cheap eats

reasonably, if one is planning to picnic or grab street food for lunch what should we expect to spend? trying to get a feel for what the food prices are. Is it like London or more expensive? thanks.

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I have read on this forum that London travel is more expensive than traveling in Paris.

For food prices, it depends on where you get the food.

L%26#39;As du Falafel on Rue des Rosiers costs 4.5E.

Crepes at the crepe stand at Place de la Concorde--(I can%26#39;t actually remember the price but I would say around 5E--maybe less for the sweet ones).

Boulangeries and Patisseries sell ready-made sandwiches made on a baguette. They are less than 10E. They also sell pizza and quiche which are each usually less than 10E. (Actually, depending on where you go, you might find these things significantly less than 10E.)

You can get a baguette for about 1E.

There are hundreds of different cheeses to choose from. Look for a cheese store. Picking the cheeses is fun. Ask to try them.

Look for a grocery store (small or large) to get drinks, fabulous yogurt, fruit, bottled water, etc. The prices for all of these things are quite inexpensive.

Then you can shop at Fouchon or the food section at Le Bon Marche and spend an arm and a leg and end up with picnic foods. Last September I bought a small container of moussaka at Le Bon Marche and I think it cost $10 or more. The prices were crazy. Everything looked so delicious I had to try something. But I couldn%26#39;t afford an entire picnic from that store.

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thanks so much for all of the helpful info. I have been researching online but its really overwhelming with all of the information out there. Its funny cause as %26quot;snobby%26quot; as this city sounds with their ridiculous prices, the french are NOTORIOUS in my town for being the cheapest, most arrogant non tipping tourists around. Very hypocritical if you ask me.

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Do you know that in Paris the tip is built into the price of the meal? It is not expected that people will tip in Paris and most Parisiens don%26#39;t. Occasionally if something is great, a small tip will be left but that isn%26#39;t expected. However, when Americans go to Paris, they leave additional money for a tip either because they don%26#39;t realize they don%26#39;t need to or they have heard they don%26#39;t need to leave a tip but they feel queasy about doing it %26quot;the french way.%26quot;

Well, perhaps when the French come to the us they don%26#39;t leave a tip because they are used to it being included in with the price of the meal. Perhaps they don%26#39;t know it is expected of them to tip. Perhaps they do know but they are queasy about doing it %26quot;the american way.%26quot;

They key is to realize that sometimes we just don%26#39;t understand each other%26#39;s customs and that gets interpreted as being intentionally rude when it isn%26#39;t that at all.

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very well said. do you have any idea what percentage of a tip that they put into the bill? just curious.

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