There are many places to eat cheap if you want to save money in Paris. Paris food doesn’t have to be expensive. You can find delicious food even with a meager budget. Here are some ideas for cheap eats in Paris.
GROCERIES IN PARIS
If you’re renting a vacation apartment, the easiest way to save some money on food in Paris is to have breakfast at home. Buy eggs (which aren’t refrigerated in France), cereal, coffee to brew (I suggest bringing whatever brand you like from home if you’re a regular coffee drinker), milk, fruit, and juice to keep in your apartment. Monoprix, Franprix, and Carrefour City are great places in Paris to shop for groceries. You’re bound to be staying near a location of one or all of these stores if you’re anywhere in central Paris.
FROZEN FOOD IN PARIS
There’s a chain of frozen food stores called Picard that has all kinds of cuisines and delicacies. It’s like the frozen section of Trader Joe’s, if you’re familiar with them. The food is affordable, tasty, and surprisingly low in sodium compared to the overloaded American frozen dinners. Picard also sells frozen fruit and produce and desserts. My favorite thing of all from Picard is the frozen pasta boxes, which are a quick and easy lunch for when I want to eat at home. I like to pop one of them into the microwave and eat it before heading out for the afternoon. Keep a couple of items from Picard in the freezer for an easy lunch or dinner.
TAKEOUT IN PARIS
Take-out food, or vente à emporter, is the exception in Paris, not the rule. It can be hard to come by. Paris has a restaurant culture (partly for historical reasons that I won’t get into here, partly for social reasons, and partly because of the tiny, ill-equipped kitchens in Paris apartments). To Parisians, dinner is something to be savored, lingered over, talked over, and smoked over, but sometimes you might be too pooped for that after all your sightseeing. Take note of your nearby Asian Traiteur, Picard, or other places in your neighborhood that sell food on a take away basis. They’ll come in handy when you come back to your hotel tired and hungry.
PICNIC FOOD IN PARIS
It’s been said over and over, but bread, cheese, meat and wine make a cheap and easy picnic. Don’t mess with the classics. For one-stop shopping, go to the street market or to Rue Mouffetard (my preference), Rue Cler, or any street in your neighborhood that has a variety of food shops close together. Buy some smoked sausages at a boucherie (butcher shop), some small rounds of soft cheeses from a Fromagerie (cheese shop), some sweets from a patisserie (pastry shop), a bottle of wine from a wine shop, and of course, a baguette from the boulangerie (bakery). Rue Cler and Rue Mouffetard are known for their clusters of food shops.
LA GRANDE EPICERIE
La Grande Epicerie is the sprawling gourmet food hall of the famed department store, Le Bon Marché. I think of it as a cross between Eatzi’s, if you’ve ever had the pleasure, and Dean & Deluca. It’s foodie heaven. You will find food stations selling foie gras, quiches has a foie gras counter,You can buy cheap and tasty foods from the prepared food stations (stick to the items with low prices per kilo). butcher stations, produce stands, a candy station, an olive bar plus some gourmet groceries. The prepared foods stations have high quality food, most of which is reasonably priced. I like to sample their French delicacies, like lapin (rabbit) in grainy mustard sauce, lamb stew, or boeuf bourgignon (a small container is less than 5€). It makes me feel like I have someone’s French grandmother cooking for me. I’d skip the Asian counter, though. You can bet tastier, more authentic Asian food from the traiteurs. In the grocery section of La Grande Epicerie, you can get juice, yogurt, milk, pasta, big Caesar salads, chef, and garden salads starting at 3€ (6.5€ for La Grande Epicerie’s brand).
PARIS MARKETS
There’s a farmer’s market somewhere in Paris every day of the week. Some of the big ones are the Boulevard Raspail Market (Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays), the Boulevard Richard Lenoir Market aka Bastille Market (Thursdays and Sundays), Batignolles (Saturdays), and the Place Monge Market (Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays). Not only can you get fresh fruit to have for breakfast and meats, fish and vegetables for lunch or dinner, but you can also buy food ready to eat. Many vendors cook things right there on the spot, like roasted whole chicken (poulet roti), paella, and galettes (like pancakes or crepes, but made of buckwheat, chickpeas, potatoes, etc.). You can also shop a selection of prepared foods, such as lasagna, stews, meat patties, shrimp Mediterranean, and hundreds of other offerings.
PARIS ASIAN TRAITEURS
Asian Traiteurs are everywhere in Paris. Walk in (or look through the windows) and you will see deli cases full of prepared Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and other pan-Asian dishes, which are sold by weight. You can just point to whatever dishes look good and ask for a small container to try them. I love small plates and tasting little bits of different things tapas-style, so I think Asian Traiteurs are fun. Some of them have a few tables where you can eat in, but you won’t get any kind of service or atmosphere. Traiteurs are mainly for take-out. The food is tasty. I’ve never had anything at a traiteur that I didn’t like.
You don’t have to eat at home every day to save money. Many Paris restaurants have “formules,” which are prix fixe menus that include an entrée (which means “appetizer” – we’ve got it backwards in America), a main dish, a drink, and a dessert, or some other combination of courses for a set price. You can get lunch formulas at great restaurants for around 15€, and 30€ and under for dinner. Stick to the formule menu, and you won’t be surprised when the check comes. I like to think of it as being “Restaurant Week” every week in Paris.
PARIS STREET FOOD
When in doubt, you can always count on Paris street food to be cheap. You can find a creperie on almost any corner and get savory (salée) ham and cheese crapes, or dessert crepes (sucre) with nutella or fruit jam. One of my favorite cheap eats in Paris is a doner kabobs or grecs (a gyro — shaved lamb on a pita with fries in it). You can find kabob stands and other cheap street food shops in lively pedestrian areas like the Latin Quarter or Rue Mouffetard near Place Contrascarpe. These places are great for when you want a late-night bite after all the restaurants and stores have closed.
Speaking of street food, one place you have to go eat least once in Paris is L’As du Fallafel in the Marais. It’s renowned as the best falafel shop in Paris. You’ll recognize it by the line in front. Get a falafel with extra Picante for about 5€.
Now you know a variety of places to get cheap food in Paris. Paris has a well-deserved reputation for fine food, but that doesn’t mean every meal has to be gourmet or cost an arm and a leg. Between the supermarkets, gourmet shops, markets and restaurants with fixed price menus, you can eat well in Paris without breaking your budget. As they say in Paris, “On mange bien” (one eats well).
