Last updated 17.3.2026.
Work happens wherever life takes us. We often need to grab a meal on the go and eat during the workday when there's little time for a proper lunch break. On days like these, picking up a ready-made lunch from a grocery store makes things easier. Here's what you can and can't buy from grocery stores with your lunch benefit.
The rules for using lunch benefits are set by the Finnish Tax Administration. Their guidelines describe purchasing ready-to-eat meals — take-away portions — from grocery stores as follows:
A meal voucher or other earmarked payment method (i.e. a lunch benefit) may be valued in accordance with the benefits-in-kind decision even when it can be used to pay for so-called take-away meals from a food store meals that are ready to eat as they are. Such meals include, for example, salads, filled baguettes and hot meals from a service counter, self-assembled portions from a buffet, or hot meals prepared by the store itself for sale.
- Finnish Tax Administration, Benefits in Kind in Taxation, 9 December 2025
Fresh take-away meals, not ready-made convenience foods.
The Tax Administration's somewhat lengthy definition means that lunch benefits can only be used to buy certain types of take-away meals from grocery stores. The meals must essentially be fresh, with no convenience or pre-packaged foods of any kind. They can be hot or cold, and they must have been prepared specifically for sale at that particular store.
Meals assembled at a service counter or salad bar, such as meatballs with mashed potato, grilled chicken leg with rice and vegetables, or filled pancakes with Greek salad, can be purchased with a lunch benefit. Today, many grocery stores also have a sushi counter, and ready-made or self-assembled sushi meals from these counters are covered too. Fresh filled baguettes, rolls, and triangular sandwiches are also on the list of eligible lunch options.
Use your lunch benefit to buy these products from grocery stores:
- A service counter meal, such as mashed potato and meatballs, grilled chicken with Greek salad, or filled pancakes
- Hot meals
- A salad bar meal
- Sushi counter meals
- A ready meal packaged by a restaurant or the store itself
- A filled roll or triangular sandwich made by the store
Do not use your lunch benefit to buy groceries, consumer goods, or other prohibited products.
The lunch benefit is intended for purchasing a meal eaten during your own working day. As a rule, it cannot be used to buy anything that cannot be eaten on the spot or that could end up being used by someone else.
When buying a lunch meal from a grocery store, you cannot use your lunch benefit to pay for these products:
❌ Groceries such as bread, raw meat or fish, or cheese.
❌ Consumer goods such as toilet paper, bin bags, or disposable cutlery.
❌ Factory-made, plastic-packaged convenience foods such as frozen wok meals, burgers, pizzas, other fast food, or pre-packaged salads.
❌ Drinks with a deposit such as mineral waters or soft drinks.
❌ Alcoholic products.
❌ Cigarettes and other tobacco products.
❌ Sweets and confectionery.
See the grocery stores where you can pay with Epassi.
Hundreds of grocery stores across Finland accept Epassi payments. Pick up a ready meal from a salad bar, hot food counter, or sushi counter and pay with your Epassi lunch benefit.
The easiest way to find your nearest grocery stores is through the Epassi app. Open Search and type grocery store. The nearest locations are shown automatically at the top.
As well as ABC stations across the country.
