Food/drinks on days out or holidays.

[ColinRobinsonsfamiliar]

I was wondering, when on days out or on holiday with the family, do you prefer to take your own supplies in the interest of being frugal or do you just not bother and pay for food/drinks?

I much prefer to take my own, maybe pay for a round of hot drinks for us and the kids but find it a waste of money and just too much really.
DH is completely opposite and will think nothing of paying a small fortune for rubbish food and drinks at venues.

Which camp are you in?

No if I’m out for day as a treat like my birthday next year yes only shopping I’ll buy whatever I want I’ll save then I have a blow out day (July).

Days out in the uk we tend to bring our own food. It’s always so expensive to get in places and often the food is rubbish and involves queuing loads. So I’d rather bring our own and then feed DC the minute they’re hungry. Quite happy to spend money on food out in a restaurant if we’ve gone out for dinner/lunch but wouldn’t buy food at a zoo/theme park sort of place if I could avoid it.

A mixture. If it is a theme park or somewhere similar with rubbish food then I usually pack a picnic but night spend on a nice snack or hot drinks. If it is somewhere with nice food, say a walk with a lovely pub on the way then I like to eat out.

Never take any of our own food, to us it's all part of the experience! But tbh that comes from a place where it doesn't compromise our ability to afford days out, so it's a not a choice we have to think about.

We always took stuff when I was growing up. But since becoming an adult I have been amazed to find that other people buy stuff while out. I started to look forward to it as a kind of extension of the treat of the trip, and now find it joyless and depressing to have a crappy squashed sandwich and warm tap water.

This would probably be less shit if I was better at making picnics to be fair.

I’m a take your own but I’ll splash out on a round of ice creams or hot chocolate depending on the weather. I’m a big fan of the carrier bag picnic where we choose a meal deal at the local supermarket and a box of ice creams and head down to the loch when it’s nice. Less than £20 for five and everyone gets what they want with no work or washing up for me.

Depends. Sometimes the food will be crap and nothing for me to eat (gluten free) anyway so I'd rather pack a nice picnic. But if we are going to an agricultural show or to the seaside where there are choices, then eating is part of the day out

This is definitely a man woman thing in my world as the women I know like to be prepared and will carry a drink and snacks but the men will just buy whatever when they are out.

Maybe it’s a handbag thing?

It depends. If I’m going to a town that had good food and drink, I’ll buy it there. When I went to Alton Towers last year, the food looked universally crap so I took my own food and drink.

A mixture. Always take water bottles as I can’t deal with the waste. Usually take fruit and some snacks, but then also will buy a meal if needed. Depends where we are going though.

I’ll always take water for the kids as they tend to pipe up that they’re thirsty at inconvenient times and then it’s all they can talk about until they’ve had a drink. That’s it though. Can’t be bothered to prep or carry loads of food.

A mixture too, we always take water, and often it's just easier. I got pissed off paying £4.50 for a sausage roll in an NT cafe a couple of years ago. We can afford it but it's the principle, and my sandwiches / sausage rolls are usually better!

A mixture. Would usually take our own food for lunches and snacks, as I resent paying a lot for a sandwich! We prefer to treat ourselves to a couple of nice dinners out and spend money on that.

I don’t take food because I can’t be bothered and luckily I can afford to buy it while out.
Unfortunately a lot of places don’t serve the kind of food I would eat and I don’t eat crappy food so often I don’t bother. We try and time it to go somewhere decent for food on the way there or home on day trips or I identify somewhere nearby where we can eat.
On holiday I don’t cook, although we usually go SC so people can make themselves a sarnie or breakfast or whatever

For meals I’ll read the reviews and decide if the food sounds worth it or not. There’s a lot of places where the food clearly isn’t great so I’ll aim to bring a picnic or more likely visit between mealtimes (eg we quite often have a brunch/early lunch and go after that).

I tend not to buy drinks and snacks when out, I bring our own, except for ice creams.

We usually take a picnic, but take a posh one that probably costs just as much as grabbing a sandwich and a hot chocolate from somewhere 🤣 We like to be flexible with what we have, especially having kids in tow.

A mixture also. There is a big farm park near us and they sell half a cheese sandwich, a chocolate bar and a juice drink for about £7.00 so when we go there I pack a lovely picnic and usually have home made sausage rolls and I will have roasted some chicken legs as well to have cold with a sweet chilli mayonnaise.

Holidays- eating out is all part of the experience but we would usually have breakfast of fruit and cheese/bread in the hotel room.

Much prefer paying for food and drinks these days. It is a throwback to my childhood though where we rarely ever ate out apart from an ice cream at the seaside or grabbing fish and chips as a major treat as we didn't have the money. I always hated having to get out sandwiches wrapped in foil or a paper bag and a thermos of tea while others ate delicious hot food.

Another where it depends on destination. No chance I’m queuing to pay an absolute fortune on disgusting reheated junk food at a theme park - we always pack our own food and snacks then just get ice creams there.

If going somewhere that we can enjoy a meal out then we will.

When taking our own food, I make a big effort to ensure it’s what the children like to eat and feels like a nice meal rather than squished sandwiches - my parents always took food from home that I didn’t want to eat and I used to resent it

Always take soft drinks for us and daughter plus snacks for her. If it's a whole day out we will eat out and will buy hot drinks, if half a day we aim to be there first thing so leaving in time for lunch at home, will buy a hot drink though.

It varies. Mainly take picnics but other times i cant be arsed so buy food but its always rubbish and over priced.

But for eg were seeing santa at a garden center so we always have a hot drink and cake after to finish it off. Although last time was £45for 4 hot choc and cake and a fruit shoot for youngest so not sure if we will this time as more of us going

So, you have all highlighted where my view stems from.
Childhood days out with manky butties and crisps.
We had no money and eating where we were seemed extravagant and the thing that rich people did.

DH drives me mad with it. Yesterday, he paid $7 for a blue slush… because it was blue and he wanted to try it. FFS. Thought nothing of it.

It is a huge huge waste of money.

We normally take food with us when we go out, but i try and take food we will enjoy. we will buy a couple of treats for the children eg an ice lolly or something small from the gift shop, so it feels like a nice balance. Sometimes, we will take a supermarket meal deal or get McDonalds on the way home.

Many theme parks/days out have awful food which is expensive, so i'd rather bring my own food and go to a nice restaurant another time.

Growing up not being able to have on occasion what you see others have, seeing other kids have what looked like anything they wanted had an effect on me. Pulling out a limp jam sandwich while other kids ate burgers and hot dogs on a cold day, having a weak arsed cup of tea as there was only one pot ordered for you all but extra water to try and eek out the tea bag you got was just miserable. My Mum was like 'I can make it cheaper at home' type attitude. Not her fault, her upbringing but again it was miserable to be honest when out and about

Now when the food is good, I'll treat myself. It's nice to have a hot snack, hot beverage or just try something new.

A mixture. It depends on the experience.

I must admit, when I'm in Europe, I can get narky with the lunch culture. I don't always want leisurely dolce vita table service. I want a sandwich before I crack on exploring again.

But I do love eating and drinking out whenever I fancy it, and I think it's a flat crime that my parents took us to Italy when we were kids and we did not eat out ONCE.