Well, I didn't go to restaurants much, so it may not qualify as "French cuisine" in your eyes. But you could get a world-class baguette[1] in almost any part of town for about a Euro, same with croissants, and produce at the markets for... well, basically a negligible amount of money. I remember getting a small bag of delicious donut peaches for about €1/kilo. The same peaches were €4/kilo at the supermarket. (As an aside, pretty much all the vine tomatoes I ran into, even the ones at the supermarket, tasted amazing, as if they were just harvested from someone's garden. The only time I had that experience in the US was when we grew our own tomatoes.) Cheese shops were abundant and had fantastic selections, though I don't remember the exact prices. (They were very reasonable.) You could buy a whole rotisserie chicken for €7 or less if you knew where to look; I got these a lot and used the bones for stock. (Tragically, I think I still prefer Costco chicken!) There was a lot of canned terrine, rillettes, pate, etc. in the specialty stores (€5 or less), and a can could last you a week. You could also get them at the butcher shop, but I never found one close to me that had them. Pastries at some of the world-class bakeries were very expensive — €7 to €10 per piece — but they literally looked like jewels and it was worth it for the occasional indulgence. I had many lunch picnics at the parks and it was fantastic every time!
Oh, and obviously, there's lots of wine, but I'm not much of a wine drinker so I didn't investigate too much. Good beer was surprisingly cheap, though: I found a supermarket near me selling Chimay Blue for €2/11oz.
Oh, and obviously, there's lots of wine, but I'm not much of a wine drinker so I didn't investigate too much. Good beer was surprisingly cheap, though: I found a supermarket near me selling Chimay Blue for €2/11oz.
[1]: Literally. There's an annual contest! http://parisbymouth.com/paris-top-baguettes-for-2014/