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?

Usually take a packed lunch. Pretty much always have.

We were in Disney last year and deliberately went self catering so we could take packed lunches and I'm so glad we did because they food was madly expensive and usually gross.

Yep. Eating out is stupidly expensive now.
It's a a shame.
Feels like many businesses are shooting themselves in the foot by charging such exorbitant prices now.

Right?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Always taken a packed lunch. Treat of an ice-cream. Why did it take you so long to realise?

Another up her own arse condescending twat over here

‘Pack up’ makes me cringe.

Funny that practically everyone else on the thread has referred to it either as a ‘packed lunch’ or a ‘picnic’.

@ComfortablyDazed as I said upthread "pack up" is just a regional saying.
What a strange thing to cringe at.

Generally, we have a shorter day out, have a big breakfast before we leave and have a late lunch when we get home. Sometimes we'd get Greggs or similar to tide us over.

I don't think it's funny. It reflects what part of the country the people contributing to the post are from. Not really something to find amusing?! Noticing lots of pack lunch too. Not sure if that's a typo or also regional but pack up certainly is regional dialect.

spending time in a pizza express and keeping the children sat still and quiet doesn’t appeal to me.

This for me too. A lot of it is down to time constraints/level of planning, but ideally we’d take our own food and most snacks, and just buy coffee somewhere. I have three under five - a visit to Pizza Express or Wagamamas with them all is actually slightly less pleasant than standing in my kitchen cutting up two £20 notes.

If it's just me and DC, I take a pack up. If DH joins us he usually wants eating out to be part of the day out - so for example will pick a place to eat and it's part of the itinerary. If it's a kids day out, like a trip to the zoo, and he's coming with us then I'll still do a pack up but it'll be more extravagant than if it's just me and DC.

We have this same blanket but use it for the beach! It is amazing as the sand does not come through and is so lightweight.
We are firmly in the picnic side, rain or shine! Always have some food or drink in my handbag aswell. We will buy ice creams and coffee/ cake if having a longer day out.

I would always eat out without a second thought but prices have become so ridiculous I now refuse to. Last week at a local country park after a big bike ride I thought I’d grab a burger and a hot chocolate . £18 for burger and chips and £4.70 for a hot chocolate. I abandoned the burger idea and just went for the hot chocolate. £18 is another day trip/days gas and electric/ 1/4a weeks petrol.

To be fair there is an enormous difference between a national trust place in June, picnicking surrounded by wild flowers and bees and the joys of the English countryside and ‘scoffing’ sandwiches at a train station in January.

One sounds lovely and one does sound really depressing.

About 50/50 for us depends where we're going. If the food is likely to be ok we usually just take snacks and buy lunch there but in summer are more likely to take packed lunch. I usually take my youngests lunch either way due to allergies though.

It depends on the day out. If it's a zoo,theme park etc where you are captive audience I'd always take a picnic - those days out are too expensive as it is, and also you waste time if there are big queues etc. If it's beach, country park etc usually a picnic, unless weather bad in which case we might get fish and chips or cafe lunch if we know there is somewhere ok there or make it a half day trip and eat meals at home. We would usually treat ourselves to ice cream, cake, coffee or hot chocolate out though either way, which the kids get more excited about than a lunch so more worth the money usually.

But judging by example restaurants you give you are talking about days in a city, in which case I might well buy lunch rather than carry it out around as sometimes it's harder to find somewhere decent to sit and eat, but with kids it would be McDonald's, Greggs, pret etc, or a cafe, not the sorts or restaurants you mentioned, both for cost and time out of our day reasons. Unless it was a special occasion or the lunch was the main point of the outing. Or we would go to those places for our evening meal if we were staying overnight for a trip maybe.
If we do eat out at a chain restaurant with kids I am the queen of Tesco clubcard vouchers so pizza express and Bela Italia feature a lot!

Oh yes, actually forgot we would probably eat out the evening meal if we were going far enough away to need 2 meals. I wouldn't pack 2 picnics. Either pub or McDonald's usually. And yes wetherspoons usually a good bet with kids if there is one. It's a standing joke that if we are in Cardiff bay at a lunchtime it's Greggs on a bench in dry weather and the wetherspoons if wet or very cold, despite all the nice restaurants down there.

We are ridiculously pleased by an insulated picnic rucksack a relative gave us for that reason. Much easier than a cool bag / box to carry around and just about fits in all the stuff that needs to be cool for a family of 4. Then the other adult (or oldest kid) had a rucksack with small foldable picnic blanket if we don't think there will be benches, things like crisps, any drinks that didn't fit and whatever else we need for the day.

We generally eat out still to be honest. There's only 3 of us though and DD is just 4 so still on kids sized meals. I don't really like sandwiches and neither does DD so picnics always end up a bit fussy and complicated. I always pack snacks though - usually lots of veg sticks and an apple for DD to balance out the sausage and chips she'll inevitably have for lunch. Both of us love jacket potatoes though so they tend to be a reliable, relatively cheap lunch out if we can get them. DH will eat anything, anywhere so at least one of us is easy! Sometimes we'll split the difference and pack nice snacky type things and top it up with a portion of hot chips or sausage rolls or something.

We do take picnics with friends in the summer when there's a few of us and more kids but then the picnic is half the "event" iyswim. Then I'll usually rely on a pot of hummus and breadsticks as the sandwich replacement.

👏 Well said.

Why? Where I live (Yorks) everyone calls it a pack up. Its simply regional variation.

(When I moved up here from the south, I had no idea what everyone was talking about!)

Do regional differences usually make you cringe?

We will often take a thermos / snacks / sandwich, or maybe buy a pasty from a shop and eat it on a bench. However if we are walking somewhere that doesn't have any public loos, we will typically go into a Costa or Nero/ similar, buy a plain basic coffee, and use the loo.

I’m not English (or British), so it’s not a ‘regional’ difference to me.

It just sounds daft. You ‘pack up’ a camp site, not a lunch.

So sue me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

See I’ve lived in Yorkshire all my life and never heard ‘Pack up’. The first time I heard it was DH and I assumed it was an Irish thing, as that’s where his family is from.

Quite a few words and phrases make me 😬

Every other day there’s a thread on here on exactly that topic, so I’m not the only one.