If you wanted you could probably live off the rue de Bretagne. It has the right mixture of shops, groceries, cafés and restaurant to provide for (almost) all your needs.
Here is a quick run down of what you should not miss.
There are a couple of nice cafés all along rue de Bretagne. The one not to miss is the Café le Progrès at its Eastern end.
The bakery just off into rue de Saintonge makes good bread, the other on rue de Bretagne makes also great patisseries.
There is a supermarket on the corner of rue de Saintonge and rue de Bretagne. There is not much that you won’t find here. It also opens until late : 8 or 9 pm, if not 10 pm.
There are two wine stores, a cheesemonger near the crossing with rue Charlot which has a great selection of French cheese.
There are two butcheries and vegetable stores. All good.
Finally there is the Marché des Enfants Rouges a covered market. The entrance is right between the cheese monger and Comme un roman, one of the better bookstores in Paris. If the weather is fine, several stalls serve lunch : anything from fine Japanese soups, Lebanese food to Moroccan specialities.
Least but not last, all of this comes at a price. Maybe the best deal you can get is to take your coffee standing at the comptoir of Le Progrès. Last time I checked the coffee was still at 1 euro a shot.
