Eating Cheaply in London: How to Spend Only £4 a Day on Meals

SGMT

–
It’s surprisingly easy to eat cheaply in London — one of the most expensive cities in the world — if you’re not too picky and don’t mind convenience store food. It’s a big if, but when traveling you have to work with what you have, and if what you have is a food budget of £70 a week, you’ll be surprised how quickly Tesco and other convenience stores can become your best friend. To my plebeian tongue, Tesco food is sufficiently filling and tasty and, most importantly, cheap. Here’s a sample menu for the entire day.

(Of course, it goes without saying that the aim here is not to sample the best of British cuisine — such as it is 😉 — but to keep food costs down to an absolute minimum.)

*

---

 

Breakfast

_

When I can, I like to eat rice for breakfast — what can I say, I’m Filipino — so let’s go with a creamy mushroom chicken and rice meal for £0.95.

*

A liter of orange juice sells for £0.65, so a 250-ml glass would cost £0.17. (Store the rest in the fridge for tomorrow…and the next day…and the next day…)

*

And as for coffee, I always bring sachets of 3-in-1 from home, so that won’t cost me anything. 😀

*

Cost of breakfast:

Rice meal – £0.95

Orange juice – £0.17

Total – £1.12

*

---

 

Lunch

_

When I was in London and walking about by myself, I would usually just grab a sandwich or a pasta salad from the nearest convenience store and eat it outdoors. That way, lunch time can double as sightseeing and people-watching time — I’ve tried eating a sandwich in the shadow of a Winston Churchill monument, aboard a Thames sightseeing cruise, etc. — and the food doesn’t cost me much.

If you’re feeling particularly thrifty (and you’re not that hungry) an egg and cress sandwich only costs £1.

*

My sister says you can never go wrong with a tuna sandwich (in this case, tuna and cucumber) — £1.50.

*

Or how about “malted brown bread with a blend of mayonnaise, chicken breast and sweetcure bacon”? Tesco’s chicken and bacon sandwich only costs £1.50.

*

For drinks: water! A 2-liter bottle costs £0.17. You can stock up on water at the beginning of your visit, and everyday before leaving for the day, fill a water bottle to bring with you. One liter of water (£0.09) will be good for lunch as well as for while walking about.

*

If you’re really thirsty and craving a Coke, you can buy a 1.25-liter bottle for £1. You can even save some of it for dinner.

*

Cost of lunch*:

Tuna sandwich – £1.50

Water – £0.09

Total – £1.59

*If you’re really hungry, you can buy two sandwiches for £2-3, and even if you indulge in a Coke, the total will still be way cheaper than eating at a pub/restaurant.

*

---

 

Dinner

_

The nice thing about hostels — and I’m assuming a traveler interested in the cheapest eats in London would be staying at a hostel, though that doesn’t necessarily follow, but anyway, the nice thing about hostels — is that they usually have facilities for cooking. Or at least a microwave for heating frozen ready-to-eat meals. I’m usually tired at the end of a day of sightseeing and may not have the energy to whip up my own meal, so let’s settle for a microwave-heated Tesco meal.

Shepherd’s pie — hmmm, sounds typically British and worth a try – £1.65.

*

There are a lot of Londoners with South Asian ancestry, and food like chicken tikka masala is probably on its way to becoming as much a staple of British food as good old fish and chips. (I’ve even heard it actually originated in the UK.) This isn’t quite chicken tikka masala (which is available at Tesco too) but it’s related: chicken curry, £0.95.

*

Or if you’re craving some Italian, there’s lasagne for £0.95.

*

Or if you fancy Spanish food, Tesco has a chicken and chorizo paella that’s only £2.

*

And for drinks — you still have your water and/or Coke, right? 😀 Half of the 1.25-liter bottle of Coke would be equivalent to £0.50.

*

Cost of dinner:

Chicken curry – £0.95

Coke – £0.50

Total – £1.45

*

---

*
Total food costs for 1 day
*

• Breakfast – £1.12
• Lunch – £1.59
• Dinner – £1.45
• Total – £4.16

Note that lunch was the tuna sandwich (£1.50) instead of the cheaper egg sandwich (£1). Dinner included Coke (£0.50) instead of just water (£0.09). Otherwise, the entire day’s meals would have just cost £3.25.

Of course, I know many people would say: why bother traveling if you can’t afford a decent meal? Personally, I like to indulge in a nice meal from time to time. But, yes, newsflash: there are a lot of people in the world for whom 1 or 2 pounds here and there would make a big difference and they have the right to travel too. If they have to, they would gladly scrimp on food — if that’s what it takes to see the world.

Eating out

_
Nando’s of course! I don’t know if it’s the cheapest option out there (probably not) but it’s cheap enough and I love their food. (And if you’re eating with someone who works for the NHS, military, etc., you can get a discount on your meal.) There were usually three of us eating at Nando’s — we would order a meal platter (£19.95) and an extra drink (£2.60) for a total of £22.55. Less my friend’s NHS discount, our dinner would cost each of us less than £7. If you’re eating by yourself, you could order 1/4 chicken breast (£4.40) and, say, a side of spicy rice (£2.40) and ask for service water. (Take a look at the Nando’s menu.)

Fish and chips

_
Maybe it’s just the island girl in me talking, or maybe I just didn’t know where to buy good fish and chips, but…well, the fish and chips in London isn’t bad, but it’s got nothing on the fish here in the Philippines. It doesn’t help that the fish and chips at, say, a Nicholson’s pub costs the equivalent of 2 kilos of fresh tanigue. So, I would say, try fish and chips but don’t pay too much for it, in case it underwhelms you.
*

*
That’s it. Cheers. 🙂

 

---

Did you find this article useful? Please share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to our page (it’s free!) for useful travel tips and updates.

Eating cheaply in London
© Small-Town Girls, Midnight Trains. All rights reserved. Contents verified as of 05 April 2016.

 

 

---