Migros or Coop? (or shhhhhh....Aldi)

In this country, you tend to either be a Migros or a Coop fan. I find Swiss supermarkets have limited choice compared to other countries but stock high quality produce. Migros sells one lot of brands and Coop sells a different load, meaning you often end up in both at some point in the week. And weirdly, the largest amount of milk you can buy is in 1 litre bottles. Which makes me think they'd like you to come in every day for your milk or they just like the thought of you having to do alot of recycling. My kids can drink 3 litres of milk a day between them. Sometimes I wish we could arrange to have a cow live on the balcony.

Often, when it gets to the end of the month I find myself in Aldi. Nothing wrong with Aldi. I tend to avoid the meat and check the veg thoroughly but you can find bargains. People complain that Aldi makes you feel like you are shopping in a foreign country. Well I am so nothing new there. Also, I spotted two Maserati's, one Ferrari and a handful of Porsches in the carpark on the last visit. Therefore I feel no shame.

Anyway, I had to share this. Tortilla wraps cost 5fr10 in the Coop. I found these beauties in Aldi for 1fr20 on Monday. Almost five times less. Quesadillas for lunch anyone??

Swiss school lunches.

So why am I making my children's lunch every day?

It is the norm in the Swiss school system for your child to walk home (preferably without the parent) to your house at midday (helps build up the appetite!) and walk back at around 1.30pm, full and ready for the afternoon's activities. In my children's school there is no canteen. They can stay for lunch but the parents pay for the food (brought in by an outside supplier) AND for the teacher's time of looking after your child between midday and 1.30pm. So normally 20 francs a day. I'll translate, £15 a day. Per child. I have 3.

Because of my husband's job, I have the opportunity of being a stay at home mum. This was part of the reason why we decided to move to Switzerland and something I'd not have been able to do in the UK.

So I cook instead. A lot. From scratch. And healthily (most of the time).

And I have 3 children with 3 very different tastes.

The eldest is Betsy. She's almost 7, extremely tall and likes to eat meat (having been a vegetarian till age 4) but won't touch sauce (unless it's pesto) or soup or yoghurt.

Next is Lola. Aged 4, Lola likes fruit and vegetables and green tea. Her favourite food of all is pomegranate. Lola never gets ill. She's seen the doctor once in her life. Maybe we could all learn from Lola.

Last of all is Zak. He is 2 and hates fruit or veg. I spend hours hiding the stuff in cakes, sauces, soups and yoghurt. Sometimes out of nowhere he'll eat a banana or some melon or corn on the cob but it is quite an event when it happens. He eats mostly carbs, but appears to have a gluten issue. And is also what you'd call a milk-aholic.

I refuse to cook different meals for each of my angels. I produce one meal and they take what they want and there's nothing else. Food is very expensive in Switzerland and I find that lack of other options for the kids helps avoid pickiness. Meat is also incredibly expensive. I am currently standing next to a normal sized chicken in the kitchen and it cost 14.50 Swiss francs (almost £10). And that's a 'non-fancy' 1 kilo chicken. So I cook with meat once a day if we are lucky. Which is good for the health and environment as well as the pocket, so I won't complain.

So my plan is to blog about my culinary adventures with my young ones in Switzerland and hopefully we will all learn a few things on the way.