When you have a day out, do you eat out or take a pack-up?

[TwoMagnificentLabradors]

Until a couple of years ago, we used to think nothing of dropping into a low- key restaurant ( Pizza Express, Giraffe etc.) on a day out. Then three things happened:

All hospitality shut for months and we got used to taking a packed lunch on our barely-legal day-long hikes.

The kids got enormous and started ordering from adult menus. No more humous, carrots, breadsticks and a teeny pizza for £4.99.

Restaurants and cafes put their prices up to cover rising costs.

I have become the proud queen of the pack-up. We were the family shamelessly scoffing our cheese and ham rolls on the forecourt of Liverpool Street Station today. Our new ways mean healthier food, saving 80-100 pounds on a day out and everyone getting what they like to eat.

We still eat out. But save those outings for special occasions and decent (not food pinged from a microwave) venues (or street food markets, I love those!)

Anyone else changed their ways of late?

Packed lunch 90% of the time. Saves loads of money, saves queuing time, easier with DC food allergies and preferences. Unless we’re going somewhere near a Gregg’s in which case we’ll probably have a Gregg’s:)

We take packed lunches when possible and I'm the woman you'll see at service stations shamelessly drinking my own favourite coffee from a flask.

We used to eat out at local pubs and everyday restaurants most weeks but we've stopped because the quality of the food has declined and prices have gone up. The nearest pub to our house has mains starting at £15 and they are mostly reheated ready meals deliver in the Brakes Brothers van.

Every three months or so we have a really good lunch at a seriously good restaurant, where the food is better than anything we can produce at home. It probably works out cheaper than buying mediocre food at the pub each week.

Ok clearly I never wrote any such imagery and you’re the one who wrote you sat in a train station in Jan eating cheese and ham rolls so you didn’t need to,pay for food. You put it down to cost. Now you’re trying to big it up and claim you can afford to eat out.

Yep, the passive aggressive artisan ham sandwich description did make me laugh too. We were reeled in imagining a limp slice of mother's pride encasing ham that contains no pork whatsoever.

I also worked at a cute little investment bank by Liverpool Street station (actually it really wasn't cute, more horrific) but I can't be arsed to lug round a packed lunch in London and my teens would rather have the lunch out than any cultural thing I drag them to after. Heathens that they are.

Eating sandwiches outside in summer is ok but I can think of nicer places to sit than Liverpool Street station in January.

Yes @Calmdown14 these are so great, I love ours, many an hour spent sitting on one of those at the beach with a flask of tea (or sometimes even a gin in a tin)

We always take snacks and drinks but will eat our main meal in a pub or restaurant

Hate carrying food.

When dc were young and I was broke I would make them sandwiches and have something in the slow cooker or a tray bake in the fridge all ready to go in the oven when home. Actually I say that - reality was sandwiches happened a few times but usually I'd buy them a sausage roll/pasty from the NT cafe and call that a cheap day out.

Quite similar to you OP. For a while we used to eat out, partly because I had memories of sad sandwiches and stewed tea in a thermos from childhood. Then we had some really rubbish over priced meals at some big attractions and I realised packed lunches could be nice (kind of a weird one as I’ve always taken one to work, partly for cost and partly for preference as I like what I make, but for ages didn’t extend that to days out). Then Covid, prices, bigger DC. So for us it’s mostly packed lunch unless it’s somewhere where the food looks really good or the weather looks really bad. And it’s an excuse to get treats like crisps/biscuits/fancy cheese so DC tend to be on board too.

We eat out, mostly because DD and DH are both gluten free so packed lunch for them is desperately unappealing, especially as they have to have it every day for school/work.

Beach picnics are horrible. Sea breeze blowing sand all over the place. Lugging the cool box down there along with all the other stuff you need. No thanks.

DC so fussy there was rarely ever any point going to a cafe as they only ate the plainest of plain food. They love the familiarity of a packed lunch. However they have discovered they love a Wagamama so we eat out there sometimes. £30 for my ramen, Two kids meals and a portion of gyoza isn't too painful.

Packed lunch every time: sandwiches, crisps, some biscuits, hot chocolate in a flask if cold. Insulated bottles of cordial / water and ice cubes in summer.
Our days out are usually to destinations where you can't buy food or get a coffee.

Pack lunch every time. When I pay for food out I want it to be nicer than I can make at home. Can't abide paying £15 for a main that I can make nicer for about £3.

I also feel like I'm winning at life when I make it through a day trip to London without spending on snacks and lunch. Much healthier too.

no sorry. unless we are up the mountains or something we will bring a picnic but 9t percent of the time eat out. I have yet to have a shocking bad meal that will stop me eating out. I spend enough Time at home making lunches and dinner etc i want to eat out in comfort when out. I also don't have time in the morning to faff about making sandwiches and hate lugging stuff around.

How do people carry all this food about? Bottles of drink, ice blocks and food for multiple people are really heavy. Does each person have their own cool bag?

Depends where we are going, but if we were out for the day at say, a theme park with the kids, we'd take a packed lunch and then we might buy a couple of supplementary items to enjoy there - coffee, ice creams, chips, etc. Generally better to take stuff with you as some of the food offerings can be extortionate - and disappointing to eat!

When I was a child I was always disappointed on days out that my parents took a picnic and we never got to eat in the theme park cafe etc. As an adult I took my DC for lunch in the cafe once, realised it was busy, expensive and rubbish and have taken a packed lunch ever since.

I always take some home cooked food with us then just get ice creams or candy floss like treats from there.
Chicken wraps go down well as do pasta bake in foil containers

Yes we used to regularly eat out but kids getting bigger/hungrier means it's just so expensive and it can be £50 for a lunch. My tesco weekly shop is £100 so it's hard to justify spending half my allowance on a bloody lunch. A wee picnic lunch can be really quite fun and means everyone gets what they want.

Either a packed lunch or a meal deal.
Always take home made latte in the thermos - nicer than coffee shop chains, or bottled water in the summer.

Where do you cook this on a day out?

I was about to ask the same. Pasta bake needs cooking surely?

We eat out if we are going to places with food.

But most of the time there is nowhere serving food on our days out so if we don’t pack food we don’t eat. Which has happened, before. It’s quite easy to be caught out when you are five miles from the car or twenty miles from the nearest shop which is open 11.30-2.30 Tuesdays and Thursdays only.

We usually do both... packed lunch at one end and meal at the other.

3/5 of us are not keen on processed food, so we often take a picnic. I’m a good cook too. Plus DS who is gluten-free.
we tend to get an ice cream out though

Sparkling, we don't carry ice blocks, just stick icecubes in insulated metal water bottles together with the drink.
We'll take a picnic for 4 in a regular Kanken backpack, with a blanket strapped over the top.