A coworker told me when he traveled, he'd go to Kroger and get a salad or whatever for dinner, and a nice bottle of wine. We had a per diem of $25 per meal, which was an IRS thing back then, and pretty generous in most locales. You could get a loaded salad easily for $5.
Above $25, we had to show a receipt, which was not a big thing.
I did that a few times. Would love to have that situation above in France some time.