Businessman loves NHS food so much he's spent £10k eating at UK hospitals

A businessman from Manchester has fallen in love with NHS canteen food so much so that he has spent £10,000 eating in different NHS canteens across the UK - some of which are over 200 miles away from his home.

Omar Shafiq has eaten more than 700 meals at various NHS sites saying that the ‘price’ and ‘quality’ of the dishes cannot be beaten by high street restaurants. The 33-year-old's loves as it brings back a nostalgia for his 90s school dinners with a stand out dish being the £7 meal of a jacket potato, drink and chocolate bar.

His love began in 2022 when he had to visit his dad at his local Royal Bolton Hospital after working late shifts. He has since sampled NHS food at hospitals in London and Glasgow, more than 200 miles from his home in Greater Manchester. Paying between £5 and £10 for meals, he says it's the ‘best way’ to support the health service.

Omar said: “If you asked me, 'Would you rather go to Nando’s or the hospital to eat?' I’d go to the hospital. In my opinion, the quality of the food is far better and the service is far better.

“You know what you are getting. It’s much better value for money. I would much rather eat in a hospital than go to a restaurant. I think it’s one of the best ways to support the NHS. The money I spend will go back to the NHS, and we should all come together to make the place look busy. Our treatments are free, but we can spend money in other places to help fund the NHS and help them with their bottom line. I have spent around £10,000 in the last two years in hospitals.”

The man, who owns a shop in Bolton, says he can eat his breakfast, lunch and dinner at his local hospital canteen and will look out for NHS restaurants to dine in while travelling around the country.

The best meal he has eaten was at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, in central London, and says that it was pretty "epic." He says: "The fish and chips in almost all the hospitals up and down the country is epic. But the one that really stood out to me was the one that I had in London.

"The Great Ormond Street Hospital fish and chips - it’s well worth a visit to the hospital for that food, really. It’s the best in the country. For us guys growing up in the 90s, our school dinners, they were predominantly fish and chips, chips and beans, chips and gravy - chips are our national dish in the UK.

“So it triggers and brings out those old memories of your youth and the good old days when you were in school. That is kind of what does it for me. It’s also just a meal that I know I’m very familiar with, and I like to have it. I’m one of those people where I’m set in my ways. If I like something, I’ll keep doing it.”

Sparking staff curiosity, Omar said his regular appearance at Royal Bolton Hospital's canteen has drawn attention to him from some interested doctors and nurses. In fact, one video he shared on social media, showing his chips and beans, has received more than 80,000 likes and has been seen by nearly one million viewers.

Omar admitted that he sometimes changes his clothes to go noticed while visiting the food hall multiple times a day. “I’ve given the game away a bit now, all the doctors and nurses have started to look at me", he says adding: "I used to sometimes go twice in one day, and then have to go home in between and get changed so they wouldn’t recognise me. But I think I’ve grassed myself up now.”

Omar said his two favourite dishes are jacket potato with cheese and beans and chips and he doesn’t mind eating them alongside those who are sick in the Royal Bolton Hospital. He said: “It’s not a problem for me. I’ve lost my own family in that hospital. I was born there myself. Good and bad comes from a hospital.

"People are sick, and then they go in there to get fixed, so to speak. It doesn’t always have to be a sad place, it’s more to get better. So it’s a place of hope, and our doctors do a fantastic job. I’m glad they are getting served up the best food, and I’m happy to be sat in a room full of doctors, eating my dinner.”