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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to take lunch stuff too?

69 replies

AyeAyeFishyPie · 04/04/2017 18:21

On holiday - in a half board hotel. Am I being unreasonable to stock up for lunch using the breakfast buffet?

OP posts:

SimplyPut · 04/04/2017 19:31

I do take fruit as a snack for the children. We pop to the local supermarket wherever we are and buy lunch eg bread, salad stuff etc. I also chuck a couple of bits in my suitcase from home eg tubes of Pringles, fruit bars etc.*

Why is it ok to take the fruit? Why not buy it when you are going to the supermarket anyway?

Lukeandlorelai4Ever · 04/04/2017 19:42

I always do this, just a few bread rolls, croissants or banana/apple for dd.

Young kids tend to feel hungry a couple of hours after breakfast ( or is that just my dd?!) so it's handy just to give her a bread roll/ piece of fruit before we set off for the day.

2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney · 04/04/2017 19:46

No that is not reasonable . It's thieving, you booked half board. Have a good breakfast and maybe you won't need much lunch. People nick hotel towels too, that doesn't make it right.

BagittoGo · 04/04/2017 19:53

They might add it on to your bill at the end.

Notso · 04/04/2017 20:04

I've seen this at Alton Towers, Premier Inn and Disneyland Paris. Each time I've been gobsmacked. There's something about a buffet that brings out the grim in people. It's cheap nasty behaviour IMO.

AtleastitsnotMonday · 04/04/2017 21:12

I wouldn't personally, I've seen people doing it and it makes me feel quite uncomfortable. To be honest it just seems really cheap and unnecessary. I think most people who can afford to holiday in hotels can afford the additional fiver or so a day to buy a few rolls and fruit from the local supermarket. Generally we find if you eat pretty well at breakfast and have a decent evening meal you don't need huge amounts in between, particularly if you're somewhere hot, where I often find my appetite supressed.
If we do fancy something more at lunch we find a local cafe and get a toastie or salad or a sandwich shop and grab something from there.
Maybe if you are looking for more to provided it would be worth considering AI.

HermioneJeanGranger · 04/04/2017 21:26

If you want full board, then pay for it or go all-inclusive!

Don't raid the breakfast buffet because you cba to buy lunch.

WorraLiberty · 04/04/2017 22:55

Young kids tend to feel hungry a couple of hours after breakfast ( or is that just my dd?!) so it's handy just to give her a bread roll/ piece of fruit before we set off for the day.

If you know your child is going to get hungry again between breakfast and lunch, surely you'd buy her some food?

I mean if she really can't wait for lunch?

00100001 · 04/04/2017 22:57

A friend of my DH does this in the UK.

He goes to a carvery with a tupperware box a flask and a rucksack and fills the box and flask and takes it home

EnglishGirlApproximately · 04/04/2017 22:58

Don't be daft worra, that would mean paying for something! I never take snacks everywhere, if DS is hungry he either waits till dinner or I pick something up. I can't imagine carrying sweaty sandwiches and croissants around with me on holiday

00100001 · 04/04/2017 23:02

I make packed Lunches in the morning overseas and they're not sweaty.

RebelRogue · 04/04/2017 23:03

We normally go AI,but even so I asked permission before taking food from the restaurant and take it to the room. It was stuff like fruit,biscuits,toast or plain pasta and only bcs DD was too poorly to actually come down to eat.

NotInMyBackYard1 · 04/04/2017 23:07

Every hotel I have stayed in has a sign on the door and on little cards on the table saying 'please do not take food out of the restaurant' its quite clear that this is not ok. Would you pack up food from a wedding buffet to eat the next day? or at a carvery?
Rebel most hotels will happily deliver a trolley of food of any description to the room for poorly DC who are unable to make it down to the restaurant.

pizzafrenchfries · 04/04/2017 23:13

I used to work in chalets and hotels - we get a budget for food for each guest per week- if you start taking food from breakfast for lunch you're eating into the budget and making it harder for the chef to fulfill all meals within the budget... you think we don't notice, we do.

We know a family of four doesn't eat four baguettes for breakfast. We know you don't eat entire fully stocked bowls of fruit either. We also clean your room so we see the leftover wrappers as well. You might say we should factor in people doing this into the breakfast budget but it's not the chef who sets that. If you pay for half board then you should get.

Shoxfordian · 05/04/2017 05:59

Yeah yabu to do this; if you wanted all inclusive then you shld have chosen somewhere all inclusive. It's really cheap and unfair on the hotel you're staying in

SabineUndine · 05/04/2017 06:04

It's fine so long as you pay extra for it. I've been on holidays abroad where lots of people did just that. If you don't, it's theft.

Narnia72 · 05/04/2017 06:11

I think everyone does it at Disneyland Paris, mainly because the restaurants are shit and overpriced and a nightmare to get onto at lunchtime.

I used to tour orchestras, who all got paid a per diem specifically for their meals, but some of them took their tupperware to breakfast and stocked up in an alarming fashion. We called them the breakfast bandits. One of my colleagues once got a call from the hotel manager though, as the orchestra, who were touring the UK for the first time and came from a communist country, were openly decimating the buffet, emptying the vats of cornflakes into plastic bags etc. She had to sit at breakfast to stop them after that.

rubbbleonthedouble · 05/04/2017 06:28

All the mumsnet do gooders will be out in full force over this.

You will be a theif, cheeky, tight etc etc etc 😴

Back in the real world, a lot of people do this, I see it on every holiday, and if you are discreet nobody will give a shit.

A bit of fruit and bits to make a sandwich is no big deal, just make sure you have sandwich bags or foil to keep it fresh for lunch. It's not like most people would shove a whole basket of cakes or whatever in their bag.

The hotel will want a buffet meal clearing as much as possible anyway I expect, to avoid too much waste.

WateryTart · 05/04/2017 06:31

YABU but you know that.

lalaloopyhead · 05/04/2017 06:34

I bit of fruit or something I think is fine, but a full on pack up no! It does look really cheap and don't forget that someone has to pay for that food so you are potentially pushing prices up too.

WipsGlitter · 05/04/2017 06:35

We generally have a massive breakfast and then don't feel like we need a big lunch. Kids can manage.

TheLongRains · 05/04/2017 06:38

If it's not a problem, why do you have to be discreet about it?

ShatnersBassoon · 05/04/2017 06:42

It is so cheap and embarrassing to see. If it's 'just' fruit, bread and something to make a sandwich with, 'just' go and buy those few things from a local shop. DIY picnic breakfast for lunch is not included in a half board hotel.

If not taking more than your fair share makes people do-gooders, then I'm quite happy to be one of them.

MrsPeelyWaly · 05/04/2017 06:48

OP, surely there has to be another way to do lunch?

HotelEuphoria · 05/04/2017 06:50

DD has been staying with other student HCPs in a hotel chain whilst on placement. The lovely staff gave them bags each morning to take their lunch to work from the breakfast buffet as they knew they were on a miniscule budget and working at the local hospital. They probably also knew how much of the breakfast goes to waste.

Thank you lovely iBiS staff.

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