Ideas to eat cheaply whilst in Travelodge and in London.

bargainbetty

If you are anywhere near the Holborn area, you have Leather Lane Market that has quite a few hot food stalls (the Thai one is fantastic) and there is a little Chinese Place on Red Lion Street called Sam's that does a full meal with a drink and nibbly bits for just over £5 - very nice, cooked fresh and huge portions!

Noodle bars do good meals reasonably cheaply, there are lots of cheap places around China Town and visit Brick Lane for curries (so many wonderful cheap curries). Take GBK vouchers, Pizza Express etc, and let your hair down a little.

makeup

Regarding the Ikea idea, unless you are staying really outside of the centre then it would be too far. The London Ikeas are Croydon, Wembley and Edmonton (miles out of the centre, much to my annoyance!!!)

I would totally second the Stockpot idea, they have a set 3 course deal each day for about £7 and it is really filling - good if you love your stodge!

And of course hurrah for Manze's!

Obviously the usual suspects are all over London (Pizza Express, Zizzi, Strada, Bar Ha Ha, La Tasca, Ask etc etc and they all have various voucher offers.

Another good place to try though is toptable. You can book ( for free) through here and they have a lot of special offers. Just search on the area you wish to eat and then can select Special Offers only. I really like this site for the breadth of places, it isn't just the chains so will give you a chance to try out new places rather than just hit the chains which are in every town. I've been to some great restaurants via this website.

madtrekker

I would be very surprised if you'd be allowed domestic cooking appliances in a hotel room due to health and safety issues (electrical testing). Also, other guests might object to the smell of your stew / chilli / whatever whafting down the corridor. How would you keep the ingredients fresh (no fridges in a travelodge)??

You'd be much better off taking people's advice here for cheap places to eat. Why not eat your main meal at lunch time and have sandwiches for tea as it's often cheaper to eat a cooked meal before a certain time and sandwich shops usually have reduced sandwiches at the end of the day.

cannyscot_2

We stay in the Travelodge at Feltham quite often-there is an asda underneath so we have hot chicken and couscous -one of our favourites anyway-just need to take a stock cube for the couscous flaovour. nandos famuly deal is also good, and there are weatherspoon pubs which are pretty cheap for family eating. I have thought about the slowcooker-I do sadly take it on my sun holiday weekend to the caravan -I have also thouhgt about setting it going on the train so dinner is ready when we get to london-but thne thought-no your taking this too far!!

Triker

Hi all, thanks for all the responses and suggestions, we're staying in Waterloo and we're there ffrom friday to monday so a bit longer than usual.

I've just been to Aldi and stocked up on what I could, I've scrapped the slowcooker idea, you're right, bit daft really, hadn't factored in lugging it aound amongst other things.

I've so far got butty gear, pot noodles snacks type things, crackers, cheese, fruit, yogurts, coffee...bits and pieces like that.

Its because we've been a few times before and we've seriously spent a fortune on food and drinks. I'd like to limit buying a meal or food to once a day. I do have some tesco vouchers so we can go to a chain place and spend them.

Thanks for your amazing tips, appreciate them.

I'll definitely investigate some of the eateries, we're going to try to get to some of the free museums and hopefully either cambden or borough market.

Eenymeeny

Please bear in mind that you mightn't have electricity sockets in your room! We hunted for a socket recently in a hotel room to recharge our phones and the nearest one was on the landing! Maybe it was to prevent people recharging items. (When you think of it I suppose it must add up if everyone is doing it) the kettle, hairdryer etc were wired in!
Interesting thread by the way, lots of good ideas thanks.

andygb

Triker, if you are in the centre of London, near to Leicester Square, then you cannot beat value for money food at a Chinese restaurant called WongKei. I believe it is in Gerrard Street. You will get a meal for two plus as much Jasmine tea as you can drink for under a tenner.

Triker

Thanks I'll add this to my ever growing list...getting excited now. Love london.

whiteguineapig

no you'r not allowed to cook in the rooms, (i once asked about a toaster and thats an no no as well lol) ,
we take pot noodles and breakfast bars and wine

narabanekeater

We went in summer lasy year and I loves it. Hadnt even been before. It was so 'busy' in a word
There were plenty of Wethersppons pubs so a meal and a drink was less than £7 each. We may have got cocktails as well and even those were cheap
As its only a weekend and its not something id normally say buy Tescos express/ Boots do meal deals or a once in a while fast food meal wont hurt im sure
Enjoy your trip.