Singapore is notoriously expensive. It's a small island, the population exploded in the 2000s, and nearly everything has to be imported. That being said, it is possible to eat in Singapore for just about $10 a day per person.
The secret of course being hawker stalls. Hawker stalls and centers started out as street food. However, due to congestion they caused as well as the lack of hygiene, the government started to round up the food sellers and move them to partial indoor facilities known as hawker centers. With access to refrigeration and running water, cleanliness because less of an issue. There are now dozens if not hundreds of hawker centers around the island, ranging from a half a dozen stands to over a hundred.
There's a few differences between a food court, a kopitiam, and a hawker center.
A food court is like what you'd find in a mall here in the US. The "restaurants" are bigger, the menu is more varied, and the prices will be higher. You can probably find a few of them have a bar to sit down at while they cook in front of you. Like in the US you can order your entire meal from one vendor.
A kopitiam is also indoors, so the prices are higher than a hawker stall, but usually much lower than a food court. They are usually not made up of stand, but small counters with a kitchen in the back-closer to that of a food court. They usually have a menu of a dozen items. It's not unusual to see people order items from a couple different vendors, and usually only one stand will be selling drinks.
A hawker center is nearly always outdoors. The stalls are small (probably less than 20 sq ft) and they will only specialize in a few dishes. However, the food will be dirt cheap, sometimes as low as a dollar for items, but usually averaging $3-5 for a full plate of food. It's normal to order parts of your meal from several different vendors.
Kopitiams and hawker stalls will have a sign displayed somewhere on the front of their stands. This is a grade given to them by the government on their facility's hygiene. I've never seen less than a "B", as most vendors will be driven out of business by a bad grade.
Do not ever order from anyone who accosts you and tries to drag you to their stall. This is a sign of a not very good stall. It's actually illegal for them to do this as well. The best stalls will have the longest lines. It used to be the norm to grab a table, reserve it with your "cha" (a packet of tissues), and then tell the vendor what your table number was. They'd then bring your dish out to you when it was cooked. This is becoming less common and the only hawker center I saw this at was Newton Circus. Most now say "self service" which means you grab a tray and carry the food back to the table yourself. When you are done however, you leave the dishes on the table for the little old ladies employed to bus them away.
Hawker stalls are my favourite way of eating in Singapore. I could happily plant myself in one of them and stay the entire trip.
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