Beating the Exchange Rate

Well, you can't beat the exchange rate. It is what it is. But you sure can minimize the impact of eating and drinking. With a kitchen and a few necessities purchased from Ikea, you can eat for a fraction of what an equivalent meal would cost in a restaurant.

Many restaurants have a "plat de jour" which is like the daily special. A fixed item. These range from a little under 7 euros ($10.50) to about 9 euros ($13.50) depending on the place. There is also "menu" which is a few courses and costs about 11 euros ($17.50) plus or minus for lunch and 15 euros ($22.50) more or less for dinner. It's not outrageously expensive, but still, eating that way everyday would bite into one's budget.

Since arriving in Montpellier, Elena and I haven't eaten out alone once for lunch or dinner. We do all of our own cooking. We spend about 15 euros per day on average and while we are acquiring a wonderful pantry and selection of kitchen items, we are eating like gourmet kings. :-) Tonight we had fresh pasta--tortellinis with beef, with a tomato/olive sauce, a few bites of chorizo, and a fresh tomato with a fresh red pepper. It was yummy, the perfect portion size, and cheap. In a restaurant, it would have been expensive, but at home, it's inexpensive and tasty. Tonight's wine wasn't great, but c'est la vie. You can't have great wine every time if you try a different bottle everyday.

So with all the cooking we're doing at home, that I probably wouldn't do without having Elena here, she's going to pay for herself by the time we leave. ;-) My advice to anyone planning to spend some time in France--especially with an unfavorable exchange rate--is to get a place with a kitchenette, stock it out with cheap Ikea stuff, and buy at the local markets and grocery stores. 15 euros per day for a couple sure beats 15 euros per meal per person. And at the end, we'll try to sell our kitchen stuff on eBay as a kit. I bet we can get a bit for it.