Swiss Mince and Macaroni (Ghackets mit Hörnli): What Does It Cost?

With Ghackets mit Hörnli, one ingredient drives almost the entire cost: the minced meat. The Hörnli (small elbow macaroni), onion, carrot, tomato purée, grated cheese and apple sauce are all cheap and barely move — whether your dinner comes out expensive or cheap is decided at the meat counter (beef mince, mixed mince or a plant-based alternative) and by whether you catch it on special offer. You can see the current offer for every ingredient — and how many are on sale — live on the Rappn recipe, which pulls the current price and the best offer of the week for every ingredient across the big Swiss chains.

As of July 2026. This guide explains the dish's cost structure — for exact franc amounts, the Rappn recipe "Ghackets mit Hörnli" shows the current price and the running promotion next to each ingredient, updated daily.

Rappn is neutral: no deals with any chain, no checkout of its own — just an honest price comparison across Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner, Aligro and Otto's.

What is Ghackets mit Hörnli?

It is Switzerland's ultimate budget weeknight dinner: minced meat (traditionally beef) simmered in a light sauce with onion and carrot, served over Hörnli, topped with grated cheese and eaten with apple sauce (Apfelmus) on the side. Simple, filling and cheap, it has been on Swiss family tables for generations and appears on the menus of neighbourhood, country and mountain restaurants. For four people you need roughly 500 g of Hörnli, 400–500 g of mince, an onion, a carrot, two or three tablespoons of tomato purée, a little stock, grated cheese and apple sauce. Count on about 125 g of pasta per person; you can go a bit lighter on the meat and make it up with the vegetables.

Why the mince sets the price

Pasta, onion and tomato purée cost a fraction of meat per kilo, so it is the mince that moves the total. Pure beef mince is the priciest; mixed mince (beef and pork, like the budget lines at around 70% beef) is noticeably cheaper and works perfectly well here, since the meat cooks into the sauce anyway. The biggest lever, though, is the offer: mince is one of the most frequently discounted products, and the chains take turns. Buying it when it is on special and freezing it in portions makes a real difference over the weeks.

Where do you save the most?

Most of the saving is on the meat; you optimise the rest with own-brand lines:

A neutral rule of thumb: the budget own-brands (M-Budget at Migros, Prix Garantie at Coop) are the cheapest tier for pasta, cheese and apple sauce, while on meat it is often the discounters (Aldi, Lidl) and Denner that run the sharpest offers. Who is ahead in any given week can't be said in advance — which is exactly why a live comparison pays off.

The price changes every week

Meat prices shift weekly and the seven big chains take turns with their promotions — Denner one week, Coop the next, then Aldi. Rather than trusting a price from last year, check the live offers: Rappn shows you, for each ingredient, today's offer and where it is cheapest this week.

So how cheap your Ghackets mit Hörnli turns out depends on which mince you pick and whether it's on offer — there is no blanket "always cheapest at chain X". See the current offers live: the Rappn recipes section shows the week's price next to each ingredient, the current offers page lists the running meat promotions, and the cheapest meat comparison shows which chain leads on mince this week.