How much should I expect to pay for food in France?

[megan]

I'll be studying in France in the fall and am not sure as to what to expect to pay for food expenses! I will live in Tours, in the Loire Valley in a dorm w/ a shared kitchen, but no cafeteria. I have heard that students can sometimes get discounted meals (about 3 euro?) at certain locations, but that these may be limited to lunch. I'm interested in cooking as much as possible (at least once, if not twice a day) and keeping costs down. Any estimates on how much I may be spending a month? I eat everything, but want to eat like a local (fruits, veggies, etc.) and shop the open air markets as much as possible. Also, please factor in alcohol (if you hadn't already) as I do plan on enjoying that. Oh, and anything I may be missing--like bottled water. Merci beaucoup!

[Jackal]

Megan, welcome to our forum.

I'm not sure if we have anybody here who knows a lot about France. Most of us have been to either Eastern Europe or Asia.

However, you might want to try Lonely Planet's forums:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

They also write great guidebooks that are packed with useful info.

bon voyage,

--le Chacal

[Winston]

Or you can try the forums on Expatica France. Go to http://www.expatica.com and select the France section.

http://www.transitionsabroad.com also has a large index section with links and articles and forums about every country. Here are their France links:

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listin ... tes_france

[ErthernetGuy]

I'll be studying in France in the fall and am not sure as to what to expect to pay for food expenses

I am French. I live in Paris, France.

The price of food is higher in Paris than in other towns located in the rest of France. This is due to transportation to Paris and to other factors such as: rents for shop is higher in Paris.

I am single. I do not cook much. I mostly buy frozen food, preprepared things, and some food from caterers. I spend about 350/400 EUR / month. This include mineral water which is cheap. But this does not include wine or strong alcool. I do not drink alcool or wine often. But anyway, wine is not that expensive unless you go for "crus classés" and such. There are some nice cheap wine that you can discover through litterature.

When I was at university (I am now 43yo, so that was a long time ago), people used to say that food was way cheaper in the USA than in France. In 1985, food was about the same price in France and in England. I stayed to some time in England circa 1985.

If you want details (that might not interest everybody), you can write me here in private.


About "restaurants universitaires" (university restaurants): when I was a student, these used to be really disgusting. I used to eat there through lack of time, the fun of beeing with friends, or because of lazyness. You can have access to these "resto U" (term used by student for them) under certain conditions that you will have to check. If you have a french student card, you should be able to access them. But you can be sure that they don't represent French gastronomy....