meals

If you are planning on eating in a restaurant at least once a day, consider making it at lunch time. Most restaurants have great lunch specials at a considerable savings over dinner prices. Have your picnic at dinner time instead.

If you get tired of coffee, tea and soda, consider juices as there is usually a wide selection over here and is often one of the best bargains, especially when compared to soda prices.

You can get a 3 course lunch for around 8-14 Euro. Brasseries usually have the best deals, but some restaurants also have decent lunch prices. Chinese lunch specials are especially cheap. Your picnic should be dinner instead of lunch, unless you are traveling all day and you do sandwiches for both.

Do not buy lunch around tourist areas. Food is more expensive and quality is . . . . You can get decent sandwiches at a grocery store or you can buy your own fixins and diy. The problem with that is that most hotels in Europe do not have refrigeration in the room, therefore, any meat, cheese, etc. needs to be eater rather quickly. Also, their breads and deserts do not have preservatives, so a baguette, etc. bought today must be eaten today. By tomorrow, you could bludgeon someone to death with it, it is so hard and it will mold very fast.

A lot of hotel rooms have tea/coffee pots, so you could make your own tea, by buying bags at the grocery and/or buy a jar of instant coffee(ug) to drink. In my opinion, coffee should be made in a sidewalk cafe so you can sit and enjoy the ambiance.

In the last five years (4 trips, 7½ wks), I have consistently spent an average of €20 per pay for food, beverages, and tips. That doesn't include breakfast, which is included with my room. Although I sometimes grab a sandwich and juice at the Bahnhof on the go, I usually have at least one sit-down meal in a restaurant each day, but I pick and choose the restaurant, avoiding the more expensive ones. I understand the language, so I can safely order local specialties, which are less expensive. In Germany, I usually drink the local beer, which is often the least expensive beverage on the menu. For tipping, I add 50 Cent to the bill and round it up to the next Euro; that usually amounts to 5-10%. I avoid large cities where prices are higher.

Buy your baguette sandwiches and non-alcoholic drinks
at the grocery store or small market. Buying them at the train stations, while convenient, is way more expensive and that's what you're paying for.

Make sure to go to the town of Albert when you are in the Somme region, look at the museum there on the battle. If you have a car, go to Peronne, the site of the large WW I museum, and if you going southwards, go to Saumur, west of Tours, where the Tank Museum is located---well worth seeing as military history.

If you asked me about USA it is not so easy as there are great variations even in your own city but i think if you take the average you spend at home (exculde super deals, ie chinese joints in Seattle with 4.50 dollar lunch deals ) multiply by 1.5 you will be close .

Thanks for the inputs they really helped.I have made a lot of progress on my trip planning thanks to the stunning amount of info. on Ricks pages,every posting goes a lot further than just to the person asking the question!
John

I agree with Fred on Peronne......one of the better war museums I visited. I also thought the Australian monument amazing, but nothing is sobering as Verdun. Don't forget many small towns have a monument, often listing the names of those who died in that war. Sandwiches and simple chunks of cheese and sausage are inexpensive and filling. Markets are pretty common and have a variety of items and prices. I would think 20 Euros a day would be more than enough.

Since you are going to be in Belgium to see Ypres, another horrendous place like Verdun and the Somme, I would suggest going to Brussels, too, to the Royal Army Museum (Musee royal de l'Armee) as another source on the military history of the war.