Cost of Meals???

We were in Mürren five nights in 2016 and ate mostly food from the Co-op -- only one pleasant dinner out plus one expensive hamburger meal. Lots of bread and cheese and sasusage lunches (and Co-op cookies and chocolate), delicious water freely available from fountains on the street. (Carry a bottle.)
Load up at ample, filling breakfast!!
How expensive depends on what you are used to paying for lunch and dinner out at home. We had just been in Paris and found the Swiss meals tres cher in comparison.

The real restaurants listed in Rick's chapter for Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, and Muerren, for instance are all in the 3- to 4-dollar-sign categories, meaning a typical main course costs 20-30 chf, or 30+ chf, respectively, and steak or seafood likely to cost more. Here's a sample menu in Muerren: https://www.edelweiss-muerren.ch/media/56855/speisekarte-so16-mit-stein-1773704.pdf.

A modest dinner at a restaurant will cost 30-40 francs. Adding dessert or wine will bump it another 20.

Meals at higher end restaurants are priced in van Goghs. How many van Goghs do you own?

It depends on where, exactly, you are dining. While it is all expensive, we thought Luzern was off the charts expensive: almost impossible to eat dinner for less than 100CHF for the two of us. We did find a decent Indian restaurant there, a bit away from the center, that was slightly less than stratospheric.

In other towns, expect to pay 25CHF for a pizza for one person and similar for a rösti dinner, salad at extra cost. Wine is expensive in restaurants so we usually have that in our apartment ent or room before or after dinner along with a small appetizer like cheese and crackers from the Co-op.

If you've never visited Switzerland then you'll be in for quite an eye-opening experience as to the price of most EVERYTHING being much more expensive than what you're used to...especially restaurant food. Grocery store food, on the other hand, is not so bad. So if you are looking to help your budget then shop at the grocery store and maybe do so picnics along the way. And be sure to take those grocery store snacks with you on the trains.

The prices on that menu Laura linked to are typical: https://www.edelweiss-muerren.ch/media/56855/speisekarte-so16-mit-stein-1773704.pdf

Here is another one from Basel to compare it to: https://www.gifthuettli.ch/file.php?file=86&lang=en

Lunch menus are often cheaper than evenings. It is to do with staff wages, they get paid more for working evenings (note they are paid living wages, they do not need to rely on tips).
If you are trying to minimise costs and still have "real" food (no fast food), look for department stores which have restaurants. Manor, Coop or Migros.

On travelling days, definitely buy food to eat on the train. Most large stations have food outlets selling to travellers.

Every time our family of 4 ate out in Switzerland it was $100 and these were not high end places. That being said, I appreciate the difficulty of getting food and supplies high up in the Alps and all of the food was very high-quality so don’t let the cost of meals deter you from going. Switzerland is a spectacular country.

$100 for 4 people is actually quite cheap. And the restaurant prices are expensive because restaurant workers actually make a very good livable wage...unlike the USA.

We have just returned from 4 weeks traveling around Switzerland. Restaurant pricing does not differ all that much from place to place. We were in Mürren, Kandersteg, Meiringen, Appenzell, Lucerne and Neuchatel. In general the entree’s ranged from 18 chf ( the lowest we saw and only saw this low price once) to well over 50 chf. On average the main course was 25-35 chf. Once you added a drink, whether it be wine, beer or a soft drink, add another 5 chf. Desserts ranged between 8- 15 chf. This is for one person. We ate out most nights but for lunches we tried to buy food at the local bakeries or the Coop. We never ate in any fast food places. Have a great trip and just enjoy yourselves.

And the restaurant prices are expensive because restaurant workers
actually make a very good livable wage

This is the case all over western Europe. What makes restaurant food pricey are requirements that the bulk of ingredients be sourced from inside Switzerland. Even McDonalds hamburgers have to come from Swiss beef, and the buns from Swiss wheat.

What makes restaurant food pricey are requirements that the bulk of
ingredients be sourced from inside Switzerland.

This is not correct. There is no requirement of any kind on were product is sourced, however all product must meet EU standards and the source of product must be disclosed.

For example, if you scroll to the bottom of this menu, you will see that food comes from Switzerland, Hungary, Argentina, Thailand, China and Vietnam. This is not unusual.

The reality is that people are very well paid in Switzerland and can afford to pay the asking prices. Even the unemployed office workers get around $7,000 per month.

Even McDonalds
hamburgers have to come from Swiss beef, and the buns from Swiss
wheat.

McDonalds always sources locally that's why we have the Big Mac Index.

According to this this site about all things CH, high government tariffs all but force business owners and consumers to purchase food locally, which impacts prices:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/import-tariffs_why-a-steak-costs-so-much-more-to-eat-in-switzerland/43218822

We recently spent 4 days in Switzerland -- Bern and Sierre, at 2 AirBnBs. In Sierre, we spent some time with the owners, who have spent their whole life in Switzerland. And they said that eating at restaurants was very expensive. One night we had dinner in the courtyard at our AirBnB. Another night we had dinner at a wine bar in Sierre, with many wines and platters of local air cured meats and Valais cheeses. The next night was the Raclette dinner at the restaurant part of the wine bar. And another night was the wine bar area of a Spanish restaurant, with a giant tapas platter. None of the restaurant meals was cheap, but nothing compared to what we would have spent at most other places in those towns.

Thank you for all of your responses!!! We are going regardless of the price of meals but will eat a large breakfast, which is included at our hotels, and then probably do a picnic type lunch, buy beer and wine for our room fridge, and try to find a moderate priced dinner. I certainly have no problem with workers being paid a living wage and not having to rely on tips for fair compensation.

If you’re moving about during the day there’s really no reason to stop for lunch, aside from meat & cheese boards, wine and beer. Carry all sorts of stuff from Co-Ops and you’ll barely be hungry for dinner some nights, pizza will do. Enjoy.

Yeah, it's pricey. We thought we'd save money when we moved into Northern Italy where prices were lower, but then the exchange between the Euro and Swiss Franc made it not significantly cheaper. So eating is expensive.

We just celebrated our 25th anniversary and did bit of a splurge one month trip through Switzerland and northern Italy . . . when the Visa bills came in I thought I'd cringe at our way-nicer-than-usual hotels, but no, it was our meals! This is what we did, and it was still expensive, but we'd do this again because we work to travel, so paying $$ is factored in . . .

• breakfast included in the accommodation, or cheap alternative
• grocery store lunch on the go or super casual lunch
• deli apperativo at our hotel on the balcony (a few hotels we stayed at had gratis cocktail hour)
• dinner at a local style restaurant. Shared appetizer, shared main, house wine, sometimes shared dessert (my Italian husband has to try tiramisu if it's offered)

Our food was still so expensive. But oh well, what a fabulous experience. We loved every minute.

The reality is that people are very well paid in Switzerland and can afford to pay the asking prices. Even the unemployed office workers get around $7,000 per month

My daughter lives in Switzerland and is paid very well. It's not so bad when you live there, but when you visit, ouch! Especially if you're from the US and you're used to cheap meat, etc.

A couple of years ago we stayed at the Edelweiss Hotel in Wengen. They offer a four course dinner for 25 CHF. After checking prices at local restaurants, we quickly realized what a great deal it was.
Breakfast is included with cost of room, so most of the time we didn't eat much for lunch. Just grabbed a snack wherever we were at the time.

We're returning in a few weeks and will again stay at the Hotel Edelweiss and enjoy their great dinners.

Have fun.

Tips are generally included in sit down restaurants in Switzerland. Ask to make sure but you normally do not have to pay that. Like all of Europe distilled alcohol is expensive. Usually local beer and wine is not so bad. My experience is that in general food in Switzerland is very good, a higher standard than in the US. This is not the case for high end places in the USA, but for the lower end places Switzerland is better.

In many Swiss style restaurants if you order something local like Veal Zurich style with rosti you will get two big plates of food not one. Even something like fish, you finish your first plate and they bring out another one full. Dinners tend to be long affairs taking a lot longer than in most USA places.

Most better restaurants in Switzerland have cook staff that has gone through extensive training to get their jobs. One of my old business partners had a son that trained for four years to be a chef, and that is considered a high quality job in Switzerland.

I would suggest that travelers to Switzerland eat a good breakfast, many times included in your hotel bill. Have a simple wurst with potato for lunch from a street stand or small place. Then eat a more local dish in the evening at a place locals eat. If you go to a tourist restaurant and order a Scotch and soda, steak dinner, and wine you will be paying a lot.