Food Budget
 

Greetings,

I will be going to London, France, and Brussels in about 4 weeks. Is a $50-$60 dollar budget for food enough? Breakfast will be included in all of my hotels.

Yes, it's enough if you want it to be enough, but it won't allow for posh dining. You are allowing about 35-45 Euros per day, or 25-30 pounds.

Yes, it should be fine if you don't splurge. London will be your greatest challenge, but even there you should be able to eat reasonably well if breakfast is included at your hotels.

That shoulds work if you aren't big drinkers.

Yep. London should be your biggest concern. The best way to compare prices for food across European countries is to judge by McDonald's prices. I believe a meal in the UK costs around 8 pounds, which is $16 US nowdays. :) In France, it's around 6 Euros, which is still around $8 US.

That's a tad excessive. Most McDonalds meals are £4 in the UK, although London branches do sometimes charge a bit more., but not as much as £8!

Do take-out from shops or supermarkets!Dine in your hotel room after the theater. Buy fruit from street vendors. No soft drinks...no candy bars... McDonald's for salads. In essence, you must DIY.

DIY in London is a good idea. Also consider making lunch your main meal f you want to eat out. Loo out for weatherspoons pubs (and some other chains) that do two for one meals.

If you want alcohol with a meal find a balti - one that is unlicensed and take your own wine or beer - make sure it's unlicensed first though.

It entirely depends on your choices. On our trip to Tuscany last year the average cost we paid for a dinner with wine for two people was 40 to 80 Euros depending on the establishment and meal. We had Pizza and salad on two occassions which constituted the low end and several multi course meals at higher end trattoria. We do not eat at the Michelin star quality restaurants because we simply can't afford them.

This year in the Dordogne the average cost was higher. I attribute that to the fact that in Italy you can order a bowl or plate of Pasta for a main course and it is quite substantial. Most restaurants in the Dordogne had set price menus and ordering a la carte was very pricey. Our average meal cost was more like 70 to 100 Euros for dinner with wine for two.

We usually try to limit our restaurant meal consumption to one a day in order keep our costs in check. Picnic lunches are tasty and inexpensive. Half the fun is shopping at the local markets to find the ingredients.