To think that there should be some concession to health at motorway service stations?

[AmberNectarine]

Just back from a four day break doing touristy things in the UK. During that time we did a lot of motorway driving and although we planned to stop in towns/eat at our destination, sometimes traffic got the better of us and we had to stop as the DCs (4 & 3) are used to eating at relatively fixed times and were getting cranky.

Now I am not a food fascist by any means. I enjoy treats as much as the next person (as the size of my arse will attest), but the choices available left a lot to be desired. The outlets I saw available across 3 services were as follows: Burger King, Greggs, KFC, Subway, WH Smith (crisps and sweets galore), Starbucks and the best of a bad lot, M&S simply food. I should add that every single one of these service stations had a Krispy Kreme self service point.

Now I know you can get a salad in M&S (though obviously the area by the tills was all Percy Pigs and praline bars), but surely there should be somewhere you can get something warming, filling and healthy, like soup? Even something like a Leon would be a welcome break (see what I did there?) from chips, burgers and more chips?

So, AIBU to think that with obesity rates on the rise there should be a bit more choice?

Another shout out for Tebay. Their food is great and the deli is even better. Healthy and tasty.

Actually even Greggs have healthy options if you look. Their tuna crunch sandwich on granary bread, salad, no mayo is very good.

I thought all service stations had a generic self-service restaurant where you could sit down and have a decent meal. Quite expensive but lots of choice hot food, salads, sandwiches, kids' lunchboxes etc. Now the dds are older we tend to look for Waitrose outlets and have their salads and sandwiches.

I've seen outdoor play places at a couple, they're pretty grim though. Cold and the noise of the motorway and you have that slight fear that your toddler is going to escape into the car park.

www.thestockyard.co.uk

The link, def worth a visit.

Germany and France have been mentioned and Spain is similar.

From what I have seen, almost all garages in Spain, on all types of roads including motorways have a nice, independent, reasonably priced cafe attached, where you can buy coffee, pastries and hot and cold sandwiches at least, and often proper meals and beer.

Why in the UK do we have to put up with poor quality, overpriced chain food? £7.99 for soup and a roll is not hilarious, it's criminal. OK, McDonalds, Greggs and Subway might be more affordable, but most of what they sell is either not nice, or just a carb and grease fest.

I don't like it that everything is chilled to within an inch of it's life either. It's inedible, unless you can let it warm up for an hour, which means that you have to plan carefully as to when you can buy and eat your food and when I am travelling for work, simply don't have time for that.

I take my own food as much as possible, but appreciate that's not always possible for lots of reasons.

Oh of course, I'm not duty bound to go to them but on one occasion we got caught up in an accident, crawling traffic, DD had wet herself, kids starving and we really needed to stop.

I have to say I disagree about deli sandwiches and paninis being 'healthy options'. And the stations own cafe were literally all something and chips, be it pie, sausages etc. Everything was stodge central. Those european service stations sound amazing, I don't mind paying for decent food. I do object to spending £20 in burger king or whatever!

OP, do you really and genuinely believe that a wider range of healthy offerings at service stations would really make a dent in the health of the nation?

I find McDonald's sandwiches/salads and Starbucks paninis unbelievably grim. Same with those prepackaged salad things. No matter how much people might want yo hark on about them as some sort of progress, they are not nice (and cost a lot).

So don't eat there then. There are generally pubs with food near to motorway junctions, presumably for those that don't want to go to the services.

I mean, I'm not keen on family restaurants so rather than bemoan their existence, I just go somewhere else what with choice and all.

I don't understand why you wouldn't touch subway - they do salad bowls or sandwiches where you can select your ingredients so avoiding dressigs and cheese if you want. Healthy and tasty. As others have said, there are loads of healthy options available including soup - What exactly are you after if you dont think any of these are good enough? Surely you must find it difficult to eat out anywhere?

I adore M and S food - I usually go for a selection of Parma ham / Bresaeola, a superfood salad or maybe sushi, and fruit salad and a box of chocolate mini rolls

I could feed the family healthily perfectly easily from there.

To be honest for us, we travel as a family across the UK fairly rarely, so it's a rare treat to have a McDs if we all feel like it. I'd rather have that than the soup and roll heist - the soup is always too salty and boiling hot for the children, and the paninis etc are just huge carbfests that I regret within minutes of getting back into the car.

DH does travel around for work but seems to manage. I guess it's about survival really, it's not a daily occurrence - but I hadn't given it a huge amount of thought tbh, I cook from scratch at home with my fancy organic boxes but my expectations are low when out and about - it's just a treat to not have to cook.

But if the continent can manage it... hmm.

Something that would get my vote would be a takeaway hot drink in a reasonable sized cup. If I'm at home I wouldn't have a cup of tea or coffee the size of a flowerpot but I suppose they wouldn't be able to charge so much if they were normal size.

And the simple fact remains that regardless of what healthy options there are, the vast majority of people who go to fast food outlets want a bloody burger or some fried chicken so that's what it predominantly catered for.

Hermione - it's a chicken / egg situation though isn't it? The food at service stations reflects badly on us as a nation if the continent can do it so much better. Something's gone wrong somewhere if the profitability of these places is dependent on serving up shite.

McDonald's coffee is very nice and comes in a normal sized cup

I often get one on my way to work. Beats the likes of Starbucks any day (I'm not into the fancy coffee menus, I just like a black coffee!)

YANBU. Tebay proves how many people agree and is always packed. I now try and travel prepared and for long journeys take fresh fruit and veg and a picnic knife (in a plastic case) so we have fresher snacks along with the chips and everything else

I don't like Subway because the bread is weird. WTF is it? And the salad doesn't look very inspiring does it? Iceberg lettuce, reformed meat and sugary dressings - no thanks.

I've been twice in my life, the first when it was new and everyone said it was the dog's bollocks, but I hated it. The second time was just to make sure it was really as bad as I remembered, which it was.

I really can't understand the attraction and why it so popular, but it just backs up my assertion that a lot of people simply like really shit food.

And YY to the coffee cup sizes. The smallest size at Costa/Starbucks etc is more than enough for me, but it's really annoying when the price is £3 for a small, £3.25 for a medium and £3.50 for enough coffee to feed an entire nation.

Tebay and Gloucester services are owned by the same person, they're gorgeous and I look forward to stopping there for lunch every time we travel

The services at Birchanger Green near Stansted have an outlet with lovely salads and healthy choices I think it was called Fresh. I am gluten, wheat and dairy free and even I managed to find something to eat. It wasn't very busy though so am hoping it will still be there next time I make the trip.

The Highways Agency are keen on MSAs not becoming destinations in their own right - and it sounds like at Tebay they have failed miserably!

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat My university had a Subway on site and for market research purposes I slowly made my way through the menu over 3 years, so I feel qualified to say that the bread is grim. This is coming from someone who would willingly swap their PFB for a nice hunk of bread! However, I once had a wrap there that was perfectly acceptable when toasted but still, I wouldn't give away my PFB for it!

For the record I had a salad from subway last week.

Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, mixed peppers, sweetcorn, carrot, olives, pickles, onions, jalapenos and some chicken. Only sauce I had was a drizzle of sweet onion and some pepper. It was fine!

Well OP, you'll be prepared next time you do a road trip. Cool box. picnic plates. Wipes. Stock up with fresh good from supermarkets in the places you visit. Bagels, Philly, cherry toms and fruit go down well and travel well. Easy to make up on the move.

There's a playground at Hopwood Park services on the M42.

The Highways Agency are keen on MSAs not becoming destinations in their own right - and it sounds like at Tebay they have failed miserably!

Lovely though they are, I don't think I'll ever go there just for the same of going there. Although I do look forward to browsing the Seasalt/White Stuff clothes on the way back from my mum's in Somerset. We used to stop at Michaelwood, but seeing rats inside the building really put me off!

There's a little dog walking - leg stretching route at Gloucester too.