Budgeting for food?

Sorry, its a slightly vague question. Geneva or Bulgaria?

If you check your Rick Steves books you'll see prices for every town and city. Probably other tourbooks, too.

I was in Berlin for one week. I found that a medium price meal is around $12-$15 for a decent meal, but very true what Nigel said, please do get Rick Steves Germany book. Berlin is one of my favorite cities in Europe so have fun!!!

Well, if you do like I did, you'll eat about 1.5 meals a day and not spend very much at all. Granted, it wasn't really on purpose - we just spent too much time walking around doing stuff instead of eating - it was still nice to have spent only $1300 for lodging, food/drinks, in-city transportation, and shopping on my 17-day trip.

Berlin is about the cheapest place for restaurant food you will find. Especially if you go for lunch specials, easy to eat a whole meal for 5 euro. You should be able to find plenty of places for dinner for 10 euro or less. Just check the menu outside the front door. I have to say, in 24 years over here, I have yet to have what I would call a bad meal. So, don't worry about finding decent places. There are tons of bakeries and food stands for snacks or to buy sandwiches for later in the evening, either back in your hotel or for out on the street. Have fun in Berlin, you will love it. I wish I could stay there for 2 weeks.

Michelle, I find it real easy to budget when I'm in Europe. Mostly I found that what a sandwich costs here, a sandwich costs there. Except you have to allow for the exchange rate. I really did find that for the most part, the number is the same, it just "costs" more because of the exchange rate.

I did pretty well thinking 30-50€ day for food & drinks, assuming breakfast was free or inc. in room price. 30 would be a minimum, 50 was more than we used but left room for other small expenses we hadn't put in the budget.

Maja's Deli Vegan Menu looks great! Prices are good,too. Look for sign of the Cow.

Anna, very good expense management, but tell us more.

Was the entire stay (17 days) in Berlin?

Was that per person? Single occupancy or double?

What was it in Euro? (it's a lot harder to do $100/day when the Euro is $1.45 than when it's $1.25.)

17 days? Was that American tour company days? Where the day you leave the U.S. is counted? I count the day I arrive in Europe as a half day and the day I leave as a half day. Or, nights in Europe is a better measure.

Regardless, Anna, good job of traveling economically.

Michelle, to answer your question, in 4 trips, 52 "days", since 2004, traveling single, 7 days in cities, 45 outside, I've consistently spent just under €20/day (lunch, dinner, beverages, and tips), average, over each trip.

Lee, maybe it didn't come across clearly, but I wasn't really recommending my food budget. Like I said, we didn't eat so little on purpose, and a properly nourishing meal schedule will cost you more than that. But hey, at least we each lost at least 5lbs on this trip, in spite of all the beer.

If you are curious though, we spent split the days pretty evenly among Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Munich, and Amsterdam. 17 is not counting the day we left the U.S. or the day we came back. We stayed in hostels, so beds were an average of $20-25 each. My $1,300 figure comes from adding all the ATM withdrawals as they appeared on my checking account, in dollars. I paid for everything in cash. The Euro was between $1.38 and $1.40 our entire trip.

My rule of thumb that works pretty well is that I will spend the euro equivalent of Dollars that I spend in the US. By that I mean if I have a $30 meal here, it will be 30 euro there. I certainly pick off the menu to make that happen, and realize that in any US restaurant I can affect my total bill wildly by choice. You do gain some leeway in that wine is much less than the US, where 1/3 to 1/2 the bill can be wine. Aside from that, doing a sandwich lunch will save for dinner; an occasional picnic dinner in the hotel will stretch the budget, or even just doing a light appetizer dinner. But all said and done, I will work hard to spend plenty on food, since it is a big reason I travel.

Anna - right on! My friend and I ate between 2 and 2.5 meals per day when we were traveling. We walked so much every day that we weren't very hungry for lunch, which most of the time ended up being gelato or a slice of cake.