Food costs and recommendations in London?

maturelearner

Hi!

So my family of 3, 2 working age adults and 11 year old daughter are off to London next month for a 3 day break. I like to budget in advance and am trying to put aside the cost of food for the three of us for a long weekend (Fri evening until midday Monday). The problem is I really don't have a clue on what sort of amount we're looking at. We're staying in a hotel but no food included in price. Breakfast costs around £23 for 3 apparently, so guess we'll generally be eating out for breakfast.

We won't really have any food storage facilities as travelling down by train and ordered visitor oyster cards for travelling around tube during break. Football match planned for Saturday and probably sightseeing or Science museum Sunday.

So my questions are:

What food costs am I looking at?

Any recommendations or advice?

flea72

Prices at the chain restaurants (prezzo, bella italia, etc.) are about £1 extra per item than i would pay at home.

If its a full continental/english buffet breakfast that the hotel is offering for £23 then you wont make much of a saving by heading off elsewhere, as even wetherspoons charge about £8 for a Fryup

If you fill up at breakfast then you will prob only want a snack at luch/afternoon. a Boots mealdeal that is a triple sandwich, should be sufficient to tide you over til evening, with a few packs of crisps/some fruit

Alot of restaurants also have a fixed price menu thats available late afternoon/early evening, so 2 courses for about £10

Also signing up to restaurants mailing lists can give discounts on meals. Although alot arent valid on a saturday evening

Fortyfoot

Wetherspoons are all over London. Good value for money.

Fortyfoot

laurahester

Check to see if you've got any tesco vouchers that can be converted for the chain restaurants such as pizza express. Also, the national rail "2for1" website has some deals that might br of use.

HappyMJ

maturelearner wrote: »

Hi!

So my family of 3, 2 working age adults and 11 year old daughter are off to London next month for a 3 day break. I like to budget in advance and am trying to put aside the cost of food for the three of us for a long weekend (Fri evening until midday Monday). The problem is I really don't have a clue on what sort of amount we're looking at. We're staying in a hotel but no food included in price. Breakfast costs around £23 for 3 apparently, so guess we'll generally be eating out for breakfast.

We won't really have any food storage facilities as travelling down by train and ordered visitor oyster cards for travelling around tube during break. Football match planned for Saturday and probably sightseeing or Science museum Sunday.

So my questions are:

What food costs am I looking at?

Any recommendations or advice?

Don't buy Oyster visitor cards.

Use your contactless debit cards or buy a Oyster at full price and get the full price refunded on your last day. My OH doesn't have a contactless card so I gave her one of mine to use.

I just spent a weekend in London and it is very expensive food wise. I ended up one evening having McDonald's just a cheeseburger and fries (about £3 each). Another evening was a large KFC meal shared between us (about £3 each), another evening was Nando's (around £4 each half chicken with 2 sides shared between 2). I know it doesn't sound like much but we ate as much as we could for breakfast having bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, cold meats, cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, lettuce, cereals with milk, orange and apple juice and tea or coffee. There was also french toast and chinese fried vegetables with rice but I didn't have any of that. We ate so much that eating anything else all day wasn't required. We probably had 80% of our daily calorie intake just in one meal.

As you're going to the football you could have some chips and maybe a pie.

novelty-socks

Whereabouts are you staying? Happy to try and provide some specific suggestions depending on the area you'll be in!

Pay_me

I have to disagree with the London being very expensive comments it doesn't have to be.

Yes London has eateries that can cost a fortune and Yes lots of places seem to add a London weighting but where London excels is in choice. Just walk the streets and you will find thousands of small eateries, take aways, popup food stalls, cafes that are great value at all times of day and night. If you stick to the tourist areas for food expect to pay the extra but in those areas go to the national chains as the prices are not that different to other parts of the country.

I was in London a couple of weeks back food wise I didn't see much difference in the cost compared to what I pay for the same type and quality of food in other UK cities.

novelty-socks

Pay_me wrote: »

I have to disagree with the London being very expensive comments it doesn't have to be.

Completely agree with this. Yes, you can spend a fortune on eating out. But you can also eat very well for not much money, if you go to the right places.

Please_change_username_2

A lot of the larger supermarkets have a restaurant which generally offer good value for money. If you know where you'll be on particular days/times you could check on line for nearest supermarkets and call them to see if they have a restaurant. Also Tripadvisor has good suggestions. Enjoy your stay.

colcheslad

Maybe sign up for a free 30 day Tastecard, accepted in lots of restaurants in London (both independent and chains), often getting you 2 for 1 or 50% off (do check it's valid for the day you are using it though),

You can also attach it to the Tastecard app so when you're there you can just search for places nearby

http://www.tastecard.co.uk/trial

PS - I have no association with them!

barbarawright

Head to Chinatown - you'll be able to get excellent meals for £15 a head or so