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Student eats · November 2026
Studying abroad in Mexico City
Every meal here costs MX$200 or less.
About $11 US. Typical prices, checked November 2, 2026.Mexico City may be the best cheap food city on earth: tacos for a few pesos at every corner, comida corrida set lunches, churros at midnight, and a taco stand with a Michelin star.
A day of eating for MX$420
- Breakfast, MX$150: Fonda Margarita, huevos and frijoles with tortillas from the clay pots
- Lunch, MX$150: El Califa de León, two tacos de gaonera (thin beef, salsa, lime)
- Dinner, MX$120: El Turix, cochinita pibil tacos and a panucho
Breakfast, lunch and dinner: MX$420, about $23.
Eat for MX$200 or less
1A photo like it
MX$150Breakfast
Fonda Margarita
Get: Huevos and frijoles with tortillas from the clay pots
A breakfast-only fonda under a tin roof, cooking from huge clay pots. Shared tables, early mornings.
2A photo like it
MX$150Lunch
El Califa de León
Get: Two tacos de gaonera (thin beef, salsa, lime)
A tiny taco stand that won a Michelin star. One kind of beef, cooked on a griddle in front of you.
3A photo like it
MX$120Dinner
El Turix
Get: Cochinita pibil tacos and a panucho
A Yucatán taco counter famous for slow-cooked pork. Cheap in the most expensive neighborhood.
4A photo like it
MX$150Late
Tacos Orinoco
Get: Tacos de trompo, chicharrón on the side
A Monterrey-style taquería open very late, the end of every night in Roma.
5A photo like it
MX$120Snack
El Moro
Get: Churros with Mexican hot chocolate
Churros made to order, all day and late into the night.
The market
Every day
Mercado de Coyoacán
Coyoacán
Get: Tostadas from the stalls in the middle (shrimp, chicken tinga, pata)
Near the UNAM campus. Mercado Medellín in Roma is another great one for cheap lunch counters.
The supermarket to find
Oxxo, Chedraui, Soriana and Walmart
- Fresh tortillas by the kilo from a tortillería, cents each
- Avocados, limes and salsa for pennies at the market
- Pan dulce from a bakery (conchas) for breakfast
Corner tortillerías sell hot tortillas by weight. Buy fruit at the markets, not the supermarket.
How students save in Mexico City
- The 'comida corrida' (set lunch: soup, rice, main, agua fresca) is the cheapest full meal in town, around MX$100 to MX$150.
- Drink bottled or filtered water, not tap. Restaurants give purified water.
- UNAM's campus has cheap cafeterias and a lot of the city's student life.
More for Mexico City
Studying somewhere else?
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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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