Money saving ideas for travel in England

Hello. My immediate suggestion? There is no shame in having a "meal deal" from M&S, Boots, Sainsbury's, or anywhere else for lunch or dinner. Also, cobble together a meal from a great selection of to-go options from any of the groceries or food halls. A picnic at your place of lodging, on the train, or in the great outdoors--this has always been an easy way to save a little money.

It’s probably worth briefly outlining your plan and where the accommodation is so that we can give some tailored advice rather than telling you about places that aren’t near where you will be.

I know the $NZ has depreciated a bit in the last few years but when we were last in NZ in 2020 there wasn’t much difference in the cost of living between there and the UK.

I think there is a whole section in Rick’s London guidebook about ways to save money in the expensive city that is London. Check into that.

Also recently there was a great link shared on the forum about free London museums. There are quite a few for your traveling party to consider.

https://londonist.com/london/free-museums?ref=related_links

With some planning, you can find ways! It’s an amazing city! Have fun!

Edited to add the link from Rick;

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/cheap-things-to-do-in-london

Minimize the full sitdown meals, as noted above British supermarkets have a great selection of premade takeout food. Easy to find and in most train stations. If you can bear it, all the major US fast food brands are also available, I swear there are two Five Guys on every block in London.

I agree on meal deals - the weather should be decent, so you can have lunch in a park with your wrap and drink. Get a Tesco Club Card (via their app) for good discounts on ready to eat food, wraps, sandwiches etc. Stick to the cheaper supermarket chains (Tesco, Morrisons).

If you want to eat in a pub, check out Whetherspoons pubs for cheap food. I'm also a fan of London's numerous chicken shops for good cheap meals, and if you feel like pies and sausage rolls, Greggs. And then there are outdoor food markets - my favourite is at St James's Church on Picadilly. Great food, really cheap, with tables rk sit at, in the heart of tourist London.

There are so many free and cheap things to do. Looking at London specifically, apart from the big museums, there are parks and gardens, churches (the vast majority are free to visit, and some like St Martin-in-the-fields host free lunchtime concerts), markets (assuming you don't buy stuff!), the list js endless.

Travel - if you're taking trains, look at Railcards (particularly the two together railcard) for hefty discounts.

I was about to say if you are using trains, railcards can be a big savings, but I see Simon mentioned that already. Here's a link:
https://www.lner.co.uk/tickets/offers-and-discounts/railcards/ Also with trains, you can save if you travel at certain times of the day.
There are some attractions that offer two for one pricing. St. Paul's Cathedral and Bletchley Park are a couple. However, you have to really read the terms and you have to have used a train within 24 hours. https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ Most would take a train to Bletchley so thats an easy one. For St. Paul's we did it the first day we were in London. We had traveled from York via train the day before.

It depends on how much luggage space you have, but we bring granola/cereal/protein bars and instant oatmeal for breakfast when we are staying places that don't have breakfast.

I feel your pain, the Pound isn't friendly to the Canadian dollar either. Taking the train into town instead of a taxi or private car will save you a bunch (depending on how many people in your party). London has plenty of free museums, here's a post on this Forum from earlier this month. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/london-s-free-museums-definitive-list

We're coming from New Zealand and our dollar is only worth 44 British Pence.

You know this doesn’t mean your spending power is only 44% of what it is in NZ?

Be aware that smaller branches of supermarkets in city centres, and especially in railway stations, can charge slightly higher prices than in their larger suburban branches.

If you don’t mind taking a risk, using the Too Good to Go app can save you a lot in food. Shops and restaurants use it to clear food at the end the day or at the end of service. They are the definition of hit and miss, you really don’t know what you are going to get, but if you aren’t fussy it can be fun and good value.

You have received some good advice already. I will just say, as someone who has eaten a LOT of supermarket meal deals, they get old extremely fast. There are also many "fast" sit-down options that are nicer but not expensive- a really good one is Marugame Udon for Japanese food (they have a few locations around London), and another is Icco for pizza. Pubs are usually less expensive than restaurants tho you can be surprised sometimes at how much they cost. Of course you also have the classic places office workers here get their lunch, like Pret or Itsu. For transport, definitely look at the railcards as suggested above. With four adults, two "two together" railcards might make sense. If you're planning to visit a lot of National Trust properties you could look at passes for that as well. As mentioned above, most of the best museums in London are free, as are of course the parks. Outside of London, one of my favourite activities is long-distance walking along national trails (https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk), which is a wonderful free activity, tho of course you also have to factor in food and transport. Good luck with your planning- May is one of the nicest times to be here! (And if you are out in the country you can look for bluebells.)

I don't see Five Guys as a cheap place to eat- they may be in the US, but here in the UK I see them at the very expensive end of fast food burger places.

You will need to be here very soon for bluebells. Up here in the middle of the country they are at their peak right now and in 10 days are so will be well past their best.

There’s a small Tesco supermarket around the corner from our B&B, and Tesco has a Clubcard that gives extra discounts on featured items each week. Problem is, without a UK address, I couldn’t sign up for my own card. Solution: approaching the self-checkout registers, I ask if anyone has a Clubcard, and could swipe it for my purchase. There’s always someone happy to oblige, and so I save a little on some of the things I’m getting, and I think they earn a few Clubcard points from my purchases.

I’m not certain whether other grocery chains offer a similar sale price scheme, but if every penny counts, it’s another possibility.

A lot of grocery stores have a card needed to get the discounts. Actually this was frequently the case for us in New Zealand. Typically, the cashier will have a card that can be used, although Cyn is correct that many customers will offer their own. If I see some of the items are on sale, I will ask the cashier if I need a card for the deals.

"Problem is, without a UK address, I couldn’t sign up for my own card."

Just use your hotel address. It's purely digital so they're not going to send anything. I use my Tesco Clubcard all the time in the UK. I've used my office address, but they've never sent me anything.

I have found that a Sunday roast lunch can be a good value and plenty of food for two people to share. It's generally sensible to make lunch your main meal every day. Don't assume the hotel breakfast is a good deal, especially if you're not one to eat a big meal first thing. Instead, if your room has a fridge, you can pick up breakfast items the night before from a shop or from Too Good to Go. While TGTG can be chancy, there is on social media content available about which places tend to be good value, so you can research that ahead of time for your particular locations.

I have found that a Sunday roast lunch can be a good value and plenty
of food for two people to share.

I'm not sure many places would welcome customers sharing a roast main course. Sharing starters and dessert is common but sharing a roast main would seem a bit 'odd' and probably wouldn't be allowed.

isn31c I don't consider Five Guys to be inexpensive in the US either and I would imagine it's even worse now-my local grocery store was recently charging $9/lb for ground beef-and that's not at Whole Foods!

I agree about sharing a main. It’s not really ok to do that here if you’re taking up a table in a restaurant. Likewise it’s not really acceptable to only order tap water and not pay for a drink. I dare say nobody will say anything to you but they won’t be impressed.

Sharing a main could lead to you getting the ultimate snub from the staff, a severe tutting.

Not a tutting! Heaven forfend. I definitely don't want to get on the wrong side of the waitstaff. I'll just continue to eat the whole Sunday roast lunch myself.

One practice that has really saved us a bit of money is to use our refillable water bottles rather than purchasing drinks when out sightseeing. We buy drinks when at pubs, restaurants, etc. but when out and about we just use the refillable flasks. Same goes for snacks. We try to find a Waitrose, Tesco or Sainsbury’s to pick up some inexpensive items to keep in our rooms and stuff them in our backpacks to munch on. A bit cheaper than at the attractions.

Try not to fill up the car on the motorways as you will be paying top whack. Usually the edge of town supermarkets have places to re-fuel your car and with the lowest prices.

Going from a to b by train can work out cheaper by splitting the ticket(s). Check out these sites to see which come up with the best deal:>
https://trainsplit.com
https://www.traintickets.com/?/
https://www.buytickets.scotrail.co.uk (no commission but only find 1 split).

You concern about the exchange rate doesn't make sense. It's the cost of living that matters. I think you will find the buying power similar to back home once you are here. You will find places outside London to be cheaper too.
How are you getting around, car or train. If train, buying tickets on the day will be expensive. If your days are set in stone, you can buy an ADVANCE SINGLE ticket for a specific train which will be a lot cheaper. These can be bought up to 3 months in advance. A Railcard will reduce off peak travel by 33%. They cost £35 and last for a year, but there is a Two Together Railcard that will cover two of you.
If driving, fill up at supermarket petrol stations instead of the main garages such as BP, and definitely don't use motorway service stations for anything other than a toilet visit.
Mealdeals are available in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsburys. You get a main (sandwich, wrap) plus side (crisps, fruitpot) and drink for around £4, less if you have a clubcard.
Aldi and Lidl are good quality low prices for groceries and sell nice salad/pasta/chicken type meals, ideal for during the day.
Wetherspoons pubs are everywhere and do cheap and cheerful food. Some love them, others hate them, but if you get a decent one it can be an inexpensive dinner/tea, I was in one yesterday for dinner (12 noon meal) Steak pudding, chips and peas for my wife, bowl of chips for me, glass of cola and unlimited coffee for my wife, all for less than £9.
Many of the chain restaurants such as Prezzo and Wildwood have offers for signing up as a member. You'll get bombarded with deals and discounts.

While I do agree that more factors into expenses than the exchange rate, the exchange rate does play a role. When we went to New Zealand, we couldn't believe how inexpensive most things were, especially accommodations anywhere but the big cities. We heard people saying that New Zealand was expensive and couldn't understand why until they said they were from Canada.

I did feel it was more expensive to travel in England than many other places. I've never paid as much for a hotel in Europe as we did in London. And it was a Premier Inn. Accommodations in York and Whitby were higher than we would have payed in comparable cities in other countries. In general, restaurant expenses were higher than other places we've traveled in Europe. Trains were also more expensive. We had a railcard which did help a lot, but still, some of the tickets were pricey. And in terms of how the higher prices effected us, well, the USD to GBP exchange rate certainly didn't do us any favors.

That said, there are ways to save. We appreciated the many free museums as well as the many ways to save mentioned above. We didn't spend much time in grocery stores, but M&S seemed to have great prices. We didn't encounter an Aldi anywhere. Obviously they are around, but not where a tourist without transportation is typically going.

Out of curiosity, what did you pay for your Premier Inn and was it in Central London?
I used that chain for a break there in March. When booking, the prices were £200-£300 a night in the centre which was out of my budget. I booked one further out of the centre for £86 a night. The 20 minute tube ride into the tourist area was easy.
Budget hotels are all over the country and include Premier Inn, Travelodge, Holiday Inn Express and many others.
I've had a few european city breaks in the last couple of years and found little difference between London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Dublin and German cities.

I'm going to Ireland in a few months, and Ireland is less expensive than England. I believed we paid about 240 GBP in London, with a nonrefundable rate (in general too risky for me, but did it for London) We are staying at a BnB in Dublin area about 10 minutes from city center, which was a compromise. I usually stay in or very close to city center. I found places in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Warsaw, Krakow, Munich, Lisbon, Porto, Reykjavik, Luxembourg City, Sydney, Australia, all a fair amount less than London.

I love Switzerland, but it is also expensive. Lodging in Geneva was definitely more expensive than London. We did ok, but still expensive in Luzern, Bern and Chur.

Today USD is about .74 to the GBP. So I can certainly see the difficulty OP faces (NZD at .43 to GBP) in comparison to someone coming from the U.S.

I'm not complaining about England or London, we liked it. But, it is relatively more expensive than many other places. Having been to New Zealand and noted how much we could get for our money, I can see what the OP is facing. I haven't been to New York City or San Francisco in quite a while. I would imagine they are comparable to London. It is what it is, is what my husband said.

One thing not mentioned yet in this thread, but compared to Minneapolis, Chicago or New York City, prices for major theatre productions are much less in London. Going to the theatre was not something we thought about when we started our planning, but so glad we went to London theatre. If I go back to London, I'd go to another production, maybe two.

I have been all over the UK and love it, particularly the smaller cities and towns in the countryside.

You will find lodging in big cities like London to be very expensive. We did a few days in London last Summer and the average price for a 4 star hotel was over $400 US. We found that Premier Inns are more affordable,
Note that if you take some of your time to visit smaller cities, that lodging will be significantly cheaper than in London.
I recommend York is a wonderful city for a few days.

Taxis are expensive, so research public transport and take it as much as possible.
I don't recommend the HoHo Busses in London. It takes about 4 hours to make the circuit, even if you just ride the bus.

Whilst a Two Together Railcard can give significant savings on train tickets for a couple, booking 4 tickets will frequently get an automatic Groupsave discount without having to spend £70 on 2 railcards. So price out the tickets both with and without railcards first.

"I think you will find the buying power similar to back home once you are here"

You'd be surprised. The biggest cost for most visitors is accomodation, and hotels in the UK are significantly more expensive than NZ and many comparable countries. Train travel is expensive too. Food is somewhat more expensive.

This is offset to a degree by free museums etc, but still will be pricy.

We were in England a couple of weeks ago. As others have said, the cost of eating out is higher than Australia/NZ. I guesstimated 50% higher, and the food quality, in terms of protein and veg, that we experienced in pubs and cafes was often not as good as we have in oz (perhaps we were unlucky).
Groceries are more of a similar price to Australia overall, so cooking or picnicking from supermarkets is a good option.
We did bring along a refillable coffee cup (the metal type that keeps your drink hot for hours) and found it useful to make coffee to go in the morning. A small coffee from a cafe is often about £4.

"A small coffee from a cafe is often about £4."

Which must have been a shock coming from a country where a good coffee is about AUD5 (£2.50)...

You can imagine what it's like coming from Singapore where a meal in a hawker centre and a drink costs about SGD6 (£3.50) at most. Pubs meals therefore feel expensive.

This is offset to a degree by free museums etc

Yes, many of the museums are free, but the value doesn't extend to museum cafés - I found the prices for food and drink at the British Museum and Tate Britain to be on the high side. So plan to eat before or after your free visit.

If you drink a lot of coffee it might be worth subscribing to the Pret A Manger coffee subscription/club.

https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB/club-pret

They have branches everywhere and the coffee is OK

You concern about the exchange rate doesn't make sense. It's the cost
of living that matters. I think you will find the buying power similar
to back home once you are here.

I can't speak for Australia, however the Canadian exchange is currently about 0.54 and in November we found prices of things like groceries (with some exceptions) and restaurants to be the same as home plus the exchange rate.

"So plan to eat before or after your free visit."

I actually make a point of eating in museum cafes. It seems the least I can do after enjoying a free visit. I had a look at Tate Britain's menu prices, and £15.95 seems not unreasonable for fish and chips

Wow! Thank you so much for your help everyone!!!
The Clubcard/Supermarket solutions, petrol hint, Whetherspoons, Pret coffee club, train tickets...to name a few have been huge helps. We're getting really excited now!