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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to want to take my own food to the cinema?

322 replies

Butteredpars1ps · 29/12/2016 11:47

I suspect I am. But We are going to the cinema around lunchtime and I will be hungry. I don't like nachos, popcorn or hotdogs or anything else like to be on offer and I have a fridge full of lovely things left from Christmas.

Am I wrong to be tempted to smuggle in a cheese and pickle sarnie?

OP posts:
Adoptionguideforaunt · 30/12/2016 18:06

We asked our local Odeon a couple of years ago and they said ok to bring own food and drinks as long as they are not hot drinks or hot smelly food.

Blueflowers2011 · 30/12/2016 18:21

i thought everybody did this too?! Always take my own food and snacks in addition to anything else we want to buy. LOVE eating at the cinema!

LouLouLove · 30/12/2016 18:23

YANBU I take my own bottled water and snacks, the cinema prices are absolutely extortionate.

rattlesnake · 30/12/2016 18:58

I do. Food is pants and costs the earth. Just use common sense...no to fish and chips or KFC bucket...yes to few rolls and a drink :)

Booboo66 · 30/12/2016 19:03

I always take food... The stuff you can buy there is both smelly and noisy anyway. Cinemas also allow it so I don't see why you wouldn't.

Reebs123 · 30/12/2016 19:27

I always do. Their stuff is overpriced & sugar-laden. As long as it doesn't smell who cares. Eating whilst watching the film is all part of the cinema experience. No, we won't starve if we don't eat in the cinema. If you want to watch a film in total silence stay at home.

SallyR0se · 30/12/2016 20:33

I bring a bottle of fizzy water, popcorn & a White Magnum if I'm going to the Cineplex.
Fizzy water, posh choc or a bag of nice nuts if I'm going to my local arthouse place.
Plenty of mates who bring booze to the flicks!

josCS · 30/12/2016 21:32

Go for it. I went to see Bridget Jones Baby with three girlfriends a few months ago. We didn't have time for dinner before so we took smoke salmon sandwiches and a bottle of fizz with us, delicious! Far nicer than anything we could have purchased at the cinema......

purplevamp · 30/12/2016 22:13

I always take my own food and drink to the cinema. A tub of their popcorn is about £5 I think and I can get a bigger bag from the shops for £1. Enjoy the film Smile

Lucy7400 · 30/12/2016 22:16

Yanbu. I always buy from the LIDL next door.

manicinsomniac · 30/12/2016 23:10

YANBU
(though I didn't know that cinemas make all their money from the snacks. That makes me think a bit more but, tbh, enough people seem to buy them and they don't seem to be in danger of closing so ...)

I am vehemently against eating in theatres/live performances beacause I think it's disrespectful to the performers and other audience members (making it hard for some people to hear etc).

But in a cinema it's normal and expected and can rarely be heard over the noise of the film. People have no right to tell others they shouldn't be doing it, however much they personally don't like it. And the language/judgement used in some of these posts to describe people having a snack says way more about the food issues of the posters than any poor decision on the part of the poor cinema goer (and that's coming from someone with anorexia!) People (generally) don't trough, guzzle, chomp, slurp, scoff etc - they just eat !

I don't eat in a cinema because I am afraid of eating in public. That doesn't seem such a disordered, unreasonable phobia as it usually does after reading this thread!

Booboo66 · 31/12/2016 00:37

My local cinema is owned by Virgin ... I doubt they will go out of business because I take a bottle of water and a bag of crisps from home instead of purchasing an over priced hotdog and my body weight in fizzy juice Confused

BadLad · 31/12/2016 00:43

People (generally) don't trough, guzzle, chomp, slurp, scoff etc - they just eat !

Mothers-in-law don't walk into your house - they march.

People you don't like don't sit next to you - they plonk their arises down next to you.

frozenfairy123 · 31/12/2016 06:05

I've taken in my own popcorn, pizza, mac Donald's, salad, sandwiches, crisps, drinks, wine etc although only to showings that are fairly empty and sat away from others. Would happily take popcorn in every time. X

HermioneWoozle · 31/12/2016 06:32

Why can people not get through two hours max of not eating?

Lovely undertone of fat-shaming there.

Because part of my cinema experience is chomping my way through a bag of Revels. I go so infrequently that it is unlikely to affect my weight.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 31/12/2016 07:07

Lying has a point. I went to watch a film once. It was an NT live one. A couple behind us were talking extremely quietly for two minutes max and a woman to the right of me bit their head off and told them to shush. Same woman then proceeded to get all her snacks out from her bag for the remainder of the film/show, crisps, sweets etc and she ended up making a lot more noise than the couple behind me with her constant rustling! Grin

My DCs dont like popcorn so we generally have a rule of, buy a pack of sweets or chocolate from the poundshop nearest shop but still buy the drinks from the cinemas. That way I'm still giving something to the cinemas IMO.

Galdos · 31/12/2016 08:13

Surely everyone can live without food or a drink for around 2 hours? What is it with the need for constant oral gratification? Whatever you take (if anything) please ensure it is reasonably quiet (which pretty much rules out anything cinemas sell) as some of us pay to see the film, not to listen to 50 people eating and drinking. I get enough of that on the Tube!

guiltynetter · 31/12/2016 08:19

people are so rude on here when they say 'can't you make it through 2 hours without eating?' basically implying people who eat in the cinema are greedy overweight pigs who can't last 2 hours without eating.

most people who eat in the cinema it's part of the fun/experience - a chocolate treat while watching a film that has cost you an absolute fortune. NOT because they can't go without food! when i go to the cinema rarely the pick and mix is always part of the treat. obviously there are exceptions with people taking in pasties etc (that's just ridiculous)

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 31/12/2016 08:20

People (generally) don't trough, guzzle, chomp, slurp, scoff etc - they just eat !

The boys sitting near us last time we went to the cinema were easting their popcorn so noisily you could hear them over the Death Star destroying various planets. It was quite the achievement.
Fuckers.

NotBadConsidering · 31/12/2016 08:24

We take our own drinks at least, ie water bottles because bottled water is a con and soft drinks are horrible. Take our own snacks too occasionally. Not remotely worried about being challenged. The one time it happened the young kid said "I'll have to call the manager". So I said "Go on then" and went and sat down. Nothing happened. Teenagers working in a cinema for a part time job aren't going to care enough to challenge someone my age and risk kicking up a fuss. I also say "no thanks!" when people ask to search my bag on the way out of a shop. They actually have no legal right to do so, and they're generally too shocked to know what to do! Be strong, confident and stick to your guns, don't cower in fear of The Man! Stick it to The Man I say!

Purplealienpuke · 31/12/2016 09:37

So the general consensus is that only fat people eat snacks at the cinema? ??
Bollocks! The cinema sell snacks, smelly or otherwise, to everyone who wants them.
Some people on here are way too judgemental.
If you don't want people rustling papers or packets etc stay at home!
My local cinema (cineworld ) don't seem to mind you taking your own food/drinks.
I would be more annoyed by someone talking loudly or kicking the back of my seat than eating popcorn!

MrsPilkington · 31/12/2016 09:50

Some of these posts are hilarious 😂 revolting to eat in the cinema while watching a film? Really? I gorrrrrrge! Sweets, chocolates, sometimes a babybel, popcorn, fizzy drinks. Sigh. We used to go every week pre children. I miss it. Oh, and I'm a size 8. Not fat. Love nachos but can't stand eating things like that in the dark, I need to make sure the ratio of each topping is equal on each nacho. I'd need a headlamp

Booboo66 · 31/12/2016 10:18

I'm wondering why pasties are ridiculous? The stuff you can actually buy in the cinema is noisier to eat and equally as smelly! I always have something to snack on in the cinema and am definitely far from fat! Oh and never had my bag searches as you are ALLOWED to take your own food in. If bag searching is happening they are probably checking for weapons or something not a concealed bag of haribo.

RhodaBull · 31/12/2016 10:30

Reading this thread has made me feel really sick.

I eat in the cinema - sweets, chocolate, occasionally popcorn - but do people really think it's appropriate to eat smoked salmon sandwiches , MacDonalds or pasties (to name but a few mentioned on this thread) ? These items all smell, and smell particularly bad to those who are not themselves partaking.

Freedom is not just about doing whatever you want to do. It is doing what you want so long as it does not negatively impact upon others . But I guess some see that view is just being uptight and "pearl-clutching".

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 31/12/2016 10:34

The cinema sells noisy snacks so I think that's irrelevant. Smelly food definitely a no though.

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