BootsnAll Travel Community

I've read they can be good value for your dollar in GB, but I've also read here they might not be healthy. Does anyone have any recommendation for major cities like Edinburgh and London?

I'm trying to eat cheap and I have, in the past, been tempted into trying stuff-on-a-stick.

...don't go to the mobile burger vans...usually an over priced greasy path to food poisoning....

fish & chip shops..if theyre busy & look clean, can be a good source of good cheap food & you don't need to have chips...a good piece of battered cod with mushy peas can be glorious.

The same goes for clean well presented kebab shops & chinese take aways...chicken is always the safest in these places as is usually over cooked anyway.

Don't expect any cheap culinary delights except the fish & chip shop, which when is good can be great....

second that!!

Sometimes I think I'm going to starve when I get there. Eating fish makes me sick

But I like chips!

British chips which are soggy like oily mash?

In my 17-odd years in the UK I have come across maybe 2 chippies where the chips weren't vile.

I have a friend who lived off curry while in London... she was saying it was the cheapest (edible) food she could find. The girl was really picky, though, so that may have had something to do with it.

Street Vendors?

WHERE? I know of 2 types only:

1)Ive found ooooooh Hot Dog stands in the centre of London on weekend nights whose produce had been mugged earlier that night.

2)Then you have burger vans. The average quality of the burger would make a Big Mac in McDonalds seem like a sirloin steak. Here here on the fries Whale Watcher. I have found only ONE yes ONE decent chippie in 27 years, in Ladbroke Grove. There is one tucked away in Richmond that im yet to try but on smell it gets full marks. Not to mention that "the great british meal" is now one of the most bloody expensive take-aways you can have. With Cod & Chips being the staple and the price being hiked up on Cod, your looking at about oooh £5 a time for fish & chips. Thats about 13CA$. Throw on an extra 3 dollars for bloody mushy pea's or curry sauce...

Speaking of Curry? Mostly overpriced or shit. Unless your actually in a specificly central asian community. Same goes for any other form of ethnic cuisine. Jamaican restaurants are a great beans and spicey chicken takeaway venue. I can highly recommend practically any in Lewisham / Catford / Hither Green area of SE London.

My advice would be hit the chinese takeaways. You usually get enough out of one 6 pound (12 dollar) delivery to last you a couple of days. OR, as an alternative, why not buy a stack of ramen noodles from a chinese supermarket (There's one in most large cities) and veggies from a Green Grocer (A vegetable shop) and make your own. You could whip together a decent ramen soup with soya for about 80 pence a bowl and all you need to cook it all is bloody hot water. Hell, you can even put it in a flask and transport it!

Dan - done the pauper in London thing...

I ate cod and chips once in Brighton and I was about to vomit, it seemed drowned in the oil and even didn't taste like fish, I was very disappointed cause many people had talked well about it and it costed me pretty much, but maybe I've just been to a bad chippy, I hope!

None of it sounds too promising.

I was just trying to figure out a way to eat cheaply. Looks like it's grocery stores for me.

Eat cheaply from supermarkets! Grab bread and cheese and stuff.

Food is expensive here - there is no escaping it! Try bakeries though - your average high street bakery will serve sandwiches and sausage rolls, pasties etc pretty cheaply. Not entirely healthy, but then what really is?!!

look out for farmers markets/ street markets. There you are much more likely to be able to get a burger that isn't soaked in grease, and if you are lucky, some soup. Ostrich is good!

erm tizwoz, since when is ostrich good?!

I would recommend battered sausages, you just can't beat em. But don't look at it while you eat it, just savour the flavour. I think you can get a jumbo one for about 60p but that's in the midlands...actually can you get battered sausages in London? Or is it a northern/ midlands thing?

It's been a while since I was back but unless things have changed Boots (the chemists) meal deals are quite a good bargain- 2.50 for sandwich, crisps and drink...

Supermarkets are going to be the cheapest way, Tesco value bread with Tesco value cheese and Tesco value ham....perfect combination.

quote:

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Originally posted by neet:
...actually can you get battered sausages in London? Or is it a northern/ midlands thing?

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Nah, we still batter and eat all you unrully peasants down this end of the world bwahahahah

Dan - Fled the midlands long ago

...I believe our cockney cousins eat battered saveloys with their chips (...washed down with a pint shandy of course )

Jacket potatoes! You might get sick of them after a while, but I love them. They aren't everywhere, but the one in Covent Garden is about £2 for a jacket potato (stuffed potato) & cheese.

They have other option, but I would avoid a cheap chippie for fish & chips - it's not a light meal if it's prepared the best way.

Tesco & the other supermarkets also have pre-packaged triangle sandwiches that are very fresh & very tasty & very cheap less than £2 for most of them. they all say if their suitable for vegtarians and are delivered fresh daily. I used to live on them there and enough mini-Tesco Metro's make it easy to find a quick place to eat.

I totally agree about Boots Meal Deals, they are cheap, filling, and loads of choice including healthy options and vegetarian.
We had some fish and chips as a nostalgic farewell meal the other night, we wish we had not bothered ~ GREASEBALL!

Agree with the bakery and supermarket option.. The slang name for a cafe is "greasy spoon" and that says it all.

One of the lunch runners would return from getting the office staff lunch and you could smell the grease on his clothes. He was only there for a few minutes each day but he needed a shower to get rid of the smell.

Has anyone found a place where they serve decent coffee in London????