And stay away from sodas - my friend who is addicted to "coca lite" sometimes spent as much on her sodas as her meal. Tap water and wine was far cheaper.

We were there for only two weeks, but in my limited experience, the prices cited here are a bit low. I appreciate that if you want to spend a lot of time and resources seeking an inexpensive meal, you can succeed, and if that's your thing, do it. We were devoting our time to seeing art and architecture, and food was not our first priority.

For my wife and I, we usually spent less than 20 Euros for lunch, with the exception being one place near the tourist office that ran about 50 euros, for a lunch rather larger than what we usually have, but we were buying ambiance and convenience.

Restaurant dinners usually ran about 100 euros for two appetizers, two entrees, two deserts, and a decent bottle of wine, with the food quite good. A pleasant way to spend an evening.

On those evenings we ate in our apartment, we spent usually about 20 euros at the food venders, and 8 or 10 euros at the vintner. The meals were more eclectic, and we didn't have the ambience of the restaurants, but the wine was good and it was a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Of course, one day we decided we wanted melon for the next breakfast, and paid 4 euros for a melon about the size of a softball; immediately upon returning home, we went to our own farmers' market and got a real melon for $1. For some reason, the venders prices for prepared vegetables seemed quite high, although it was hard to compare meaningfully as I am not metric. Usually we bought by the piece, or asked to see the containers, and the venders seemed adept at dealing with our ignorance.

Picnics were also a delightful way to lunch, even in October.

Venders hours were often puzzling. More than once I would see a vender opening during my morning croissant run, only to find him closed, for lunch or for the day, when I returned in the afternoon with my wife.

We found the prices to be very reasonable and on the evenings when we had touristed out there was a lovely deli (or whatever you call it) about a block from our hotel.
We would get meat or cheese and some wonderful vegies and go back to the room and picnic on the dresser!
We were in the Rue Cler area and this was near the PO at the corner of Rue Cler and whatever.
We were fortunate to have a fridge in our room so we alwalys kept some milk, cheese and water in that!
Mike

I think the most important info you can distill from this discussion is to look for restaurants with prix fixe menus (sometimes called "formula"). Some will have more than one plans for different prices, and some may include wine. If you don't drink, that helps to keep the final tab down. Many restaurants do offer wine by the glass so you wouldn't have to get a whole bottle.

Another book recommendation: "Bistros of Paris" by Robert and Barbara Hamburger.