How much did you spend on food?

Where? Venice, for example, is more expensive than, say, Naples.

Doing Rome for 10 days. Staying in the San Giovanni area near a grocery store for 8 days/7 nights.

The amount you spend on food can vary greatly from what others have done. Lunch and dinner can be sit down meals in restaurants costing 20-100 euro for two, depending on the restaurant. However there are lots of ways to save money and enjoy Italy. Rome is filled with alimentari (delis) where you can walk out with a freshly made sandwich for about 3 euro. Grab that, some chips and a drink and have a picnic in one of the piazzas. Grab a piece of pizza to go for about the same price.

Since you are renting an apartment you have many more options. Find the nearest food & veggie market and make yourself a great salad. Pasta & sauce is a simple but great meal.

Daniela, that's a really difficult question to answer. Although you've provided some information on your dining plans, it's difficult to say how much you'll spend as we don't know what sort of meals you'll be having each day?

My eating habits when travelling are somewhat different, as I tend to dine at restaurants for supper most of the time, and Deli's or whatever for lunches. Breakfast is usually provided in the cost of my hotel room or B&B, but doubtful this would be provided at an apartment.

Hopefully someone here has used the same dining method you're proposing, as they would be the best qualified to provide a "ballpark figure" on the costs.

Happy travels!

I'm an awesome cook, and love to, having inherited that from my dad that was born and raised there in Rome. I like the deli idea. I really wanted the apartment for just that reason, to be able to shop for food and cook like the locals do. It's too bad I didn't inherit his knack for driving a moped like he did when he lived there. He was a tour guide, and that's how my American mom met him.

Daniela, awesome! Your plan sounds like it will work well. I can cook to some extent also (I was the sole cook & bottle washer for three teenage boys for several years - I felt like an Army cook!). My family name is associated with a famous restaurant, but I certainly don't pretend I'm in the same "league" when cooking.

One of the reasons I prefer restaurants is that I've been travelling "solo" for the last few years, and it's much less desirable to cook for one. I use restaurants a lot when I'm home also. After a hard 12-hour day at work, I'm just not in the mood to spend time cooking and then doing dishes!

Happy travels in Italy!

Youngmee, eating at restaurants anywhere in the Euro countries can be expensive, but I find this especially acute in Italy due to the "format" they use for meals - Antipasti, Primi and Secondi. If one wants a "complete" meal, the costs can add up quickly. Add to that a glass or two of Vino and a Coffee after dinner, and it wouldn't be hard to reach €50 or more for each meal.

I tend to offset the cost somewhat by having only the Primi (I really like Spaghetti Carbonara) a small Salad, usually a glass of wine and coffee of course. Here's an example of the prices in one of the "high end" restaurants (and I'm taking these from a photo of an actual Menu):

Antipasti: €7-12 (Cdn.$ 11.20-19.20)

Primi Piatti: €9-16 (Cdn$ 14.40-25.60)

Secondi Piatti: €12-16 (Cdn$ 19.20-25.60)

Insalata Mista (mixed salad): €4 (Cdn$ 6.40)

Coffee (approx.) €2 (Cdn$ 3.20)

Wine (approx.) €5 (Cdn$ 8.00)

These prices are "per person" of course (I use Cdn.$ as that's what I base my costs on - these days the exchange rates are close to that of the US $). As you can see, if one was to have the "full meal deal", the cost could be as much as €55 (Cdn$88) each or higher if you add dessert (dolci)!!! Some restaurants will have lower prices than these, and some will have a "tourist menu" with fixed price meals. You'll have to look around and decide what looks good in your price range. Check Rick's guide books for good restaurant listings in various price ranges.

BTW, regarding the mixed salads, don't expect to find Thousand Islands, Ranch or other dressings in Italy. You will have usually have two choices - Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil - that's it!

Hope this helps? Happy travels!!!

Daniela--thanks for starting this post. My husband and I are working on our budget for our trip (Florence, Venice, Rome) and we were wondering how much to set aside for food as well. Ken, our eating habits sound pretty similar to yours. We'll be having breakfast at the hotel, light lunches to try and save a few euros, and dinner at a restaurant. We LOVE to eat, so we want set aside enough to really enjoy the food. But, as others have noted, the exchange rate is killer, and we can't afford to be too crazy. Any ballpark per day figures? Thanks!

Most meals for our family of 5, (3 adults and 2 kids) ran about 35 euros ($50.00 US). McDonalds was 25 to 35 for normal meals. Pizza about 5-8 euros, wine is cheap. EMenus are posted outside, shop around, eat a big breakfast ,light lunch and spend more for dinner. There was a "seating" charge of 1-2 euros per person, which caught us off gaurd at first. So we only tipped if the service was really good. 5 people could easily spead $100 a day given the exchange rate, that's just 2 meals not including ice cream.

We just returned from Italy. The Tuscany countryside was more reasonable but in Sorrento & Rome at a medium restaurant in the historic area but not in a main piazza the basic salad was 5 euros, prociutto & melon 7 euros (great deal), pizzas and pastas 9-12 euros, copertos 2 euros, espresso 2 euros. Desserts tended to be pricey but you've got gelato so who needs them. Chicken doesn't show up on the menus too often and fish was 16 plus. We hardly had meat. We grab focaccia for lunch and a 6x4 piece was around 3 euros.Only went to grocery stores in Sorrento but fruit (apricots) around 3 euros per kilo and not great. Olives always good and beef looked good but was alot more than Calif. Off the topic but having been to Roma twice before we went to Ostia Antica this time and loved it also per Rick the "underappreciated gallery" Galleria Doria Pamphilj. Orvieto just 1 hour away was great.

The Euro is putting people on a diet. One of the best way we have found to enjoy the good foods of Italy is to visit the delis and foodstores for take out at lunch. Some incredible meals can be had and sit down in the shade to enjoy.

Dinners can be done likewise depending upon your accomodations. We were in Santa Magherita with a room overlooking the water. For dinner we brought back the best assortment of hot foods from the deli and enjoyed our water view.

You may wish to bring over a couple of knives and forks in your checked luggate. This can make cutting cold cuts and bread easier.

For dinners look where the locals go. If you are in the tourist areas, you will pay more. Walk a few blocks. Small places with tiny signs often have wonderul food and low prices.

A group of 18 just got back from Europe this week and some of the students spent a lot and some a little. It all depends on how you eat.

Example - bed and breakfast with free breakfast is a great start to the day!

Lunch - grab a sandwich or sidewalk pizza for about 4-6 euros (depends on how much food you eat)

Dinner - if you sit down for a nice dinner it can be about 15 euros. My sister and I split a bunch of stuff and spent anywhere from 10-20 euros for dinner depending on how hungry we were. Some kids just bought something inexpensive from a cafe or did take-away.

You guys are the greatest! Thanks for the encouraging information. I knew that the story I heard on that other thread about 3000 bucks for food was ludicrous. As I said, that's why I got the apartment off the beaten path, because I wanted to mingle at the grocery and the cafes that the locals visited. There's a festival the week that we're there too that features food among other things in the Travestere (sp?) area, and I'm excited about checking that out as well. I'll refresh my post on that event to see if anyone's been to it.

Daniela,

The spelling is Trastevere (it means "beyond (across) the Tiber"). I was there a month or so ago. It's a great area - have fun!

Hi Ken,

Have you ever been there for that festival?

Daniela...

We just returned from Italy this morning. The best way to do it is to find a supermarket. They're not like US stores, but close enough. A typical meal we bought at a restaurant was something like 1.50 - 2.00 for water (avoid the rediculous cost of soda), 6.50 - 9.00 for pasta (1st course), and 4.00 - 6.50 for desert. So, about 30 - 40 Euro for two people. Avoid restaurants and cafe's on piazzas (find the "back alley" ones) and make sure and ask the price before getting the gelatos and waffles (in Florence). A great lunch is to head to a market and get the "Variety Anitpasta Pak" (which was at every store), a ball of mozerella, olives, bread, and some drinks. You can eat fairly cheap with that method. We relied heavily on Rick's suggestions for eating in every city. It was a nice reminder that he really knows what he's doing!

Daniela, no, I don't believe there were any festivals happening when I was there in April. I'll have to try and catch that on a future visit. I'm sure it would be a lot of fun. That's an interesting part of Rome.

Cheers!

I live in France and prices in Rome were about the same....USA comparison...more expensive than at supermarkets near my NH parents, but about the same, or perhaps less, than at supermarkets for my HAWAII sister..the only things that cost less in Europe are bread, wine and cheese...Let me know if you want me to send details re: price per kilo for the vegs, fruit and meat that i do for a daily shop here in France...and we are seriously frugal/reasonable...I'll never be in the book of "american cooks in france"...but i live here and cook every night with the market and supermarket ingredients...In Rome...i just did salades and sliced meats and cheeses and pastas...spoke french and english to shopkeepers...and did okay...except for buying the worst ravioli ever!!! don' KNOW what it was stuffed with...and a 4 euro artichoke!!!...guess it was marianted in some precious oil...a culinary mistake to live with..
Anyhow...we focused on "cold"...basil mozzarella tomatoe might sound boring in the usa, but it all tasted really so much better when i bought it in rome ...favorite supermaret olive oil..Coluda (i'll check)...
Whe we ate out...just house wine and one course..perfect.

Last year we visited the market for supplies. We didn't have a kitchen (but a good fridge in the room) so we were after sandwich type fixings. We got 2 loaves of bread, 3 or 4 types of meats, 2 cheeses,2 bags of chips, a huge bunch of grapes, 2 mellons, several apples, a dozen tomotoes and two large heads of romane. Also got a six pack of two liter size bottle water and some fanta. We spent about 100 Euros and had enough for at least one meal a day for 10 days - 2 people. This was in Sorrento. But we also checked prices in Villa Santa Maria (a tiny village in Abruzzo) and the prices were very similar. We typically had breakfast as provided with our room, our picnic for a late lunch / early dinner. We did eat out for dinner often too, but would not have had to.

Enjoy your trip!

We just came back from Italy and I'd estimate we spent about 20 Euro/day/person on food for breakfast (not included in accommodation), lunch and dinner. We used the kitchen facilities in our appartments mostly for breakfasts and to prepare picknick lunches. Only a couple of dinners.

Don't forget that you'll be sightseeing and walking around a lot. Often we were just too tired at the end of the day to prepare an elaborate dinner. And since my husband declared that he hates pasta the simpler dinner options I had planned on were out ...

Also preparing lunches in the morning and taking them along is more difficult when it's 95 F and you can't really keep them cool in your daypack. On the hottest days we simply did not want to carry anything not absolutely necessary (water!!!). We did have a few days though when we didn't venture far, lazed around the pool and snacked on watermelon, olives and prosciutto ;-)