Updated info on food costs in England?

Does your 100/day mean dollars or GBP? Whichever you mean if you are expecting to spend that amount for the whole family, you are in for a shock. I haven't been to London for a couple of years but I spent 5 days in Southampton and environs last August and even doing without breakfast it cost us about $100CAD EACH most days for lunch and dinner, eating in pubs, not particularly nice pubs, either, or small almost crappy restaurants. We did have wine with dinner, though.

My relatives in the UK are always puzzled that we find things in England so expensive. I guess it just becomes what one is used to.

We were in London last summer with 6 people, 4 adults and 2 granddaughters who have adult tastes and appetites. We managed to keep costs down by eating breakfast in our house each day from food purchased from a grocery store and bakery. If you are staying at a B&B or rent an apartment this will help.

For lunchs and dinners we ate sandwiches from Pret a Manger or grocery stores, curries from restaurants not in the main tourist corridors, noodle bowls from restaurants like Wagamamas, great pub food and fish and chips. Three people in our group didn't drink anything but water at meals. Occasionally 2 of us would share a plowmans platter or meal at a pub. We ate in cafeterias a couple of times like St. Martin in the Fields and Hampton Court Palace.

We also kept a couple of water bottles with us to drink from and refill along the way. It was very warm in July and August last summer.

For "dessert" we kept an assortment of Cadbury at the house. We occasionally had ice cream on hot afternoons while out and about--grandparents rarely say no.

I also brought some inexpensive energy bars from the US for the times we were traveling about in between meals and 1 or 2 in our group got hungry. I figured it was much better to give someone a nutty bar than have the whole group stop at a cafe or coffee shop for a snack in between meals. With the space left in my suite case after the bars were gone, I was able to bring a couple a of nice souvenirs home for me.

We managed this on less than £120 most days for our group of 6. Prepared sandwiches and wraps cost about £5-7, curries and noodle bowls where we were eating cost £9-11. Pub food was similar in cost.

Thank Norma. Definitely GBP. (When I start with dollars then I assume people are thinking American dollars, which requires extra math for me! So I'm using GBP and then doing a "total" exchange to CAD at the end of the spreadsheet.) That said, eek! We will have a couple of pints a day, but that's a separate budget line--entertainment, not food! Neil's yard also gets a "bonus" line item, as it will feed us but is also entertainment!

Speaking of which, how much will we be paying for a pint of something local? I'm sure someone knows. :)

We used to have a rule of "pounds to dollars" for estimating...so if a family meal in Canada cost $60-80 then we'd expect to pay 60-80 pounds. I wonder if that still works? (I wouldn't expect it to work for Americans, as their dollar is a lot stronger than ours, and their local restaurants are generally cheaper than here in Canada.) The good news is, the last time we went the CAD:GBP rate was even worse.

Thanks MrsEB. Good tips. We sometimes buy the meal deals at local grocery stores when we are running to activities with the kids and find it much better value than similar menus from the fast food places. The last time we were in the UK we were amazed by how much ready-to-eat food there was available, so it sounds like that's still a good bet, and probably even better if they routinely have a "hot food counter" now. And honestly, I enjoy shopping in "foreign" grocery stores...I think it often is a cultural "back door" as well as a good budget tip.

Something of a tangent, but B&Bs aren't looking good I am very, very sad to say. I will probably do more research and ask some specific questions--but family rooms seem uncommon in b&bs, and the per-head cost model we recall from B&Bs doesn't make sense when there's four: it looks like we'll do better cost-wise from hotel family rooms. I hope we find a way around that with further research. But for instance in York I can get a family room at Premier Inn under #100 when a B&B will cost 4 x 33, or #133. Which means we'd pay $65CA for breakfast. :(

The car is a liability in Bath and York, I agree, but it works out cheaper than 4 train tickets. Also my son has a disability that makes it much easier to have a car when we can.

Thanks for good food for thought! :)

Thank you Mona, that's very encouraging, and sounds like it would match well with our approach. Ice cream would be the kind of treat that would compare to a nice pint for the grown ups, so we will make that a priority. Candy bars that are different from the ones we get at home would also be a treat, and my son will definitely want to try "crisps". (Our US vacation pics typically include the weird and wonderful chip flavours we can't get at home, like "chicken and waffles". :-D )

JoAnne, one GBP equals just over $2.00CAD. So GBP 60 would be something over $120CAD. I know, it stinks. The U.S. dollar is close to being equal to the pound so Americans posting about how things were not THAT expensive in the UK are calculating in U.S. dollars. Whatever daily total they quote, double it for the Canadian equivalent.

Nando's, Pret a Manger, Masala Zone, Wagamama, M&S Simply Food, Tesco Express...

(edited: to remove the "s" at the end of Wagamama and to put the apostrophe in Nando's)

Singular in the name of Wagamama.

Burritos are the new food of current fashion, £6 or so gets you a huge cylinder of meaty, ricey foil wrapped, San Francisco style goodness.

We like the sit down burritos and most everything made by Wahaca (because the English can't pronounce Oaxaca) and the very best take away or sit in industrial chic their single item offshoot at One New Change in the City, Burrito Mama where you order on your phone or a captive iPad.

@ Norma the GBP has been almost 50% higher than the USD for awhile. 1£= about $1.45 USD. When we looked at menus last year I always figured that we'd be spending the equivalent of 50% more just so my brain wouldn't explode trying to figure out the exact exchange rate.

I know the Canadian exchange rate is 2:1 but I don't know what restaurant prices are like in Canadian $ to know if the prices I gave JoAnne will seem high or over budget to her. I tried to give her some other tips to save money that helped our group survive and have an enjoyable trip.

Good luck to all!

Oh, heck, sorry Mona and JoAnne, not to have had my currency facts straight. I am covered in shame.

It depends on which part of England you are in, but last year I paid an average of £5 per pint for Old Speckled Hen as an example. Other beers were higher, occasionally lower price in older classic pubs where they still have cellar temperature beers. What really surprised me was Budweiser was the number one selling beer in London! Pub meals were usually very tasty, well prepared, and not overly expensive.

All the hotels and B&B places I stayed included breakfast in the rate I chose. Hotels were all you could eat, but the B&B were a single plate and no more. Coffee was always plentiful. Found Costa Coffee for my coffee fixes during the day. Slightly less costly than Starbucks, to me much better tasting, friendlier employees and unless you order it in a take away cup you get a real coffee cup to drink out of. Their snacks were nice too.

For several meals, I grabbed sandwich makings at the closest grocery. Fed 4 people a complete lunch for around £15 total by having them each make their own sandwiches instead of buying the good but much higher priced pre made ones -- and no complaints about unexpected or unwanted ingredients.

Dinner was always the difficult meal. Stayed near Victoria Station while in London and found a pizza buffet in the station that was not a bad price (less than £10 per person including salad, desert, and non-alcoholic drink) and was all you can eat. Somewhat strange toppings on the pizzas compared to what I am used to, but tasty and filling.

I also found the burrito to be un expectantly available throughout the land. Had one at a place called Mission Burrito (just happens to be run by the same guy who had a similarly named place in Houston, TX) and a huge burrito meal was around £6.

I was told that Bud was the best selling beer by several people trying to sell me a beer in a pub. :-)

I do know I saw it at every modern pub we stopped at in London and the surrounding areas prominently displayed usually with a claim about how cold it was served. But I wasn't interested since I don't drink Bud at home so I saw no need to drink it in England where there are numerous local beers that are much better.

I would have thought that the best selling beer would be a nationally advertised one like the horse p*$$ of Budweiser which seems to be getting an awful lot of advertising in or Carling which has donkeys years of sport sponsorship and a fair amount of advertising instead of the smaller local ales and beers.

All the different local brewers make superior products but they are only available in a small area or a single estate. London Pride?

And all the local ales and guests.

Thanks for all the replies. I am only an occasional beer drinker at home, but excited to get some real English beer in situ. I rarely bother to buy the imports here as they don't taste the same...

Norma no worries, I always do the math for myself anyway. I've been subscribing to the xe.com currency newsletter for the past couple of weeks--the changes are minor on a daily basis but I'm getting my head around it. Honestly our dollar was falling so fast after Christmas I am very pleased that the descent has slowed--seeing some normal up-and-down, which is great. Last time we went (Feb 2000) the # cost 2.40CA! :-0

I noticed today when costing out Premier Inns (which seem to be everywhere, with consistent availability for a family room) that we'd pay for the full breakfast--but kids under 16 eat free with a paying adult. So 8 or 9 # per adult for a big full breakfast--and the kids fill up for nothing. (Actually one adult can bring two kids, so it could be more like 3 breakfasts for #9, as dh has already expressed an interest in foraging elsewhere for his breakfast.) Hard to say no.

Thanks for the info on the chains also. Burritos are unexpected! And great to fill up a hollow-legged teen. In 2000 we sought out Wagamama in London (I think there were two locations then!) and enjoyed it--great to know it's doing well and widely available. We all love a good bowl of noodles! Mark, the idea of building our own sandwich makes sense too; I smiled at "no unwanted ingredients"...you must've been travelling with children too!

I'd avoid The Chandos, it's generally rammed. The City of York on Holborn would be a better bet for a Sam's pub, or the Lyceum on the Strand. Weatherspoons' pubs are also cheap--they are all over the UK--though the quality of both food and beer (and the atmosphere) can vary widely between branches. The Cross Keys opposite Leadenhall Market is probably the pick of them in central London.

We are also a family of 4, with boys who were 14 and 16 on our trip to the UK last summer (although my older one was with us for only 2/3rds of the time). We spent about US$100 per day on dinner, usually eating at pubs. Soft drinks (cokes) for the boys were as expensive beer for us. We put limits on soft drinks. We sometimes are at Asian restaurants and we had Italian a couple of times. We did not eat at fancy places. Prices were definitely higher than what we pay at home.

Breakfast was usually included with accommodations. We always has a picnic for lunch. I brought a couple of cloth bags to keep supplies organized, also some plastic ziplock bags for unfinished food. We had a supply of crackers, cookies, apples, and cheese. Cheese will keep a couple of days without refrigeration. I always enjoy shopping for food.

On more urban sightseeing days we would pick things up at lunch time at a place like M&S Simply Foods (I think that was the name!) or Pret a manger.

We had one day when it was pouring and we ate our picnic in the car. Otherwise, we always could find a bench or table for our lunch.