A Full Week of M-Budget Meals Under CHF 50

Yes, you can feed yourself real dinners for a full week spending under CHF 50 at Migros — if you shop the M-Budget range smartly. This plan covers seven evenings of proper food: pasta, rice, lentils, eggs, and vegetables, all sourced from the white-and-orange label. The shopping list below is what it actually costs, not a best-case estimate.

What is M-Budget, and is the quality good enough to eat every day?

M-Budget is Migros's entry-level private label, launched in 1996. It covers over 300 products — from pasta and canned tomatoes to yoghurt and oats. The quality standard is set by Migros's own product teams, and many items are produced in the same Swiss factories as pricier alternatives. You are not buying inferior nutrition; you are buying less packaging design and no brand margin.

Caritas Switzerland, which advises low-income households on food budgeting, routinely recommends M-Budget alongside Denner and Aldi as realistic budget anchors. For a week of cooking at home, the label is more than adequate.

What does a full week of M-Budget dinners actually cost?

The table below shows a realistic seven-dinner shopping basket, priced as of spring 2024. Prices can vary by store format (Migros M vs. MM vs. MMM) and by week — check the Migros weekly leaflet or the Eini app, where our algorithm surfaces current Migros deals automatically.

That basket lands at roughly CHF 36–38 depending on exact store pricing, leaving a comfortable buffer under CHF 50. If you add a small piece of meat or fish on one evening — say M-Budget minced beef (CHF 5.50 / 500 g) — the total still stays below CHF 45.

Want to see how this stacks up against buying the same meals with branded products? The Migros vs Coop comparison breaks down where each retailer has the real price advantage.

What are the seven dinners, day by day?

1. Monday — Tomato lentil soup with flatbread. Red lentils simmered with crushed tomatoes, one onion, two garlic cloves, and a stock cube. Serve with a simple flour-and-water flatbread cooked dry in a pan. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.80.
2. Tuesday — Spaghetti aglio e olio with peas. Boil spaghetti, fry garlic in oil until golden, toss together with frozen peas cooked in the pasta water. Finish with salt and pepper. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.50.
3. Wednesday — Egg fried rice. Day-old rice (cook double on Monday), two eggs scrambled in, soy sauce, frozen peas, corn. Takes 10 minutes. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.65.
4. Thursday — Chickpea and spinach curry. One can of chickpeas, half the frozen spinach, two cans of crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, stock cube. Serve over rice. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 2.10.
5. Friday — Carrot and lentil dal. Remaining lentils, three carrots diced, one onion, one garlic clove, cumin from the spice pack. Rich, filling, ready in 25 minutes. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.55.
6. Saturday — Shakshuka. Four eggs poached in a pan of crushed tomatoes with onion, garlic, and paprika. Serve with flatbread. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.90.
7. Sunday — Pasta e ceci. Remaining spaghetti broken into thirds, cooked in a broth with the last can of chickpeas, garlic, and a splash of oil. Classic Italian peasant food, perfectly at home in a Swiss kitchen. Cost per portion: roughly CHF 1.70.

For structured weekly templates you can adapt and print, see the meal plan around weekly Aktionen guide.

Is it nutritionally balanced to eat M-Budget for a week?

The Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV) recommends a diet built around starchy staples, legumes, vegetables, eggs, and moderate dairy — which is exactly what this plan delivers. Lentils and chickpeas cover protein and iron. Eggs add B12 and fat-soluble vitamins. Frozen spinach and peas retain most of their nutrients because they are frozen within hours of harvest, a point the BLV explicitly notes in its guidance on frozen vegetables.

The one genuine gap in a pure M-Budget week is variety in fresh produce. Spending CHF 5–8 of your remaining budget on seasonal vegetables at the Migros counter — cabbage, zucchini, or whatever is in the discounted bin — rounds the plan out nutritionally without wrecking the budget.

How do you avoid food waste on a tight budget like this?

foodwaste.ch estimates that Swiss households throw away around 94 kg of food per person per year — much of it perfectly edible. On a CHF 50 budget, waste is not an option. The plan above is designed to use the same ingredients across multiple meals: one onion bag, one garlic pack, and one oil bottle stretch the full week. Opened cans of chickpeas or tomatoes go into the next day's dinner by design.

• Cook rice and lentils in larger batches; refrigerate for up to three days.
• Store opened cans in a sealed container, not the can itself.
• Frozen peas and spinach last months — use only what the recipe needs.
• Flatbread dough keeps in the fridge for two days if wrapped tightly.

The Sunday meal prep approach pairs naturally with this kind of week: one session covers most of the legume cooking in advance.