Here are tips for saving money when buying food and drink in Paris.

Cafés

Drinks (coffee, wine, beer, etc.) cost less if consumed standing at the bar in a café rather than sitting at a table. Sidewalk tables are usually the most expensive (but delightful) places to eat and drink.

Restaurants

Ordering à la carte (individual dishes from the price list) is more expensive than having the daily menu (3-course set-price meal), one of the daily formules (starter + main course, or main course + dessert), or a plat (du jour, plat garni), a main-course with side items all on one plate.

For wine, ask for a pichet (pitcher), the house wine, a drinkable and bargain-priced vintage served by the glass (12cl to 14cl), small pichet of 25cl (2 glasses), medium 46 to 50cl (4 glasses), 75cl (a standard bottle, 6 glasses)), or 1 liter (8 glasses). Not all restaurants offer pichets, but you won't know until you ask.

Soft drinks (cola, lemon soda such as Sprite, mineral waters) are often as expensive as beer or wine.

Un carafe d'eau, a flask of tap water, is yours at no charge, as is a refill of your bread basket.

Markets

Paris markets, both street markets and covered markets in buildings, have places where you can consume market products and simple meals at low prices. More...

Picnics

Buy bread in a bakery, cheese and wine, beer, soda or water in a charcuterie or grocery store, and head for a bench along the Seine, or for one of Paris's lovely parks and gardens.

	You can eat cheaply in Paris...

Fancier alternatives: buy anything you want à emporter (to take away) from a restaurant or café, or drop in at a boulangerie-patisserie (bakery-pastry shop) or traiteur (delicatessen, shop selling prepared dishes) and buy one or two items. You'll even find sushi.

Bottles of drinks such as fruit juice, soda, mineral water, milk or wine can be bought at good prices in grocery stores such as Monoprix and Franprix.

Street Food

The cheapest way to eat in Paris is from vendors on the street. Lots of choice:

—All manner of large, filling sandwiches, including panini, even falafel

—Salty (main-course) or sweet (dessert) crêpes sold rolled up in paper and ready to take away

—Huge, thick slices of pizza with all sorts of toppings

—Quiches and other baked meals-all-in-one, hot or cold

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