€ is Alt Gr + 4. I'm not wealthy, but I don't mind paying for good food and I'd rather support the local farmer selling free range eggs. I don't have kids myself, but I'm sure some of the pensioners on this forum have children or grandkids, so they should start thinking what they're doing to them if they only want to spend €6 for a meal. If nobody's willing to pay more, how will we ever get out of this mess?

I don't know where the idea has come from that the cheap food places in Spain cater for expats and tourists - they do not. The ventas which do cheap MDD's are very much aimed at the working Spanish - not tourists or expats.

Some of them are huge - hundreds of covers and they turn each table over several times per session. The fare is formulaic, high energy fodder for the masses - nothing wrong with that, it serves a purpose.

Some of the more experienced expats might seek them out for a cheap meal but not many.

The food in ventas is generally pretty good - and excellent value

That isnt where most expats get their menu del dias from

Thanks Moses2013 for euro symbol tip,good point regarding what food we feed to our children
But not sure that paying more for meals would change the economical climate though.

Well we all know that if you sell a 3 course meal for €6 it's quality and staff wages that suffer. There are enough good restaurants that use quality produce and pay their staff a decent wage, but if nobody wants to spend €15-20€ the situation will never improve.

This hits the nail on the head exactly. Around here many of the cafe/bars offer cheap meals such as this because their customer is the Spanish labourer from the farms, it is the passing truck driver, it is the passing salesman.

The prices are cheap because the SPANISH won't pay any more for what to them is a working lunch, six days a week. Think of it another way, would you go into restaurant and spend £20 on your lunch, or buy a McDonalds every day? of course you wouldn't. So neither do the Spanish believe in paying 20€ for a mid day meal when you can get it for 6€.

That us Brits can do the same is just fortunate. However the original post was can they live on a certain amount of money per month. The answer is yes you can if you want to be frugal. Or like some have posted, yes you can but we wouldn't, we'd prefer to blow 20€ a day rather than say we had a cheap menu del dia.

Hmm... well, here's one of many such places around here that's extremely successful and has a good staff that certainly seem happy, and they've all been working there as long as I can remember. Packed to the gills every lunchtime and every night - seats about 650 people. VERY popular with the locals.

And by the way, the food is pretty good, too. Most of the main courses are priced at €3-€6, but by the time you're done - including wine and a dessert, you spend €12-€16 per person.

Es Cruce - Gastronòmicament



Right, then. After claiming everything is much more expensive in Spain, we've discovered that many things are actually much cheaper, so, despite it originally having been "not true", now it's "just not worth having" at that price...

Well, visitors who ranked this particular place Tripadvisor seem to have a different opinion...

El Cruce, Vilafranca de Bonany - Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor

Anyway, to the OP.. it depends on what you fancy. If you "must" have British comfort food purchased from a "British" store or served at a British restaurant in a British expat area, then expect to pay more.

Otherwise, if a non-British steak with locall-grown potatoes and fresh Broccoli will do, it's probably going to be a lot cheaper.

A lot is cheap on that menu but the photographs of the food are hardly flattering and it seems to me a place where you are in and out in no time so not really a restaurant more a fast food joint.

I did note some dishes are more expensive eg.Hake 10 euros, Ribeye steak 14 euros. I could easily get that in the uk at those prices albeit not in a "restaurant"

The restaurants I frequent in Spain are Spanish owned and run catering mainly for the Spanish. Apart from alcohol the prices are similar to those in the UK.

And please do not try to tell me a mallorcan potato is superior to a new British potato. There is no comparison.

Come on, if you think that is a fast food joint then you know nothing about food. Fast food restaurants are about heating up frozen food, this looks to be all home cooked food

The prices are very cheap because it is about attracting large numbers of people and offering them tasty good value food. It is not a late night restaurant experience. If it were, then the prices would be doubled and the food would be presented more elegantly. The food would probably taste very similar though

The food in places like this across Spain is usually great, and there is nothing to compare it to in the UK. Cheap food in the UK is prepared in factories, frozen and warmed up in microwaves

There are many who do. I have customers that have lunch 5/6 days a week and spend usually £10-12 on food plus a beer or glass of wine per person and don't bat an eyelid at the price.

I can't speak for McDonalds but I'm pretty sure you can find a deal for something in that god forbidden chain.

There are loads of pensioners who are so well off, that they don't have to budget, but equally, many just have a state pension, and perhaps another small pension or savings, and a MDD is a weekly treat.

Well actually in Ireland you can get a menu at MC for €6 and I'm pretty sure the quality of meat(beef) will be better than the places in Spain that offer a 3 course meal at the same price.

Explain to me why most Spanish restaurants (as do the UK) have large freezers in their kitchens as well as microwaves I am sure they are not empty or not used.

There are also frozen food aisles in the supermarkets as well as stand alone shops selling nothing but frozen food.

If you believe that all the food you get served in Spanish restaurants is fresh you are deluded, especially the seafood.

I use a couple of cafe/bars locally where the seafood is fresh but you pay a premium for it over other cafe/bars.

Actually in some restaurants if you get any vegetables at all they come out of a jar.

Not all restaurants no. But in the ventas and the restaurants like amideislas posted the food is cooked there and then. You can often see the kitchens from the tables as they are open plan and see the massive pots of arroz meloso (or whatever it may be) cooking away.

I've seen it everywhere I have been in Spain. Extended families (often led by the abuela!) all cooking away in the kitchens, using homemade recipes for when lots of people come (usually) on Sunday. It is one of the highpoints of life in Spain

The secret is to find these great places rather than the cr*p they give to tourists. And whether you live in Spain or not, most Brits in Spain are still tourists