How to eat in Europe on $20 a day.

You can do it easy on $20 a day if you are a wise shopper.

My wife and I always find the supermarket near where we stay when we first arrive in a town. Sandwich meat, bread, chips, fruit and bottled water will keep you alive.

In some towns there will be a fruit market nearby and you can splurge.

We will split a restaurant meal once or twice a week.

RD, I believe $20 is about 13 Euros (maybe a bit less). If your breakfast is provided, of course, eat up. Like the previous poster said, find a grocery store. I always take an insulated lunch bag, blue ice, a serrated knife (for cutting small breads in half), a bottle opener, corkscrew, small cutting board and ziploc bags (I check my luggage). By the way, you can buy most of these items there except for the ziplocs. Grocery stores aren't always easy to find. So, when I do find them, I buy enough sandwich fixings for several sandwiches that day (maybe a bit more). Remember, the bread rolls get hard after one day if they aren't in ziplocs--and often they still get stale because they have no preservatives. Pick up tubes of mayo & mustard there, also. Sometimes, we'll buy a kids meal at McDonald's--a cheap lunch that actually has a drink. I know this sounds bad nutrition wise, however, sometimes we're just really needing some fuel to keep us on our feet. It's exhausting in the big cities. Anyway, have a great time making memories with your brother. A trip like this doesn't happen often in one's lifetime.

Forgot to mention that their markets close early on Saturdays and are not open on Sundays. Even during the week, they usually close at 5 or 6 p.m. In some countries, like Germany, the smaller markets may close in the middle of the day for a few hours and reopen in the afternoon. Good luck!

In London last week we found supermarket prices comparable to what we pay at home, sometimes cheaper such as grapes and bread. Be prepared to to carry water with you everywhere as the heat and humidity can mean you need to drink regularly and those water or pop or juice bottles are usually at least a pound each.

No worries! You can easily meet your budget. My husband, daughter, and I traveled for all of June (5 countries) on $100 each per day - that was for food, activities, and all of our non-train transportation. We also ate one restaurant meal with wine most days - or skipped one and ate two the next depending on location. Our biggest money savers were small or large grocery stores, delis, and pizza counters. A baguette, cheese, minimal meat, and fruit are bargains most places. Eat whatever is local, take advantage of farmers' markets and any free breakfast offered with your lodging. You'll be fine. We also took granola and protein bars but didn't use them very often.
Have fun! Michelle

If you decide to eat out once in awhile (instead of relying solely on food purchased at supermarkets or farmer markets), steer clear of eating in the immediate vicinity of major sightseeing venues where prices will be higher because of the volume of tourists.

Try ethnic restaurants or takeaways in residential neighborhoods or business districts where the locals dine. Indian, Chinese, African, Italian - you can get cheap and filling meals in these places. Also, search the food halls in department stores. There were plenty of times I was able to have free breakfast included in my lodging (or make due with a scone or croissant from a bakery), get a large takeaway salad with roast chicken at Marks & Spencer's Food Hall for lunch and then have takeaway kebabs and rice for dinner - and I did not have to spend more than $20 to eat 3 meals or suffer with something as gross as protein powder.

Bring a plastic bottle with you so you can fill it with water from the tap. Only in certain parts of Europe will you find it might be necessary to purchase bottled water.

Hi RD,
... like everyone else, I believe $20 will be plenty on the average day. We've never known anyone who did not enjoy picnic lunches and dinners in Europe. If you will be in Paris, be sure to study the EATING page at Tom's Guide to Paris. Here's the Web link:
http://troi.cc.rochester.edu/~tdip/tomsguidetoparis.htm

ciao! P

I just got back Tuesday from a trip to Germany, Belguim and Holland and I ate pretty cheap for the whole trip. I had some great bakery sandwiches premade salads from the grocery stores and at one place on a cold and rainy day I had a bowl of veggie soup with some nice crusty bread for under 4 Euros. Oh yeah, I had a huge bowl of pasta with home made sauce in Bruge for 3 Euros. I couldn't finish it. So, yes, you can eat for under $20 a day. I did have one or 2 splurge meals and they were worth it but I watched the budget on the rest of the trip.

I actually did my whole trip for about $200 under budget.

Christina, just wondered about your trip. You said you came in $200 under budget. How long were you there and what was your budget like. I cancelled my trip that I had planned this year because of the $$ vs the Euro. Now looking at next Sept for 17 days travelling alone to Normandy 3 days, then to southern Germany, Austria and maybe Switzerland.

Go to grocery stores for lunches and even packing a picnic dinner some nights helps save money and actually turn out to be some of my favorite nights on my trips. Also, don't order drinks, even soda or juice at every meal, I saved a lot of money in the long run not ordering a drink and then just having a water bottle or sharing a water with other people for about 3 euro.

Don't try to compare costs in US$. European restaurants don't charge you in "static" US$ prices (at least the honest ones don't) and the exchange rate varies too wildly. Last October, I spent €13,06 per day for food - lunch, dinner, and tips, no drinks, breakfast incl in room. That was $18.55 then; today it would be $20.90; when I made my first trip over in 2000, it would have only been $11.60.

Try to avoid drinks. Beer is probably the cheapest item on most menus, but it's still €2,50-3,00 for a ½l glass. A small beer, ein kleines Bier (12oz), costs €1,60. Soft drinks and bottled water will cost you more. I don't know how you get German restaurants to serve you tap water (Leitungswasser, auf Deutsch).