Question re etiquette

[Pennies]

What is the general thinking on this. If you are staying at a hotel that has a large buffet style breakfast with a huge selection of foods, is it OK to have breakfast and then take enough food for the family to have a packed lunch / picnic thereby saving on buying lunch?

When I was pg and on holiday I took a croissant or extra roll because I couldn't manage much first thing, but then needed something around 11. When we went on a really early trip once we took some rolls from the evening buffet for breakfast on the way.

Think there's a not taking the piss amount really. Often it's just going in the bin if no-one eats it I suppose.

It's not ok at Disneyland, or anywhere else imo.

There were people on the Disneyland thread I was on saying they couldn't afford to stay at the (expensive, inside the resort) hotel unless they purloined lunch from the breakfast buffet.

STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE THEN!

Quite, flowery.

Not surprised about the comment a pp made about people behaving badly at the Ponderosa. I never wanted the steak there, only the buffet. The staff used to find it very confusing. The buffet was really good and steak on top was too much. They used to insist I ordered one and took it away with me .

At Disney we just stuffed ourselves silly at breakfast, had a light snack part way through the day, and then ate an early buffet meal in the evening. Didn't bother with lunch at all.

It's ok at Disneyland because its not possible to purchase proper food inside the park, there are fish & chips or pre packed baguettes etc, nothing either me or the dc would eat. You can't even buy a piece of fruit or fries without a full meal.

Soi made up ham, cheese & Philadelphia (all fussy ds would eat) rolls at breakfast.

My MIL used to do it on the quiet - surreptitiously stuffing things in her massive handbag. Was mortifying.

You are obviously the sort of person ,who puts coal in the bath

What happens to left over food at all you can eat buffet?

DH does this all the time, it is very embarrassing but it does save a fortune at lunch time.

I take what i've put on the DC's plates and they haven't eaten. I don't load their plates with more than i'd expect them to eat for a good breakfast but sometimes they're over stimulated by all going on around them and barely touch their food (particularly DS1 who's Autistic). I don't feel this is theft, maybe a grey area. It would certainly get binned if we didn't take what we'd already taken IYSWIM.

I don't make a separate trip to the buffet to get food for later. But have suggested they take a piece of fruit in the knowledge they probably wont get onto it but its a good midmorning snack.

"It's ok at Disneyland because its not possible to purchase proper food inside the park, there are fish & chips or pre packed baguettes etc"

I've never been to any of the Disney parks, but that does surprise me, I would have thought there would have been loads of restaurants/eateries. That must have been disappointing!

I saw lots of people doing this on a cruise holiday a few years ago, totally blatantly too. Very rude & greedy, IMO.

There are plenty of waffle/ice cream/doughnut places. A fish & chip theme restaurant (pre set meals only) a burger & fries stand (again set meal only, a la carte Cinderella restaurant & somewhere you could get baguette pre set meal packages. Nowhere where I could ask for a sandwich without butter for me, or a plain cheese baguette for the dc or even fries without burgers.

In the disney village area there was a McDonald's (but there are only so many times you can eat McDonald's, an American diner, rainforest cafe etc.

So I didn't feel guilty taking a ham & cheese roll & bananna at breakfast time.

Never done it at disney never seen anyone else do it.
My kids generally take a mini muffin witht them from premier inn they ask first if they can.
All inclusives we have stayed, can order a hamper for if you are going for a day out, with lovely fresh made sandwiches, fruit, drinks. Biscuits etc. or eat out.

There are plenty of places to eat at Disneyland and you can buy fruit. When we were there there was carts selling fruit. We ate a huge brekky and slipped lunch. The only thing we took for later from the buffet was a banana

I agree with others on here a piece of fruit for midmorning is fine IMO. Making up rolls is not ok strangely enough I have never wanted to take the individual jams or marmite !

On a related theme what about keeping your own booze in the mini bar to save money. Dh and I do this all the time, does anyone else is it really naughty ?

That amount is extreme and bad etiquette and surprised the staff didn't have a word.

But I will own up to DH and I eating 3 servings of cooked breakfast at a Thomas land hotel because we wanted to avoid forking out for lunch later in the day. Probably equally bad etiquette but I feel better that we ate it in the restaurant... At breakfast time.. And still spent money in the park for the kids at lunch. Did nick 3 cheese portions for the toddler though.

God no.

DP and I stayed in Alton Towers recently. The brass neck of some people at the (bloody good) breakfast buffet left me with my jaw on the floor. One woman covered her hand in a napkin and then took all the individually wrapped tea bags, depositing them in her bag as she walked away. Bitch. (I was just about to make a mug of tea)

Still. Some families were letting their DCs load up their plates over and over and over and the volume of sheer food waste being abandoned was sickening. At least if it's being taken away, it'll be eaten (hopefully)

There were also families shamelessly boxing up pastries, rolls, sandwiches out of the continental options and decanting fruit juice into water bottles and flasks. I find it embarrassing to see that behaviour in people. No, I'm not wealthy. My being there was a treat from family for a mini break.

Saying that, I took an apple one day. I asked the waitress and she looked shocked, replying "wow, I've never been asked, of course you can"

The hotels at Alton towers are not cheap so that flies in the face of the "less cost of rooms, more entitled to food behaviour" theory.

I wouldn't do it I'd be too embarrassed but my ils do it when they go on hotel breaks with dh's dns (8yrs & 10yrs old). They also load up the adult's plates so they can give dh's dns what they want off the plate but only pay for breakfasts for the adults. I have noticed that most hotels are manning the cooked breakfast section nowadays and specify that if dc are eating, it is charged as an extra breakfast no matter how much or little they eat. I've read reviews on tripadvis*r about hotels abroad where it is all inclusive and people take packed lunches from the breakfast buffet. I'm surprised that the staff don't say something if they are aware it is happening.

Staying at an all inclusive hotel, a relative was so delighted at the concept of buffet, he worked his way round the room to make sure he got a bit of everything - porridge/cereal, followed by cooked breakfast and toast, then pastries and fruit washed down with copious amounts of coffee. He would do it all over again at dinner, stacking plates by his side and guzzling wine. Utterly greedy and horrific to see.

He would also remove the drinks from the fridge in the room into his suitcase to make sure they were replenished regularly.

I think he was working on the theory that he had paid for it so he should fill his boots.

I think it's perfectly acceptable to take a decent breakfast's worth of food, because you've paid for that amount. The poster who mentioned her child with ASD reminded me that I'd be in the same boat: dd2 might well be overwhelmed at the time, but hungry later, and I think it's fair enough to have put something away for her to eat which she wasn't ready to earlier.

As with all things, just don't be a dick.

Why can't people just eat a big breakfast and buy a small snack for lunch (or skip it altogether). I used to do this when I was a poor student travelling around. I could never be so arsey to steal food like this.

I've never heard of this before. Stealing food for your lunch? Peasants. Where do you put it? I always just leave my handbag in the room & just take the room key with me to breakfast.