How much does it cost for a meal on average in the UK?

I am going to the UK to study soon. How much does it cost for a meal on average? Thanks!

A semi decent meal will cost you about £12 - £20 assuming you're not eating at a fast food place.

If you don't care where you eat then you can get a "meal" for about £5.

How about cooking for yourself?

A meal out or a homecooked meal? You can get a cheap meal out in a pub or something from around £5-6 but if you go to a proper restaurant you'll spend £10-15 (for one course + a drink). If you want to cook at home you can make a meal for £1 or less if you're happy with something simple like pasta + sauce or you can spend £1-3 if you want meat etc. For a weekly shopping budget you probably want £25.

How about cooking for yourself?

so if i cook by myself and want to eat healthy with sufficient nutrients, would £5 be enough?

so if i cook by myself and want to eat healthy with sufficient nutrients, would £5 be enough?

It depends on your tastes and the quality of your diet. I quickly got sick of living on crap and craved fresh food and good meals. I found the wisest thing to do to save money was to plan my meals in a way that meant my ingredients spread beyond just one day's food.

I'd buy pre-prepared fresh veg for 50p-£1 and use half one day in one meal and use the other half in a different type of dish the following day. Or for some things (e.g. stir fry), shops will sell pre-mixed bags of vegetables for this sort of meal so you don't need to waste money buying them all individually.

Meals like spaghetti bolognese and chicken madras I'd make up four portions at once (from one pack of mince/two chicken fillets) and freeze the other three in small tubs. I'd buy sauces pre-made and one jar would do for four of these servings. If they had deals on fresh meat I'd pick up multiple packs and freeze the rest for later use. A pack of 12 meatballs easily did me 3-4 servings, and a tub of sauce usually £1 would last two of those. etc.

I'm sure by now you can imagine that my tiny half-shelf of a space in freezer was pretty creatively packed. Taking things out of their store containers (e.g. fresh chicken; boxed frozen items) and re-packaging them in sandwich bags definitely helped.