Vegetarian weekly dinner menu on a budget: 7 nights
Seven meat-free dinners that never repeat but share one shop: lentils, beans, eggs, seasonal vegetables, pasta, rösti and a Sunday soup from the leftovers. Start from this week's offers. There is no fixed weekly total, because prices shift every week.
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The trick is the order. Fix the menu first and you pay full price later; start from this week's offers and pick the recipes to match. A budget vegetarian week rests on seven cheap building blocks: a lentil dish, a bean dish, an egg dish, a seasonal-veg stir-fry, pasta, rösti or potatoes, and on Sunday a soup that uses up the leftovers.
As of October 2026. This menu is a framework, not a price list: which ingredients are on offer this week shows up in the Rappn app, and a recipe goes onto your shopping list there in one tap.
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What does a budget vegetarian weekly menu look like?
Three things keep a vegetarian week cheap: plant proteins, seasonal produce and reuse. Pulses (lentils, beans, chickpeas) deliver protein at a fraction of the meat price, eggs are a cheap complete protein, and vegetables cost least when they are in Swiss season. What counts as in season changes every month, and Rappn shows which seasonal veg is on offer this week. Around these blocks you plan seven nights that never repeat yet share the same shop.
The screens show a week laid out day by day and the step that sends the ingredients of a day to your list, so the weekly plan turns into one shop.
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7 cheap vegetarian dinners: the week's framework
| Night | Dish idea | Why it's budget-friendly |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lentil dal or lentil stew | Dried lentils are among the cheapest protein per gram, red ones need no soaking, and one pot lasts two nights. |
| Tuesday | Pasta with tomato-courgette sauce | Dried pasta is a pantry staple (own-brands of the big Swiss supermarkets are among the cheapest per kilo) and the sauce comes from whichever seasonal veg is cheap right now. |
| Wednesday | Frittata or shakshuka | Eggs are a cheap complete protein, and this is the "empty the fridge" night: leftover veg goes in, nothing gets wasted. |
| Thursday | Seasonal-veg stir-fry with rice | Build it entirely from whatever veg is on offer this week, visible in Rappn; rice or noodles as the cheap base. |
| Friday | Rösti with a fried egg, or potato gratin | Potatoes are a cheap filling carb, a bag lasts, and there are barely any extras, the Swiss classic. |
| Saturday | Chili sin carne or bean stew | Beans (dried or tinned) are cheap protein, the big pot freezes, and it often tastes better reheated. |
| Sunday | Vegetable soup or minestrone | The "use-it-up" night: leftover veg, lentil and bean odds, plus a parmesan rind become soup, near-zero waste. |
How to cook vegetarian on a budget: plan the week around the offers
The method matters more than any single recipe. Flip the usual order: first check what's running this week in the offers on veg, eggs, tofu and pantry staples, then choose the dishes whose main ingredient is discounted. Broccoli on offer? Thursday becomes a broccoli stir-fry. Peppers cheap? They go into Wednesday's shakshuka. You eat seasonally and cheaply, and the plates still differ.
Three levers cut the bill further. Own-brands come first: the house labels of the big Swiss supermarkets are often the cheapest option on the shelf for pasta, rice, lentils, tinned tomatoes and eggs. The discounters are regularly lower on basics and veg. And dry goods bought in bulk help too: dried lentils, beans and chickpeas cost a fraction of meat per portion of protein and keep for months.
The biggest lever is ingredient overlap: buy things that appear in several dishes. One tin of tomatoes goes into the pasta and the chilli, a bag of onions and a head of garlic carry almost everything, and the stir-fry's leftover veg lands in Sunday's soup. Batch cooking multiplies the effect. Cook lentils and beans in big pots and freeze half, and on a lazy night dinner is ready instead of an expensive takeaway.
In the Kitchen in Rappn you can pick the vegetarian style in the category filter under "Explore", narrow recipes by time, and spread the dishes you choose over the days with "Plan week" in the Planner. That puts the whole week on one screen, so you can check yourself which ingredients repeat. The printable meal planner template is the paper version, and how to meal plan in Switzerland explains the method.
Prices shift every week across all seven chains, so there's no fixed weekly total that will still be right tomorrow. Check the Rappn offer search instead: it shows which ingredients are on offer at which chain right now, with the promotion price and the unit price.
What does a vegetarian week actually cost?
It depends on this week's offers, your portions and whether you go organic or own-brand. An "under CHF X" goal is reachable if you build the dishes around the discounted ingredients, but you hit it at the shop; no number is guaranteed. To see it for yourself, search the recipes for vegetarian dishes that use the veg on offer this week, compare the chains in the price comparison, and build the week in the app.
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Why Rappn?
Rappn is an independent grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer. Our comparisons are truly independent.
- 100% free: no subscription, no hidden costs
- Neutral: no commercial agreements with Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner, Aligro, or Otto’s
- Updated daily, as soon as the chains publish their deals
- The chains’ deals in one place: search, filter, compare, no subscription
- Meal planner in the Kitchen tab: plan the week, send the ingredients to your list
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a vegetarian weekly menu cost in Switzerland?
There's no fixed amount: it depends on this week's offers, your portions and your brand choice. Rather than an invented figure, put the ingredients on a list in Rappn: the list shows an estimated price, and for each item you see products with prices by store (prices are indicative).
What's the cheapest vegetarian protein source?
Dried pulses (lentils, beans, chickpeas) cost very little per gram of protein, especially bought in bulk. Eggs are a cheap complete protein, and tofu an affordable fully plant-based complete option. The price comparison shows which brand is on offer right now.
Which seasonal vegetables are cheap in Switzerland?
Vegetables cost least when they are in Swiss season, and the calendar moves every month. Instead of a fixed list, check what is in season this month, then look in Rappn to see which of it is on offer this week at the seven retailers.
How do I save the most on a vegetarian shop?
Plan around the offers, reach for own-brands, check the discounters, buy dry goods in bulk, and overlap ingredients across several dishes. Batch cooking and a use-it-up soup on Sunday cut the bill further.
Is cooking vegetarian really cheaper than with meat?
Plant proteins like lentils and beans usually cost far less per portion than meat, so yes, as long as you stick to basic ingredients and avoid pricey meat substitutes. You can see the actual difference in the price comparison.
How do I plan the week around the offers?
Open the offers overview first, note the discounted veg and pantry items, then search the recipes in the Rappn app for matching vegetarian dishes and put their ingredients on your shopping list in the app: that way the menu follows the offers, not the other way round.