Americans Explore Supermarket in Switzerland! How expensive are groceries in the Swiss Alps? 

It‘s funny to see you report on shopping in my local Migros 😅 A thing I noticed is, you bought stuff that is not local or seasonal, which also makes things pricier. Bananas, grapes, Avocados etc. are always more expensive than apples, pears or other seasonal fruit and veg. Also you usually only get grade A stuff which makes it more expensive. You can go cheaper if you eat local, seasonal and make your own (e.g. hummus) fun video though!

Coming from a swiss person, one thing you gotta keep in mind: restaurants, cafe's and small stores that are loctaed in tourist places like Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, etc, are generally more expensive than in less tourity places. Especially those small grocery stores are always more pricey than lager grocery stores like Migros. Also pro tip: Don't buy water if it's not absolutely nessecairy. Almost all fountains in Switzerland have water that you can drink unless it explicitly says it's not. You can fill up your water bottles there and it won't cost you a thing.

Along the Swiss-German border most of the German villages have gigantic shopping centers (in Relation to the village size) because many of the customers are living in Switzerland and buying often in Germany.

One thing you didn’t notice because it’s separate in your country the USA. Migros has no alcohol products and no smoking materials at all because it was made for family’s. We even voted against it some weeks ago. They asked everyone who has an migros membership card to vote 🗳. 😁

The holders on the shopping cart are for the selfscanners. You need to register first, then you can use the selfscan, which is pretty nice. You can track what you are spending while shopping and the payment at the end is so quick without having to unload the shopping cart.

Do you simply ignore the ecological aspect? Have you not thought about why the imported eggs are so much cheaper than the local ones? In Switzerland there is a very high ecological awareness to live in harmony with nature - not like in the US or partly also in Germany. We buy organic eggs from animals that were allowed to live their lives on a farm with maximum outdoor space. We buy vegetables and fruits that have not been sprayed with chemicals - because we want to feed ourselves and our children healthily and do not want to poison the soil. Only foreigners buy imported eggs. Yes, Switzerland is expensive, but we also earn more in our jobs than our neighbors. The bottom line is that we don't have more money left in our wallets at the end of the month, but we know that we have eaten healthier and harmed our nature less. I think that's a good deal. Enjoy your vacation with us.

It’s a self-scanner for the grocery items. You don’t have to use one. I never do. I put my 1 franc or 2 franc coin to use the shopping trolley, at the end you get your money back when you put the trolley back at the collection spot.

As a native swiss guy I crinched a bit since you didn't buy any actual essential swiss products ^^ but enjoy your time here List for next time: Nutella Farmer Cervelat Emmentaler/Tilsiter Aromat Landjäger Migros Ice Tea Migros Glace enjoy ^^ Oh and never buy budget eggs/chicken meat... only free lance eggs ( dont know the name) "Freiland" never buy "Bodenhaltung"...

In switzerland if you want to go shopping: Aldi - the most convenient Migros - good quality but higher price Coop - good quality but prices are exaggerated

If you love cilandro and have difficulties getting it - just plant it yourself. It grows without difficulties here in Germany. What shops have available often has to do what their customers use or want. If they e.g. have a lot of cilandro and nobody buys it they will not order in again. If you have a small market in town you often shop at just ask them for it and they might order it the next weeks.

Self scanning is also available in some german grocery stores. I know this from the "Globus" supermarkets.

Supermarkets in Switzerland, like most stores, adapt to their catchment area which means that depending on where you are you will not have the same choice. Compare the shelves of a supermarket in the center of Geneva, another in the Fribourg countryside or even in a town in the canton of Appenzell and you will notice the difference. As far as prices are concerned, the comparison is never favorable for Switzerland, on the other hand the quality is often superior. Honestly meat and poultry are never top in supermarkets it is better to go to a store specializing in the food you are looking for (at a cost, of course!).

We don’t have mac’n cheese In Switzerland it’s called Älpler macaroni

When I was young (think half a century) the Swiss Franken was at 1.10 DM ( Deutsche Mark). Now it is the same but in Euro. And the Euro is about twice the good old DM. Its's like the USA (Switzerland) compared to Mexico (Germany). But the last time Mexico won at soccer. Next time buy a Halbtax Abonnement. It makes public transport way cheaper.

I’m an American in Switzerland! I’m from New Jersey,

Peanut butter is also popular in the Netherlands. Jumbo and Albert Hein supermarkets offer +60 different peanut butters. Different in taste and or jar size. So take an empty container or box with you to fill it with the peanut butters (pindakaas) of your choice. Self scan is also normal in NL, at the self checkout register you can also scan the groceries at a there fixed scanner if you did not use a hand scanner.

i live in Switzerland for 10 years now and those scanner are only to those with CUMULUS members card and i regularly use because i have this card. For me i am a regular customer in both stores MIGROS and COOP but COOP is more expensive. Switzerland is a expensive country specially now Euro has cheaper value than CHF...i live in Basel just near the border of France and Germany. Sometimes i go shopping in Germany and it is so cheap. Swiss grocery stores have a lot of cheese and chocolate varieties you can choose and it ia all Swiss porducts. Meat products are expensive specially beef because Swiss or Europeans in general they do not eat a lot of meat for good health, they care about the environment and Switzerland has very strict meat production in Europe. They have smaller american section because in my opinion they are not lovers of american products. Thanks for traveling to our country and showing this video how expensive this country is.

If you like your peanut butters you should visit a Dutch grocery store! They love their ‘Pindakaas’ (which, fun fact, literally translates to peanut cheese) and have much more variety

You need to shop a grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area - you would think all those items are a massive bargain! I’d never find hummus or cilantro at that price!

There is a Grocery Store Chain here in the US called Wegman's where you have to weigh and print out the label for products in the Fresh Produce section... I wonder if the "Creamy White Fajita Sauce" is similar to Crema, which is... a creamy white sauce (I think its kinda like a Sour Cream with seasoning).

ohh i really wanna go to Switzerland. the food there looks so good

Globus has the same scanning system in Germany. The closest one to Grafenwoehr is in Schwandorf. It takes 5 minutes to register online and you get a card for your virtual wallet on your phone.

Stachelbeeren, oh gosh, I hope you tried them.

Just to put it into perspectiv the "minumum wage" in switzerland is around 4000 CHF per Month.

2:01 The black thing is for the scanner, holder.... you see in the background hand helds.... its for you to scan what you put in your basket ...and at the end you just pay by placing the scanner in a end terminal befor exit... you pay and walk out... Yes you can cheat...but most times you have someone that does a quick look...they pull out 10 random things with there own scanner and compaire it to your bill... most times when you buy alcohol or things like that the chance is bigger for a control ... it works with a card you get, you register it on your name...( for marketing reasons, they can tell what route you walked, what you picked up, how expecive, and other data from the registration like family members and salary ....soooooooooo everything is data now days ....

I had to laugh first, cos this morning I had a discussion with someone who was impressed by the high salaries swiss get. What he didnt took into consideration were the cost of living and Switzerland is far the expensives country in europe. The big mac index showed 5.98$ where in Germany it was around 4.68$ or so. Great to see Willa can already handle a shopping cart. Tanner, I am sure int he big cheese section you felt like heaven despite the high prices. Hope you took something with you anyway.

We have higher quality control in Switzerland… Migros is the more “affordable” super market… try food shopping in manor or globus

Nothing better than the MIGROS / COOP duopoly

Interlaken has tourist prices. You can’t compare the whole country with a tourist town. I can buy a small bottle of mineral water in my local Migros in the east of Switzerland for 1 Franc.

In Switzerland’s it’s expensive but the people in this country earn more money in their jobs !

The crackers you got from the ‘selection’ brand are from Migros’ exclusive, luxury brand. This makes any ‘selection’ product very pricey.

you don't have to pay for the scanners in migros, you just need the app on your phone :-)

😀 The Mexican food you showed was just the special of the week. They have quite a varity of all kinds of Mexikan, Thai, Chinese, Japanese .. food at Migros. And please don't forget that you also earn quite a bit more here than in the US or Germany. By the way most of the people also think that the quality of the food is better here than elsewhere.

SFR in € is almost 1:1 exchange rate, so the prices are even higher than you thought.

To be fair, it got even more expensive because the swiss franc got stronger and now is basically 1:1 with the euro. Actually prices should come down a bit if it will stay like this.

The American sliced bred from migros is actually pretty good

The white cross on the flag tells me safety is here. Hey beautiful flag

I was in norway for the past few weeks and the coop shop near us has the self scanners! I was so excited when I saw them and had a blast scanning my own groceries and not interacting with anyone hahah

CHF are roughly the same in EUR, so the Hummus is right now (I looked it up) 3,56 EUR. Not exactly a bargain, but that's the swiss price structure, and it explains vividly why many Swiss living near the border go to Germany for shopping… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3:00 not sure why she is mesmerized. Sam's club has been allowing people to scan their groceries on their own smart phones and checkout for a long time now.

Can't believe people are actually surprised to see how much it costs when you try to give animals a somewhat good life

You need to have the Migros member's card in order to use the scanner.

You might pay more. But what the company's contribute to society. On top of what's already provided by a country that actually takes care of its citizens. It's worth paying a little more. Because the payout is bigger on the flip side! And the quality is a thousand times better than anything you can get in the states! This would be one of those things that comes full circle in the end.

Btw. I am Swiss and I also have never seen white creamy fajita sauce.... :) Please don't believe this is what we call Mexican food in Switzerland... :) off course, Mexican food in the US is more authentic then in Switzerland as Mexico is closer.

In the last few days you can count on 1:1, since the euro rate is falling rather than rising.

We have usually a wholi isle of foreign food . U just saw the reduced price ones lol

Swiss salary is at least 2 times higher as any regular salary.

Switzerland is notoriously expensive. I assume that salaries are higher for Swiss workers, who couldn't afford many food items on, say, a British salary. Although I haven't been to Germany since December 2019, because of the pandemic, Germany always seemed quite expensive compared to Britain. The price of Bio-Eier in Edeka was exorbitant.

Jesus, this is hard to look at… yes its in your eyes expansive … but the people which produces or handle the products for or in Switzerland would like to get equally paid… its not America.. most of the products are Class A traded products, which you will never find in the US at Walmart or somewhere else.. Meat it expansive because its animals are mostly grown up in CH and we have strong regulations how meat has to be prepared.. in the US the quality of the meat from the supermarket is so bad and full of substances…its just made for the mass.. Did you guys know, that Germany had several Walmarts in the end of the 90a beginning of the 00`s ? They gave up, because the food market in Germany is a war zone. 2 Euros for 1Kg of Beef cant be right.. no one can survive with that prices.. so the quality will be strongly produced to keep those prices… Switzerland has just a very high living standard and we pay our Employees well.. Lidl or Aldi pays 4500 CHF / $ monthly for a cashier.. this will never happen in the minimum wage US Country… And you don’t need to get used too things here.. we aren’t get used to things in the US too.. our prices at the Supermarkt are final princes including Tax .. no tricks or suprises at the end of your shopping experience like in the US were you never know what final price you will need to pay with tax and coupons etc.. and yes 4 bananas for 2 CHF seems to be much for you, but we buy Class A products from the world market, which also includes a fair payment for all in the chain producing this banana.. and yes the chicken for 11 Swiss Francs is made and grown up in Switzerland and has become good food and fair treatment. Its not stuffed with chemicals or other ingredient which you will have in the US when you need to produce the cheapest way for millions. You cannot compare Germany with Switzerland as Germany has a food war to be able to offer the cheapest prices but safe money for ingredients which makes it bad in quality. And Yes the Fleischkäse is a product of Germany which you will find at every butcher in Germany. So just see your shopping experience with other eyes.. something you will never have in the US

Tour a Utah grocery store: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ASnZVSxnNn4.html

Switzerland is crazy expensive, there is a reason people queue up on the border to go shopping. Crossing into Austria or Italy food prices could be anywhere from half to a third of what they are in Switzerland. For many, many food items Italy and Austria are less expensive than the USA, Switzerland is always more. I'd also have to imagine Interlaken would be more expensive than a more off the beaten track area, Zurich and Geneva of course are VERY expensive. The only place I've experienced more expensive was Norway. Ethnic foods are funny, you can barely find the food stuffs from neighboring countries let alone stuff from far off places like Mexico or Asia. I found it strange that literally you could be on border of another country and if you go into a grocery store in either country they have totally different merchandise. Even Lidl and Aldi/Hofer tend to have a lot of localized merchandise in the markets they serve.

At Rewe Center you can scan the things in the market

No the optigal chicken in migros is usually, 8 -9 CHF for a 500 gms in local migros, its not 23 chf.

It costs over $1.00 for a small bundle in Seattle.

I am currently studying in Switzerland in Zurich. I really feel the prices coming from Germany. Particular with the bad conversation rate right now. Hopefull I get an internship soon to earn some money.

SELFscanning is very common in Sweden and aims to reduce simple, monotonous work. In Cologne, Germany, there are first grocery stores with central scanners on the ceiling, which even register whether the goods are packed directly in your bag = speed shopping. Sweden wants to relieve the monotonous work for the checkout staff - with modern Electronic. in Germany the annoying waiting time in front of the few checkouts is the more important argument - time is money

Very informative and amazing vlog. But u didn't tell us about Halal food.🙂

I live in South Carolina, United States, and these prices aren't that high so far haha. It's definitely more expensive, but not by much so far. Also, I've seen other people mention that grocery stores away from tourist areas are much cheaper. I do hope to live in Switzerland one day.

It is all a personal view. Yes Switzerland is not cheap but in comparison to the salary of most it still leaves more money for other things then in many other countries. I travel a lot and have lived in the USA and I can tell, that food is at the Migros Quality in the USA just as expensive if not even more. And don't get me started with restaurants. A non fast food restaurant in the USA is anything from cheaper. And what angers me is that in the US the price on the list is equal to the one in Switzerland, but in the US at the end you get add on for Taxes and the most ridiculous thing TIP money of 18-25%. Absolutely absurd, since here in Switzerland the restaurant owner pays the employee a decent salary and the operating costs are not cheaper either. So why do we customers in the US have to pay the salary of the employee since the prices are already high enough??? So please keep these reports in perspective.

coming from a swiss guy: one does simply not eat "koriander" in switzerland, that's the reason why it is so expensive😂

Love u guys from Switzerland

4:30 Na, basically parity. So youre straight up paying almost double, if not more, for most food items in switzerland compared to Germany.

Swiss franc is practically par to Euro

You have a big garden why dont you grow your own herbs

Some Americans don’t earn that much and of course they would find our country expensive, Swiss earn well but we also complain about some high prices, plus you have to remember America is a huge country with a much larger population to sell too. Also Germany has 10 times our population and they have the EU population to sell too, that’s why you shouldn’t compare Switzerland to the USA or Germany.

Wowww

In swiss we have a culture of touching and buying. We don't like when people pick something from a shelf and put it back especially with cheese and breads. I saw you've done that alot as a tourist. Not bad to respect the culture of a country you visit.

oh no no no no no no no. You can't just call that Mac and Cheese. That's illegal! Or should be 😂 Älplermagronen - Alpine macaroni

Subtitles for Migros: 'My girl', 'Negro', 'Me-Go', 'Nero'

As a german who immigrated to Switzerland 25 years ago I need to say this: You can't compare prices of products between the countries. The whole systems moneywise are different. People in Switzerland earn more, pay less taxes but also pay more for rent, health insurance and groceries. For example the average income of a nurse in Germany would be 38'000 Euro/annually, in Switzerland it's 70'200 CHF/annually. But this only means we earn more in Switzerland and pay more for our stuff. Farming doesn't get as much subsidies as in Germany, therefore you pay the real price. Also - regarding the Mexican and Asian section, what you were showing was the "promotion" tables, not the regular stuff. Migros has shelves for Asian and Mexican food with a wider selection.

Insightful video! One thing I would add regarding the high prices: The Swiss spend on average 9.8% of household expenditure for food. This puts Switzerland at the lowest end of this statistic in Europe (e.g. Germany: 10.6%, Italy 14.2%). So food in Switzerland is among the cheapest in Europe relative to salaries. It puts in perspective how expensive food is for someone who also earns a Swiss salary. However, I do see the point for tourists and appreciate you making this video.

You dont usually see Fleischkäse in Germany? Maybe you call it Leberkäse or Leberkäsesemmel or sth but I cant imagine you dont see it that much in southern Germany, its a classic snack here :D

Being Swiss (and lived in Switzerland for 53 yrs), living in Florida now for 7 yrs - unfortunately, the prices here in FL are NOT lower than in Switzerland. Especially fruits and vegetables 😞 (apples per lb (430 g) 2.99-3.99 (that would be around 7 to 8 CHF per kilo, which nobody pays in Switzerland). A small bag of grapes is at least 6 dollars. That's way more expensive than in Switzerland. A big cup of yogurt 900 g is at least 6 dollars here. A pound of apricots (not even good ones) is at least 4 dollars (that would be about 9 CHF for a kilo). Maybe the prices in Utah are lower, but here in Florida (Orlando) we pay A LOT for groceries.

Prices are high in Switzerland. But I think the average quality is high, too. Cilantro should be available in German supermarkets or market garden. You also may buy them in a flowering pot, or raise it on your own.

The rules for living stock farming and importing/selling meat generally are way more strict in Switzerland which shows in the high prices. Meanwhile in German the "meat lobby" is very aggressive hence the very low prices there. As a swiss I am totally fine with this. Meat should be something special for the weekend not be part of every meal in my opinion.

These berries are gooseberries (Stachelbeeren in German). My grandparents grew them in their garden, and meine Oma usually made a cake or marmelade with them. 🙂

Switzerland truly heaven on Earth but the prices shocked me when l went few years ago.. but the beauty of the country made it all worth while!

That's why the Swiss customers who border Germany come shopping to our supermarkets .... financially worthwhile inclusive the cost of gas for travelling.

Actually Migros is one of our cheaper supermarkets. I saw you took the bananas with the code 1, usually there is one more option of bananas which is cheaper. The crackers were from the Select brand, which is migros "fancy" brand that is more expensive and personally i like to buy it just when we have people over. MBudget is the budget friendliest products of migros. Also fun fact...dont know if you noticed but migros does not sell any alcohol. It was a huge discussion in recent months whether they should change that, but we all decided that we want to keep it that way.

When I drove thru Europe, especially around northern Italy, I would notice tiny little cafes with just a handful of people sitting outside, under a flourescent lightbulb. They looked like 'locals', and I trusted the food to be good. It was better than good, and, it was cheap. Just basic, spaghetti and a salad, but perfection in flavor and how it was made. Like 'your Mama' would have. ....as opposed to dining in the more 'touristy' sections, which, although beautiful, are also quite pricy!

The berries you spotted in the beginning are gooseberries (Stachelbeeren in German - which means thornberries). They have a sweet to sour taste and are fairly common in Germany as well. Maybe see if your local supermarket has frozen cilantro. It’s not the same as fresh one but probably cheaper :) And if you come across an Asian/Turkish supermarket get it there! They have bigger quantities for less money. If you miss lemongrass - most German supermarkets have lemongrass paste in the international isle. You can also get more authentic and cheaper Hummus there! (In a tin - non-refrigerated) Also Fleischkäse is very Common in Germany. You can sometimes even get it at bakeries with a bun. Keep in mind Mexico is very far from Germany/Europe in general but very close to the U.S. A lot of food has to be imported very far and we don’t have a lot of Mexican migrants to make the Mexican cuisine more popular. This is why in German supermarkets there is way less of it. :) Instead we offer a lot of products from European countries like Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Turkey etc

Self scanning already took a lot of jobs away, check your local IKEA for example. Or Mediamarkt.

This was a super insightful video! The prices seem on par with the prices I pay for groceries here in the States. Key difference being that (and having traveled longer term to several other countries to compare), American produce is not as good (too much genetic engineering) and has more exposure to oncogenic chemicals and/or contain additives banned in the EU and advanced nations in Asia.

The black "handle" is a holder for your self-scanning device. You scan your products as you select them off the shelves and then just pay at the end without waiting in line.

It is more expensive in tourist locations but the Swiss people are having an higher income than the other people in the EU. If you earn in a EU country netto 2000€/month, the Swiss earn for the same job 2500 tilll 3000€/month.

Thanks for the video +1 like What is cheaper: Migros or Lidl? Is there a cheaper supermarket than all of the others?

This helped me realise how I filter the products I buy. For every product, there are the pricier and the cheaper ones. Gourmet vs. Budget in Migros. Or sélection vs. Prix garantie in coop. And you can always find out what is in the season by the checking if it comes from Switzerland or not. There's usually a little Swiss flag next to the name.

3:43 Stachelbeeren - I love them, but so far only fresh from the garden. Haven't much liked the store bought until now... They are very much in season or have been peak season one or two weeks ago - hereabouts in Northern Germany.

It is quite common in the larger grocery stores in both Germany and Sweden to offer “tastes” of items during the weekend, both on stands (as you found) and through personnel. This worked on me - I often purchased the item they were offering if I liked it because I really enjoy variety in my food. What really shocked me in Germany, however, was when they would offer little cups of wine or pure alcohol for taste testing! You can believe they do NOT do this in Sweden where the sale of alcohol is strictly regulated! (73 year old American living in Europe for 35 years. I’m going to try to remember to shorten this to “73/35 USA”!)

Had to fly to Basel for work related stuff recently. Had a box of noodles with veggies and teriyaki sauce, cost me 16€

In Germany, Migros operates an online shop and about 300 small shops (tegut), where you can find them in a small area offer around 20,000 items of food and organic products. Migros' attempt to conquer the German market with supermarkets has failed, as has Wal-Mart. And one of the reasons was the prices.

The prices are higher because the quality IS almost better too. Chicken: they live a Happy Life before they go to the shop.

It hurts my Swiss heart that you guys actually call this traditional Swiss dish „Mac‘n‘cheese“

Meat should be expensive. It's ridiculous how cheap meat is in other countries...

For your next trip, seems it looks like you love the cheese products, I would recommend going to the area of Gruyeré (west of Lauterbrunnen). I personally think the best Swiss cheeses come from there and you can also bring your son to the Cailler chocolate factory in the area (both educational and enjoyable with a chocolate taste testing at the end!).

By today: Euro/SFr. is about 1:1. No need to buy water in Switzerland👍🏻

I find food in Swiss grocery stores like Migros costs a little more than what you find in a Whole Foods in a big American cities, but groceries are the least expensive thing you will pay for in Switzerland. Restaurants, bars, gas, hotels, clothing, ski passes...that's the stuff that is shockingly expensive. You can go to a simple, medium priced restaurant in Zurich and easily spend $100 per person. At nice bars/clubs you are going to spend more than $20 a drink. Wine? Through the roof. But the food is great, air is clean and the country is beautiful.

Go the next Turkish Shop and you will have more for your money 😜

Migros is a good super market. However, if you are looking for cheap groceries, you have to be careful in Migros. Buying this Migros Budget line, you are ok. But you have also very high quality choices. The prices usually go up as more of the production chain is on Swiss soil. By animal food products, the quality of life of the animal raises the price drastically. Buying cheap Migros Budget import eggs, may not fit your understanding of how chickens should be held. Migros is a super market with big variety, but also not the cheapest option to buy groceries in Switzerland.

Yeah, it’s not Disneyland. Shopping on a GI salary in Interlaken on a crappy dollar is like going to Aspen on a peso salary. Also, being it is Interlaken you will find foods that a geared towards tourists. You can find stores like this all over the world. Like french wines in high end stores in Beijing. And another thing, not every country is a melting pot so no market for “ethnic” foods. Also, the “ethnic” food section in most american stores is limited also.