How To Keep The Food Bugdet from Exploding
 

I've been looking in guidebooks and they make it appear that dinner for two is going to be at least 60 Euros per couple, even for "inexpensive" places.

I'd like any recommendations for places to eat that will be cheaper. I assume that creperies will be common. I would appreciate any recs for cheaper types of places , or even specific places in Paris. We will be in hotels and can't cook.

We also like to eat cheap in Paris, especially since we're not really into French Cuisine. Paris has a great variety of street food. The Latin Quarter in particular has a high concentration of inexpensive, multi-ethnic food: gyros, falafel, pizza, and of course crepes. In addition, cafes around the city will have well-priced salads, sandwiches, omelets, and usually a few heavier meals, such as steak with fries.

Where is your hotel?

Going to a great restaurant in every country is a part of the whole experience so you should definitely splurge in that area. But you certainly don't have to do this every night.

Some money-saving tips: Go to a market and pick up some picnic items to fix your own dinner.

Or ask around for restaurants locals go; they certainly don't dine 5 stars every night. Dining at a kind of European blue collar place can be fun.

Or go to a nice restaurant and don't order the works; for example, in Italy you could just get the primera and secondi dishes. Or have water instead of wine.

There are many threads going about restaurants in Paris.

Last July I was in Paris for 3 nights with 3 teenagers and on a tight budget. We ate cheaply the first night for a total of 49 euros for us all (inc wine and soft drinks)in Cafe Rive Droit on l'Ile St Louis but it was fairly unmemorable. Ices after at Berthillon. We had walked past a restaurant on rue St Louis en l'Ile which has 2 courses for 12 euros a head and it looked great but was very small and full - people were waiting for tables to finish, so we walked on.

The next night we snacked on falafel and salad boxes we bought somewhere between the river and Bvd St Germain. They were yummy, and very cheap!

On our last night it was Bastille Day, and I had booked a table at le Petit Prince de Paris on rue Lanneau tucked away behind the Pantheon. We had one of the nicest meals in friendly and welcoming surroundings, for a grand total of 135 euros including wine and soft drinks. This was the 'splash out or splurge' or our trip, and still very reasonable for such fabulous food.

This little restaurant comes well recommended on this forum, as does le Coupe Chou which is opposite.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...name=julia%5Ft

As for other meals, we did not take expensive breakfast at the hotel, we walked to nearby cafes for coffee and croissants and pastries. Lunches tended to be baguettes, crepes, pastries, falafel, bought for very little at any number of bars, stands, counters all over Paris.

By staying away from the main 'tourist' areas there are many small restaurants offering plats du jour at very reasonable prices.

Have a great trip to Paris.

In Paris the largest concentratin of low cost restaurants is around Place St Michele. There's a whole warren of little streets just east of there full of restaurants with price fixed menus starting around 10€ for two courses. Things like steak and fries with either a starter or dessert. Then there will be several higher priced (12, 15, 18€) menus. Often times the lowest priced menu is only available until about 7pm so eating on the early side helps. These are sit down restaurants with wait service and food that is perfectly acceptable (although certainly not "memorable"). There are places like this all over Paris, but the bigest concentration is in this area.

You can order a "caraf d'eau" rather than bottled water and it will be free. You have to specify or they will bring you bottled. House wine is cheaper than soda.

Paris is full of wonderful street food - sandwiches, crepes, etc. And buying makings for a picnic to eat in a park or in your room (if it's cold or wet out) is a great way to get some really good food cheap. Tons of ethnic restaurants like Greek, Chinese, etc. While there are some with wait service that can be higher priced, there are plenty with counter service and a couple of tables that are much cheaper (well under €10 per person).

If breakfast is not included in your room rate, don't pay the hotel price for breakfast - it's often €8-10. There are lots of places you can get a croissant and cafe for less. There's a chain of places called Brioch Doree that offters a morning "special" of coffee, juice and two croissants for about €4.

I find Paris one of the cheapest places in Europe to eat because of the variety.

In my previous post I gave the wrong thread with recommendations for le Petit Prince - here is the right one

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34628038

Wiesel,

You can get some great sandwiches/soups/salads etc. at many bars/pubs for about 5 Euro. I suggest you poke your head into some as you walk around. A meal w/ beers and a small tip will be well under 20 Euro for two people. These spots are quite prevalent in the 3rd, 4th. and 5th arrondissements.

Hi W,

Where will you be staying?

((I))

We will be staying in the Latin Quarter, but eating near the hotel isn't a big priority. I also didn't mean to target just Paris specifically, although the advice is very helpful. Half our trip is there. We just haven't quite figured out where to spend the other 4 nights yet.

Like Jocelyn, we're not foodies.. we rarely spend more than 40€ for 2 on cafe/brasserie dinners with glass of wine... We like an Asian deli-type place near our hotel - you point, they heat and weigh, you eat, very yummy for under 25€ for 2 if you load up.

All establishments post their menu outside, so you can study and choose before going in to get a table.

Also, the boulangeries often have small salads, quiches, 'pizza', sandwiches, sweets - you can eat there if they have seating, or take away (emporter). They will warm up anything you want.

One of our best budget helping alternatives is to pick up bottled water at a supermarché or an épicerie. Granted, yes, it added a little weight to our bags, but it did help in the money department!

One food item that I always buy in Paris when dining inexpensively is pizza. I love the crust that has that certain wood burning oven flavor.

Don't forget - it is required that all restaurants post their menu with prices outside.

If you make lunch your main "restaurant" meal, you'll save money as luncheon specials abound--a 3 course lunch may cost half as much as a 3-course dinner and the food is just as good. (This only works if you're the type who can keep going after a sizable hot lunch instead of retiring for a nap and you do NOT find that a big lunch only makes you hungrier for dinner!)

You could then have dinner snacks--sandwich, crepes, frites, a salad. If your hotel doesn't mind, you could eat some cold charcuterie (pasta salads, bread and pate, bottle of wine, etc.) in your room. Some hotels are fine with it; some turn a blind eye; still others really disapprove.
Take advantage of the food stalls at street markets--the rue Cler abounds with them, as do many other street markets.

As all have said, just look around for pre-fixe menus that are within your budget and they are plentiful. My son also found a small shop, next to our hotel, that sold sandwhiches and sodas. He fell in love with the salami and butter on a baguette for 2e.

Many cafés have lunch prix fixe for 12€ to 15€.

If the weather is nice, we sit on a park bench and picnic.

When you are in Paris consider having a sandwich for lunch. I find this is what the locals do alot. Sure there are many who have a nice, sitdown meal, but it does add up. Many times I notice the locals going to a boulangerie and getting a simple ham sandwich or any various sandwich for cheap and eating it while walking. It costs about 3 euro for a sandwich jambon and it's made with a nice baguette. That way you can spend for a nice dinner.

Agree with most of the above suggestions - especially the carafe d'eau - it's a standing joke about US travelers unwittingly asing for water only to learn when the bill arrives that they "ordered" expensive bottled water.
One other thing I love is crepes - vendors on the street serve up really delicious concoctions for just a few euro that make a great lunch or light dinner.

You might also want to try that venerable Paris institution, Chartier, for both a cheap meal and an "experience."

Many bakeries sell nice ready-made sandwiches to take out.

If you drink wine buy from the grocery store for your room rather than in restaurants.

You can set up a hotel room with a few basics without a kitchen... wine, water, crackers, cheese, fruit, cookies, nuts, etc.

Street food is often a good option, pizza, hot dogs, crepes, salet (sp? little cheese pies).

Oh, something else to add into the equation...


Will your room have a fridge/mini bar? If so, you can put your extra lunch meat/cheese/etc for the next day.

Just back from Paris. Try Polidor at 41 rue Monsieur-le-Prince, Paris 75006. They have a 20 Euro fixed menu - soup, entree, dessert. Carafe of house wine 11 Euro. Excellent value, wonderful experience! I will check through my notes for the two Latin Quarter restaurants I visited.

This was the most expensive place I dined at. Most of the other bistros were between 13 and 15 Euros for the fixed menu and all were good. Ethnic food is less expensive (cous-cous, Thai).

HI
You mentioned that you'll spend 4 days somewhere else. Paris is likely to be more expensive than other areas in France, large cities being more expensive in general than smaller towns.
Also, if you head into outer residential areas in Paris (double-digit arrondissements) you'll find lower prices on average than in the center.
However, the Latin Quarter does have a lot of cheap snack bars etc that are student-oriented.
Also, Rick Steves tends to make a lot of low-budget recommendations, you might want to check his book or website.
They have a message board of sorts.

Have three beers, a bottle of water a bag of chips and a tin of sardines on a park bench for 5.19 euro.

My friend and I did this for lunch today outside the Castello Lombardie in Enna, Sicily.

Well, I passed on the sardines. :-D

My sister told me there were a number of Marks and Spencers in Paris. I have used them in Britain. ....very nice off the shelf grocery/take out you can eat and walk with.

Just wondering to all the posters that are mentioning street food. Is this all chesse, bread and meat items? More specifically, can I find broccoli, Carrots apart from salads?

We've found small premade salads at a few boulangeries - the only place I know of to get raw veggies is to go to a produce market (alimentaire) or the grocer. Which means that it isn't 'ready to eat'.

A charcuterie will often have pre-made salads (beet salad, celery remoulade, etc.).

No more Marks and Spencers in Paris, their store closed a few years ago, but there are many, many places where you can get sandwiches to go.

For Sarah- Certainly you can find raw vegetables at the street markets, corner green grocer, or the Monoprix.

Or are you hoping to find them prepared and available as "street food"?

Many Vietnamese-Chinese restaurants offer a midday and often an evening meal for 10 euros or less, and they're popular with Parisians precisely for that reason.

There are many cheap options in the Latin Quarter that allow you to have a very nice sitdown dinner experience. There are many restaurants that offer very good meals at a price of 10 or 12 Euros for 2 or 3 courses. Most of them are very nice, atmospheric places with good service. I found the food better in many of these places than the much higher priced restaurants. House wine is good and is about the cheapest thing you can drink other than water. The tap water is perfectly good to drink. The area around around St Severin church is full of good afforable dining options. For lunch, there are many places selling delicicious baguette sandwichs for 2.5 to 3 Euros.

I haven't seen any mention of quiche. Many boulangeries have a variety of quiches available at lunch and they're yummy...well, except for the one where we discovered some kind of fish between the layers!

yes suz I was wondering if they were in street food.

Quiche works though

Thanks

Hi

For lunch we bought food, wine and water at a supermarket and then picniced in one of the lovely parks there. We had a Swiss Army knife that included a bread knife and corkscrew. Pack some sturdy plastic wine glasses, plates and travel cutlery for your travels.

We had breakfast in our hotel room, supplies from the supermarket again. Bring a heating coil and coffee mugs (heat tolerant plastic) with you. Breakfast was especially nice looking out at the view from our window.

This saved heaps and allowed us to splurge on a good restaurant meal occasionly.

Buon voyage

Cojean has wonderful sandwiches and made-up salads (soup too I think) in the 4 - 6 EUR range. Eat in or take away. Mobbed around 1 - 1:30 but empty at noon.

4 rue de Seze, 8th
19 rue de la Monnaie, 1st
17 bd Haussman, 9th
53 bd du General Martial Valin, 15th

The very cheapest way to eat is the pre-made sandwiches available in all railway stations and a lot of metros. Not inspiring but tasty and cheap, around 3 EUR.

In Nov. 2004 my wife and I spent 7 nights in Paris and 6 in London for $1804 ($139 per day) not including air fare and hotels. The GBP was at $1.80 and the Euro at $1.30.

The $139 per day includes all expenses; train fare (Winchester and Norwich from London), rt transport from airport to hotels, museum entrances, gifts, Tube and Metro, one of our dinners in London was $93 and the most expensive in Paris $82 (full bottles of house wine, not carafes). Both were 3 course. Our lunches were often in museums and churches and our breakfasts were covered in the hotel. We also enjoy the lunch in the Galeries Lafayette cafeteria and the Crypt at St. Martin's in the Fields.

We have the advantage of having visited both cities numerous times so our daily costs are certainly less than a first time visitor and we have a few inexpensive restaurants that we frequent. This trip we tried 2 new ones in Paris, ate in one 3 times and the other twice. Both were suggested by the hotel.

You should be able to average less than 60 Euros for dinner, particularly without wine.

About the veggie meals: lots of bakeries and patisseries, as well as other sorts of food shops have quiche or quiche-like little cheese and broccoli or other vegetable tarts, and similar items.

I am a sort of low budget foodie, and I use Sandra Gustafson's Great Eats in Paris as a good guide to finding tasty budget meals. I don't generally care for Rick Steves' dining suggestions, but you could use both books to cross reference.

We have picnicked in our hotel room in Paris on two different trips. Both times it was at the end of the trip and we were overly sated with dining out. We walked along a great market street (a bit upscale) in the 6th, and just bought a bit of cheese, some bread, some salad, a bit of roast chicken and a couple of pastries at various shops. Took it back to the room and ate before packing for a morning departure.

Can anyone one think of the name of this street, which I believe ran east-west and was full of really nice food shops? I know that isn't much to go on.

It wasn't Rue de Buci, was it? I know it's full of food stalls, but I seem to recall a lot of food "stores" as well.

Maybe... we were there in the late afternoon/early evening, and one or two stalls were operating, as well as 6 or 7 nice stores (candy, prepared food, boulangerie, etc.).

Gee, now I want to go to Paris so I can check for sure!

"You mentioned that you'll spend 4 days somewhere else. Paris is likely to be more expensive than other areas in France, large cities being more expensive in general than smaller towns."

Wow, you think? We here on the farm would never have guessed that.

"Also, if you head into outer residential areas in Paris (double-digit arrondissements) you'll find lower prices on average than in the center."

Gee, maybe we should just stay home. That's even further from the center of Paris,. So it would be much cheaper.

I can't resist the sarcasm. How else can you respond to someone who thinks that you are so ignorant that you don't know the obvious.

Worse yet, she says I should look at Rick Teeves? The man would not a decent restaurant if it fell on him.

You asked and elaine responded...with good advice.

If you read between the lines, you will figure out what she was saying. If you want a better meal without spending the extra $$, take the metro out to the farther reaches (it's still Paris!). If you do a little research you'll find there are actually people who SEEK OUT those out of the way places for their "authenticity".

For cheaper meals in Paris, you'll find lots of places serving "moules et frites", mussels and fries. There's a chain called Leon Bruxelles. Good meal, not expensive. Their creme brulee is very good.

I, too, would be interested in info on creperies open at night and serving "dinner crepes".

As for the countryside, we took into account exactly what elaine pointed out. When doing our budget, we could allow more for meals in Paris because of the lower costs in the smaller towns. Made perfect sense to me!