We are talking about food prices in Paris in 2021 in cafes and restaurants. How much groceries cost in stores. Tips on how to save money on food in Paris.
Everyone knows that it is expensive to eat in Paris. In fact, with the right approach, you can meet a modest budget. For example, we spent only 220 € for two in 8 days in Paris! Cheap, right? In this article, we show the prices for food in Paris in 2021 and advise how to save money.
Breakfast (Le petit dejeuner)
In inexpensive cafes, breakfast costs from 5 € - usually coffee, orange juice, croissant or other pastries. Delicious and Parisian, but not thick! You won't last long on a breakfast like this, right?
If you are used to having a heavier breakfast, find a pancake - la crêperie in French. Sweet pancake with filling and coffee costs from 5 €. Yogurt with granola - 3 €, waffle with nutella - 4 €. Sometimes the menu includes a baguette with butter and jam, scramble with avocado and other dishes.
Tourists love breakfast at Happy Caffe, Strada Café and 5 Pailles - they serve more than just coffee and croissant. Search TripAdvisor for inexpensive breakfast cafes near your hotel. By the way, almost all cafes are open from 7:30.
Advice. The cheapest breakfast is the one you make yourself. Buy baguette, cheese, ham / sausage. For dessert - flan or egg cream. Fast, hearty and delicious breakfast, tested! You don't even need a kitchen to organize it.
Business lunch (Formule or Menu)
Food prices in Paris are high. Remember: eating in a cafe and restaurant is more profitable than on the menu of the day - Menú du Jour / Formule - impossible.
Business lunches in inexpensive cafes and restaurants cost an average of 13-23 €: first, second, dessert or drink. The price depends on the category of the establishment and the composition of the menu. Read carefully what is included in a business lunch, because truncated options are common: main course + dessert OR first + main course. It happens that you will be delighted with the low cost, but there is a truncated menu. If you do not use the menu of the day, the average check for lunch or dinner will be 25-40 €.
The cheapest full business lunch we found cost 9.5 €! It was a tourist restaurant in the Latin Quarter.
Business lunches work differently for everyone, but usually from 12 to 14. However, somehow we had lunch at 16 o'clock. And in Asian restaurants, it seems to be available at any time.
Advice. Don't take a drink at a business lunch, choose a dessert. Water in a decanter will be brought to you for free! Look for inexpensive lunches in the Latin Quarter.
Prices for food in cafes and restaurants in Paris - 2021
In expensive restaurants in Paris, food prices go through the roof. Average check starts from 50 € and easily exceeds 200 €. One of the best restaurants in Paris, Pur'-Jean-François Rouquette, serves signature foie gras for € 52 and blue lobster for € 110. A six-course set menu starts at 155 €. There is no upper price limit. The prestigious restaurant offers old wine at 600 € per bottle, and it is far from the most expensive on the menu.
But enough about sad things. Now that you are scared, the prices for food in ordinary cafes and restaurants in Paris will not seem exorbitant to you. You are in Paris, so allow yourself to try French delicacies: foie gras for 15 €, snails - from 13 €, beef tartare - from 17 €, duck dish - from 19 €, a plate of seafood - 24 €. A portion of salad is quite large and costs 5-9 €, and traditional onion soup starts from 9 €. Desserts - from 5 €.
Wine prices in Paris
The pride of Paris is excellent French wines. However, in bars, cafes and restaurants, wine prices are high: a glass is offered for 3-5 €, and a bottle for 10-16 €. If the visit to the restaurant is not related to some kind of holiday, take a decanter of pichet wine. It will be cheaper this way.
We basically did not buy wine in a restaurant - the extra charge is crazy. Why, if you can buy wine of the same quality in a supermarket 3-4 times cheaper and have a picnic overlooking the Eiffel Tower or the Seine?
Download the application to your smartphone Vivino, and you will be happy! In the application, you can take a picture of the wine label and find out its rating, the average price in the world and read reviews in Russian (though you need the Internet). So we found wines for 10-20 €, which cost 5000 rubles in Russia. For example, the wine of Bernard Megre. In general, there are wines in the shops with a good rating even for 2-4 €!
See what we found useful apps for Paris.
Prices for groceries in shops in Paris
Shock content: some products in Paris stores are the same as in Russia! Well, or a little more expensive. And some are quite cheap - for example, flan, yoghurts, cheeses, jamon.
So be sure to rent an apartment, preferably with some kind of kitchen, and indulge in the ban. Prepare hearty breakfasts and dinners, and have a business lunch in a cafe - believe me, this will greatly reduce your budget. Moreover, apartments are cheaper than hotels if they are not located in the center.
Which stores are the best to buy groceries? We bought in Lidl Is the cheapest supermarket with tons of good discounts. Also very cheap at Leader Price... Products at Franprix, Carrefour, Auchan, Casino, Champion and Monoprix are more expensive.
Advice. Take a closer look at the prepared food! Lots of delicious products at a low price. For example, vegetable soups, ready-made chicken, salads. There are foods that need to be heated in the microwave or cooked in the oven.
Prices for food in shops in Paris in 2021:
- vegetable puree soup, 1 l - 1-2 €
- French baguette - 0.8-1.8 €
- fresh croissant - from 0.5 €
- brie or camembert, 250 g - from 1-1.5 €
- flan or yogurt, 4 pcs - from 1-1.5 €
- milk, 1 l - from 0.8 €
- ready-made chicken, 1 kg - 3-4 €
- sausages for frying, 0.3 kg - 4.2 €
- slicing bacon / ham, 120 g - 2.8 €;
- shrimp, 1 kg - 16 €
- mussels, 1 kg - 6.5 €
- tangerines, 1 kg - 2.5-4 €
- bananas, 1 kg - from 1 €
- white grapes, 1 kg - 2-3 €
- apples, 1 kg - 2.1-3.4 €
- drinking water, 1.5 l - 0.9 €
- eclairs - from 1.8 €
- tartlets, 4 pieces - 4.5 €
- macarons - 3.3 €.
How much is food in a store in Paris
Parisian fast food
Paris has McDonald's and KFC, where the average check for fries, burger and drink starts at 7-8 €. But the French do not like this kind of food and prefer their own fast food. Crepes are very popular. Delicious hot pancakes without yeast with filling cost from 5 €, and without filling - 2.5 €. Find a sign crêperieand you are there!
Tourists are delighted with sandwich baguettes Is a baguette cut in half and filled with ham, cheese, tomatoes and green lettuce. It costs an average of 3-5 €. Each additional ingredient increases the price by 1.5 €. The most expensive sandwich baguettes with foie gras fillings cost 13 €.
Prices for popular fast food in Paris in 2021:
- gaufres waffles - 2,5 €
- burgers - from 9-12 €
- open quiche pie - from 3 €
- fried chestnuts - 3-4 €.
There are still hot sandwiches croque-monsieur and croque-madame... They are mainly served in cafes, but in some places they are seen on sale as street food - for example, at Notre Dame. The minimum price on the street is 5 €. The price depends on the establishment. for example, Le Petit Cler serves for 13-15 €.
Where to eat deliciously and inexpensively in Paris
How to save money on food in Paris
As you already know, Menú du Jour or Formule - our everything. Without it, you will dine 2-3 times more expensive. But there is one more trick to reduce the cost of food in restaurants in Paris - take the "dish of the day" plat du jourif you don't want to eat a whole business lunch.
Some establishments have a limit on card payments. If you have eaten less than € 15, you will be asked to pay in cash.
In Paris, it is not customary to tip 10% of the order. This is considered a waste of money. After all, the bill, as a rule, has already included the amount for the service. Just round up the total or leave 1-2 €.
Only tourists buy bottled water in the cafe. The French are thrifty people. They ask the waiter une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaîtand he brings a free carafe of water with his food. We did not ask for anything at all - they brought us all the same.
Almost all Parisian supermarkets have a ready-to-eat section - plats prets... Drop in there and buy yourself something for breakfast or dinner. You will only need a microwave.
In the evenings, there are good discounts in large stores - up to 30% of the original price. The cost of some products is cut in half.
