zzrmark

Ahem... Bacon (and all that goes with it for breakfast)?

fozzyb

Hmmm... Would that fall under too greasy...

Guindalf

Wash your mouth out with soap!!!!

scrubbedexpat091

The fish, I'd be willing to try, the greasy I can't stomach issues and fat and grease are the biggest triggers so they are a no go unless I want to ruin my day...

I can also handle the more mild Indian dishes, assuming Indian food in the UK is similar to Canada.

Sally Redux

The default is much spicier than the US. It's much spicier than India

You could go for the bhel poori-type restaurants which I prefer myself, rather than balti.

dunroving

Sorry if I am repeating anything that others have said, but:

Depends a LOT on whether you plan to feed yourself (snack food from Tescos) or "be fed" (cafes, pubs, snack bars). It also depends on what you mean by "basic"

If you plan to "be fed" (cafes, snack bars, pubs, etc.) and plan to have "meals" (i.e., not just a pastie from a take-away stall), the difficulty is spending time finding the cheaper food places.

There will be times when you are worn out and just ready to "eat", not "trawl around looking for the cheapest place to eat".

So, I'd take whatever people are saying is "cheap" and "not so cheap" and average it. Unless you like walking around for 30 minutes each time for the cheapest, you will end up sometimes paying more than others.

Just one example: A full breakfast and coffee for two at the local country park Stables Café would be about £11 or £12 (or more, depending on whether you plan to eave tips). Go a couple of miles down the road to a similar-looking eatery (the David Marshall lodge café) and the same meal is a whisker under £20 for two.

Personally, I think you can quite easily feed yourself for £22 a day if you can be frugal, and especially if you substitute one of the daily meals with a substitute like a granola bar.

However, if you plan to eat decent food, in cafes, bars, pubs, £22 might be insufficient.

A lot of the "two lunches for £10" type pubs, the food is pretty unhealthy and gross, IMO.

tonrob

I actually went to Wetherspoons to eat a couple of times last month as I was surprised about the overhaul of the menu, and the quality of the food was much better than I remembered. Cooked breakfast was under 4 quid if I recall correctly and a wide variety of dinner options were available for under a tenner, including an alcoholic drink.

There are probably thousands of Wetherspoons across the UK by now, some of them housed in historic buildings. Due to their keenly-priced libations you'll find that some outlets are favored by the more professional drinker, but there are also many that aren't bad.

Sally Redux

I thought they were quite good myself, my daughter was extremely scathing about them though. Obviously poor students aren't as poor as they used to be.

Canveydave

Whetherspoons - A fantastic place to see people spending what little money they have on Vodka and Red Bull at 10.30am.

This is a massive generalization by me and I am sure that it isn't true of all Wetherspoons, just the one near me!

Their Curry and a pint for a fiver on a Thursday got me through my student days

tonrob

They are a bit like McPubs, I find, and many of them lack atmosphere, but others seem quite nice. I am on the fence. The beer is very cheap for the UK but the real ale is served too cold. I regularly use one on the High Street in Windsor that has a nice open-air terrace out the back which is nice on a mild evening. What helps is that there is another Wetherspoons 5 minutes' walk away and along with some apparent unwritten rule that all the chavs go to that one leaving the one on the High St refreshingly scum-free (well, until I walk in).

Guindalf

Now I'm jonesing for a pint of DogBolter from a Firkin establishment!

phodg

The Premier Inn chain is usually reasonably priced, clean and you can get a buffet breakfast thrown in cheap as well. Then you can stuff your face in the morning at breakfast and not even need food until later in the day.

tonrob

They went tits-up a long while ago. In the end it was a merciful release.

MrFloyd

£22 a day is reasonable if you are feeding yourself - and avoiding London. By all means visit the place... just don't stay! If you are averaging it over a week, I reckon it could feed two of you as well.

Also, I would recommend what was suggested before about getting the reduced food in a supermarket near the end of the day. It all tends to end up piled in one place at the best price at around 830, if it closes at 10. It starts getting reduced much earlier than that but the reductions start off pretty piss poor.

I used to work in Sainsburys many moons ago and did the reductions myself. Before I started my shift I would go down the aisles, pick my favourites, hide them, then they would magically appear at the end of the night, get reduced and disappear again. £10 meals for 80p haha. I ate like a king.

Also, they tend to last a good couple of days after the sell by date too. Assuming you have a fridge.

Uncle_Bob

The one down the high street has a patio built out front onto the pavement. Its full of drinkers and smokers at 10.30am, glazed eyes already.

Whetherspoons have taken over Bournemouth town center, I think there about 6 of them now, there was only one when i left. We used to start a night out there because the beer was cheap and they never had any music so you could chat easily. They are all fairly bland, totally void of any character.

I was sad to see that an old favorite and historic pub had been changed into a Whetherspoons. The Gander on the Green was Bournemouths top live music pub venue, a real spit and sawdust kind of place severing decent ale and it attracted all sorts of people.

Whetherspoons is good for a budget breakfast or a gammon steak. I was disappointed to see they had taken the large sausage roll off the menu last time i visited. $6.79 for two ham egg and chips meals is reasonable.