Autumn Holiday Lunches for Kids Under CHF 1.50 a Portion

Five quick holiday lunches for one adult and two children cost CHF 17.44 for 15 portions at Coop regular prices. That is CHF 1.16 a portion on average. Milk polenta with apple compote costs CHF 0.73 a portion, Kartoffelstock with carrots and Wienerli CHF 1.49.

The full shopping list costs CHF 33.15 at the till, or CHF 26.25 if butter and oil are already at home. Rice, Hörnli, polenta, eggs and most of the apples are left for later. No lunch needs the oven, so each one fits into a working-from-home day.

Autumn holidays 2026: the dates depend on your canton

Each canton sets its school holidays, and in some cantons the municipalities do. So the autumn break does not start everywhere at once, as the examples below show. The EDK, the conference of cantonal education directors, publishes school holiday lists (EDK, Ferienlisten 2026).

In Lucerne the holidays began on 26 September, while Ticino still has a month to wait. In the canton of Zürich, the public schools set their own holidays. Only the start of the school year and the Christmas holidays are binding (Canton of Zürich, Schulferien, 2026). Your school's dates are the ones that count.

Five lunches at a glance

We priced every lunch for 1 adult and 2 children, so one lunch makes three portions. The adult eats more and the children less, so the price per portion is an average. Regular prices from Eini's price data, collected on 23 September 2026 at Coop (data and method). Prices change; promotions and regional offers can differ. Each ingredient is costed for the quantity used, rounded to the cent. Salt, pepper and spices are not counted.

At Migros, several of these basics had the same regular price in our data of 24 September 2026:

• Hörnli, 1 kg: CHF 1.00
• Parboiled rice, 1 kg: CHF 1.35
• Carrots, 1 kg: CHF 1.95
• Whole milk, 1 l: CHF 1.35
• Wienerli, 200 g: CHF 1.80

The five lunches, ingredient by ingredient

The Swiss Society for Nutrition recommends five portions of vegetables and fruit a day for children, in different colours, three of them vegetables (SGE, Ernährung von Kindern, 2026). The Coop product, pack and price for every ingredient are in the shopping list.

1. Hörnli (elbow pasta) with hidden-vegetable tomato sauce: CHF 2.95, or CHF 0.98 a portion. Grate the carrots, dice the peppers and onion, soften them in the oil. Add the passata, simmer until soft and blend smooth. Cook the Hörnli as the pack says and serve with Sbrinz.

2. Älplermagronen-style Hörnli with potatoes and Apfelmus: CHF 4.10, or CHF 1.37 a portion. Boil the diced potatoes, adding the Hörnli for the time on the pack. Drain and stir in warm milk, Halbrahm and Sbrinz. Top with onion rings fried in butter; serve the Apfelmus on the side.

3. Rice with vegetables and egg: CHF 3.73, or CHF 1.24 a portion. Cook the rice, the evening before if you like. Fry the onion, carrots and peppers, add the rice, then scramble in the eggs.

4. Milk polenta with apple compote: CHF 2.20, or CHF 0.73 a portion. Boil the milk with the same amount of water, stir in the polenta, cook as the pack says and add the butter. Meanwhile, simmer the apple pieces with a splash of water. Prefer Griessbrei? With 200 g Hartweizengriess (Coop, 500 g for CHF 1.75) the lunch costs CHF 2.60, or CHF 0.87 a portion.

5. Kartoffelstock (mashed potatoes) with carrots and Wienerli: CHF 4.46, or CHF 1.49 a portion. Boil the potatoes and sliced carrots in two pots. Mash the potatoes with warm milk, Halbrahm and butter. Heat the Wienerli in hot, not boiling, water.

Shopping list for the week

One Coop shop covers all five lunches. The list runs from fresh produce to the pantry.

At the till you pay CHF 33.15, or CHF 26.25 without butter and oil. CHF 17.44 of it goes into the five lunches. For the long summer break, see our summer holiday lunches.

Where Eini fits

In Eini's Groceries module, you enter 1 adult and 2 children and pick your cooking days, such as the holiday lunches. Eini builds a weekly meal plan around the week's real promotions at Coop, Migros, Lidl, Aldi, Denner and Aligro. The cheapest-basket mode looks across all of them, and the shopping list is grouped by store, category or recipe. The first 3 meal plans in the meal planner app are free.