London has an abundance of great food at different price points, but eating out all the time can be expensive, especially during exam season.
Here are some tips to buy groceries at a cheaper rate, as well as tips to eat out without breaking your wallet.
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Find the reduced sections
Most grocery stores have reduced foods delegated to a certain section of the store. Look for it in your grocery store and you’ll definitely find some useful items, especially if you’re looking for ready meals or ingredients to use within a day or two! However, I wouldn’t advise buying dairy products from there.
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Plan your grocery shop
While making a grocery list may feel like a very simple idea, it can be useful to have one to ensure you don’t spend more than you need to. Another tip is go to larger grocery stores, because they have a larger selection of products and a broader range of prices.
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Buy Name-Brand Products
While grocery shopping, it’s worth buying name-brand products rather than the expensive ones. For instance, when buying tea, name-brands (like Tesco) can cost around 75 pence, while brands like Tetley and Twinings tend to be around 1.50 to 3 pounds. While I wouldn’t advise it for everything, if something isn’t a necessity or is something you buy often, it’s much cheaper to buy name-brand items.
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Markets are better for eating out, but not always for groceries
While markets like Borough Market have plenty of affordable dining choices, they are not necessarily cheaper for fruits and vegetables. From my experience, Turkish and Indian stores have cheaper meat and vegetables and often have better quality food than the supermarkets here!
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Discounts online and offline
When you dine out at chain restaurants, I would recommend looking at Unidays and Student Beans for voucher codes, as well as for ordering in, because they tend to have discounts for places that go up to 40%! I would also recommend getting a card for Costa or Starbucks if you tend to drink a lot of coffee at those places, because points add up quickly.
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Websites and Links for Reference
London Cheap Eats, TimeOut and Londonist all have links for eating out at affordable places, and I would recommend looking at the markets around your accommodation – Mercato Metropolitano, Borough Market, Broadway Market and Boxpark at Shoreditch are places I would definitely recommend for cheap eats!
Written by LSE Social Media Ambassador Soumya Khedkar