Taking food from a hotel breakfast buffet- cheeky??

We do this. Make sandwiches for lunch if there are decent supplies. I wouldn't bother if it was a budget offer though. But somewhere that has nice meat and cheese and bread for a tasty sandwich. Staff never care.

I worked at a hotel breakfast as my first job and honestly I was more mortified at the amount of food that we throw in the bin after than someone sneaking an apple in their bag (sure we might notice and chuckle - but I would feel so bad at the massive tray of beans, bacon, bread that ended up in the bin).

My mum has no shame - I’m embarrassed when I go to hotels with her as she makes herself food for later. Very visibly.

I usually go up with a croissant and maybe a pot of yoghurt which is usually to get us through the next few hours with kids until we reach wherever we are going.

In the UK there is more shame around “take-away” whereas some cultures wouldn’t mind taking one or two items.

A lot of people who have issues with sandwiches etc, you realise those bread rolls won't be put back out, and depending on the type of deli meats and cheese and how it's displayed, those won't be put out again, if you're staying in a hotel that has a European TO in anyway (British, Irish, French, German, Dutch etc) Do you happily eat the food thinking that the leftovers from each day that arent pre packaged, will be put out until they're gone, or showing visible mold?

I'd expect some on here are the kind of guests that would have gone upto reps and ask if they eat free or if their holiday money is covering the food 😂

As I said though iv never done it so I don’t know why the need to be so rude especially as you have no idea of my hotel experiences.

Eating out with my kids is a roysl
psin in the ass do on our lady uk stay I made sandwiches to have while out and about. I could have bought sandwiches but they wouldn’t have liked them

Yes I did exactly the same recently, the breakfast buffet was plentiful, we had paid a lot of money for it, we had a long train journey and didn’t know if there was a buffet car. I made some cheese and ham rolls up but did feel guilty… but contrary to what others are saying, they were delicious (maybe that’s the German bread for you, doesn’t go soggy). But I wouldn’t do it normally.

However, the hotel did provide takeaway cups for tea and coffee, and the waiter encouraged my DD to fill a takeaway cup with fruit juice to take away (to save money, he said)!

So people don't have to wait for food to be cooked and served, less staff needed I'd imagine.
Why does the presence of a buffet make you think of 10 plates of food? You don't have to try something of everything.

They always have ridiculous amounts of food a couple of slices of bread or a couple of pastries isn't going to mean others starve. Nobody is talking about taking carrier bags worth of food their talking about enough for a small lunch.

Why is it OK to eat 2 slices of bread at breakfast, but not OK to take 2 slices of bread for later instead?
Also, we usually come for breakfast towards the end of the time (I have teenagers) and they’ve never run out of anything.

@Lynus theres nothing cheapskate about wanting what you’ve paid for. I would happily pay a reduced rate for my coffee and fruit, but that’s not an option. So I’m going to take my £15 breakfast, but I’ll eat it later.

Taking more than one item for later would be very freeloader-ish, imo. It is totally inconsiderate for the people who come afterwards and find there is little to no food left because some greedy selfish person has arrived with Tupperware and carrier bags beforehand.

It isn’t, but it is a debate about whether or not it is cheeky to do this. I didn’t see anything suggesting superiority in the poster’s reply?

We did it everyday at Disney it's so expensive otherwise for food.

We simply don't have he budget to pay for 3 meals a day for 4 people. It's not always possible to buy sandwich stuff dependant where you are so it makes sense to take a few extra bits from a paid for breakfast that would get thrown anyway. Also if breakfast was say £50 for the 4 of us I guarantee you we didn't eat £50 worth of food even with taking extras for lunch their still making a very nice profit from us.

I wouldn’t do this in most hotels, but happily did it at a Disney hotel since 1) they’re charging an obscene amount for everything anyway and 2) everyone else was, so it didn’t feel embarrassing.

Whatever. Try budgeting to buy food for the rest of the day instead of acting like a cheapskate. Buy a loaf, some ham and fruit from a supermarket and make a packed lunch.

If the kids didn't eat anything when they were little I'd maybe take a bit of fruit and a pastry cause guaranteed they'd be hungry ten mins after leaving. I certainly wouldn't make sandwiches 🤣 the place we were just staying at in Spain had a sign on the table saying all inclusive buffet food being taken out the restaurant is considered shop lifting 🤣

@dijonketchup that’s one of the most British things I have ever read😂just the sort of thing my DH would do!

I once stayed at a posh B&B in Spain where the breakfast buffet bore a small sign instructing guests not to take anything away.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach, so I ended up with a beautiful peach left on my plate. When the hosts reappeared I asked politely if they would bend the rules and let me take it out with me. They said no!!!!

Obviously I took it anyway, but it was so awkward I removed the stone and left it on my plate as if I had changed my mind and eaten it, so as not to create an atmosphere.

Because it's expensive to just stop for food. Where a family of 4. If it means us only paying for breakfast and dinner/tea and we don't have to pay for lunch that saves loads and means we can go on holidays and for days out. Especially when the kids are young and they take 2 bites out of something before announcing their full.

This! We don't tend to have a proper lunch on a beach holiday; mainly because breakfasts and dinners tend to be enormous and we'd just be eating all day otherwise.

But we do get peckish, so we'll often take a few mini pastries from the buffet to eat later in the day (to have with drinks we buy from the beach bar!).

As PP said, that sort of thing will go in the bin if it's left, so I don't feel bad about it.

That said, I did see someone make sandwiches at the breakfast table and put them in a tupperware pot. That wouldn't sit right with me.

Do you take the batteries out of the remote controls?

We book into hotels who offer room service as we can’t face the behaviour of some people at breakfast. It turns my stomach tbh. Who wants to eat a shitty roll in the afternoon made from things on a hotel buffet? It’s just vulgar. If you’re going on a long journey there’s plenty places to stop for food.

Some airport lounges are worse, I never understand the “I’m getting my moneys worth” mentality. Half the time it’s pure greed.

I’m rarely hungry at breakfast time, usually at hotels they stop serving earlier than I am ready for breakfast, I would certainly not be ready to eat a full English before 9am.. I might have a bit of toast and maybe some fruit or something with a cup of tea and coffee but I wouldn’t feel guilty to then take a couple of pastries or bread rolls etc for later because in comparison to what a lot of people will eat I’m still not consuming that much. In places where breakfast is served beyond 10am I would probably eat more and so wouldn’t take anything for later, if I’m full on breakfast I don’t really need a full lunch anyway.

My four kids would only eat a small amount at hotel breakfast buffets but Id ask the waiters if we could take some snacks for later and I never once had anyone say no. In fact, occasionally they would get boxes or bags to pack the food in. We were never too cheeky with what we took.