishes send their ingredients into a single yellow bag

Turn Recipes Into One Shopping List, Without Duplicates

How to merge several recipes into one list: convert units, drop duplicates, subtract your pantry. With a tablespoon, teaspoon, dl and gram table.

Cardboard model of a pantry cupboard with jars, sacks and vegetables, one shelf still empty

Pantry Staples List: What to Always Have at Home

Pantry staples list: 20 to 30 shelf-stable basics, shelf life from Swiss sources, how it differs from the emergency stock, and how to rotate.

Pastel illustration of a family at the table seen from behind, with seven plates in a row

Family Meal Plan: 7 Dinners Kids Will Actually Eat

Seven dinners for families with kids, with timings and leftovers, quantities for four, ways to involve the children and one grocery list for the household.

Gouache illustration: a single place setting, a pot of risotto and two portions set aside for the fridge and freezer

Cooking for One: a Weekly Meal Plan Without Food Waste

A meal plan for one without food waste: cook once and eat twice, handle pack sizes, freeze portions, and a Monday to Sunday table for Switzerland.

Hands closing the last of five lunch containers lined up on a kitchen counter

Work Lunch Ideas: a Week of Packed Lunches

Prep five work lunches in two evenings: a weekly table, how long food keeps in the fridge (BLV) and how to choose a lunch box.

Foods laid out from above in a pyramid: water, vegetables and fruit, grains, dairy, proteins, nuts and oil

Balanced Meal Plan Based on the Swiss Food Pyramid

A weekly meal plan based on the Swiss food pyramid (SGE and FSVO, 2024): daily portions, a 7-day lunch and dinner table and how to shop for it.

Rice bowl deconstructed into floating layers with vegetables, chickpeas, chicken, egg and aged cheese

Gluten-Free or Lactose-Free: a Weekly Meal Plan That Works

Gluten free meal plan or lactose-free: natural staples, Swiss label rules (LIV), a 7-day dinner table and cross-contamination tips for a shared kitchen.

Frying pan mid-toss with peppers, broccoli, tofu and noodles suspended in mid-air

Quick Weeknight Dinners: a Week of 20-Minute Meals

Quick weeknight dinners for every day of the week: seven 20-minute meals in one table, a short pantry list, prep tricks and safe handling of leftovers.

Market stall in October with squash, apples, chestnuts and autumn vegetables

Seasonal Cooking in October: Squash, Apples and Game

The 75 Swiss vegetables in season in October, fruit, game and chestnuts, with seven autumn dinners and a shopping list. October 2026 edition.

Retro poster of a snowy village with a little train making four stops and a Christmas table

Christmas Dinner Planning: Your December 2026 Shopping Timeline

Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday: what to order, freeze and buy fresh week by week from 1 to 24 December, with quantities and public holidays to check.

Small open fridge with leftovers and a finished frittata on a plate in front of it

What Can I Cook With What’s in My Fridge?

The three-question method, a base + protein + vegetable + sauce table, ten empty-the-fridge dinners and what Swiss date labels really mean.