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 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. 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 (Google franprix paris for locations.)

Street Food
The cheapest way to eat in Paris. 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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