Food Budget

Both tourists and Parisiens consider food in the city to be expensive. For those of you planning a trip to Paris, here's what we typically spend for food. All costs are in American dollars and per person.

• Breakfast - $3. Usually from the corner bakery: a croissant, and a chocolate or cream-filled pastry. We eat this at home, where we have coffee and other drinks.
• Lunch - $11.20. Usually from an overpriced museum shop: a french-bread sandwich costing $7 and a smaller-than-American-size can of Diet Coke at $4.20.
• Dinner - $26 and up. Starting price of a cheap plat du jour (daily combo plate) consisting of three courses, though sometimes we order two courses and eat ice cream elsewhere.  Median prices are typically over $53 or more:
  
  • Starters include dried sausage with bread, shrimp and salmon salad, escargot, raw salmon with sauce or a paté.
  • Main courses include veal with white sauce, steak tartare, grass-fed lamb, pepper steak, broiled cod.
  • Desserts include apricot pie, creme brulée or Berthillon ice cream.