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Student eats · November 2026
Studying abroad in London
Every meal here costs £10 or less.
About $13 US. Typical prices, checked November 2, 2026.London is expensive, but students eat well here on pie and mash, curry canteens, roti and bagels at 3am. The trick is to eat where the cabbies and nurses eat, not on the high street.
A day of eating for £24
- Breakfast, £9: Regency Café, the full English with a mug of tea
- Lunch, £7: M Manze, pie, mash and liquor (the green parsley sauce)
- Dinner, £8: Indian YMCA, a canteen tray: two curries, rice and a chapati
Breakfast, lunch and dinner: £24, about $32.
Eat for £10 or less
1A photo like it
£9Breakfast
Regency Café
Get: The full English with a mug of tea
A 1946 tiled caff that's been in a dozen films. Your name gets bellowed when it's ready, and it's still under a tenner.
2A photo like it
£7Lunch
M Manze
Get: Pie, mash and liquor (the green parsley sauce)
London's oldest pie and mash shop (since 1902), white tiles and wooden benches. The cheapest proper hot lunch in the city.
3A photo like it
£9Lunch
Roti King
Get: Roti canai with dhal, or the mee goreng
A basement off Euston Road with a queue up the stairs. The roti is stretched and flipped in front of you.
4A photo like it
£8Dinner
Indian YMCA
Get: A canteen tray: two curries, rice and a chapati
A student hostel canteen that anyone can walk into. Trays, Formica, and some of the most honest curry in central London.
5A photo like it
£8Dinner
Franco Manca
Get: Pizza No. 1 or No. 2, the cheapest on the list
Slow sourdough pizza at a price students can do every week. It started in a Brixton arcade and is now all over London.
6A photo like it
£8Late
Beigel Bake
Get: Salt beef bagel with mustard, or a plain beigel for pennies
Open 24 hours. Every night out in East London ends in this queue, and it moves fast.
The market
Weekdays at lunch
Whitecross Street Market
Barbican, near Old Street
Get: A weekday lunch box from any stall: falafel, curry, burritos, all around £7
Borough Market is for looking. Whitecross is where people who work nearby actually eat, and it's half the price.
The supermarket to find
Tesco Express, Sainsbury's Local or Co-op
- The meal deal: sandwich, snack and drink for about £4 (cheaper with a Clubcard)
- Reduced-price yellow stickers on sandwiches after about 7pm
- Lidl or Aldi for the weekly shop, often a third cheaper
Get the free Tesco Clubcard on your phone the first day. Meal deal prices drop with it.
How students save in London
- Download Too Good To Go: bakeries and cafés sell their leftover bags for £3 to £5 at closing time.
- Ask for tap water. Every restaurant has to give it to you free.
- Get a student discount card (TOTUM or UNiDAYS): lots of chains take 10 to 20% off.
More for London
Studying somewhere else?
Run a study-abroad program in London?
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Prices are typical, checked November 2, 2026, and move; places with branches all over (chains) are named so you can use any of them. "A photo like it" is the same kind of food, not from that place. Chef Amazing is not paid by any place on this page.
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