Eating Well on a Small Budget in Southern Europe
The cheapest food in southern Europe is frequently the best food, which is a happy accident of how these countries eat. Nothing here involves skipping meals or living on supermarket bread.
7 min read
Move your big meal to lunch
In Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and Greece, the midday set menu exists for workers, and it is priced for them. You get two or three courses, bread and usually a drink for a fraction of the evening carte.
The kitchen is the same kitchen. The only real difference is that you will want a quieter afternoon afterwards, which is no great hardship.
Learn the market rhythm
Covered markets in cities such as Bologna, Valencia, Porto and Athens have stalls that will make you a plate on the spot for 6 to 12 EUR, often from what was delivered that morning.
Buy fruit, cheese, olives and bread for a picnic lunch on travel days. A picnic on a train beats a station sandwich by a distance and costs less.
- Markets close early, usually by 14:00, and many shut entirely on Sundays and Mondays
- Ask for a quarter or half of something, portions are flexible
- Prices are usually per kilo, which looks alarming until you do the division
Stand at the bar
In Italy a coffee at the counter is 1.20 to 1.50 EUR, while table service in a tourist square can be 5 EUR or more for the same cup. In Spain the same principle applies to tapas.
Standing is not a lesser experience. It is how most people in these countries actually have their morning coffee, and it takes four minutes.
Use bakeries properly
Bakeries are the most underrated budget tool in Europe. A Portuguese pastelaria will feed you a coffee and a pastel de nata for under 3 EUR. An Italian forno sells pizza al taglio by weight, which means you can have a 3 EUR lunch or an 8 EUR one from the same counter.
For a filling breakfast, look for where the queue is at 07:30. That queue is made of people going to work.
Two rules for choosing a restaurant
First, the menu should be short, seasonal and in the local language, with a translation at most. Long menus in six languages mean a freezer and a microwave.
Second, look at who is eating there at the local hour. In Spain that is 14:30 for lunch and 21:30 for dinner. If the dining room is full of residents at the right time, the food is fine.
