Packed lunch is sad

[Ribrabrob]

I went to a theme park with a friend recently, fully prepared to buy lunch when I was there however arrived to pick her up and there she was with a bag full of homemade sandwiches and packet of crips each I was grateful, of course, for the time effort and money on her part but I couldn't help feeling a little dissapointed - what's the harm in buying food out?

Its always been the case that I can't help but feel a little sad when I see families on a day out at a theme park, zoo for example, sat on a bench eating (warm?) sandwhcihes wrapped in foil with a fruit shoot.

I had the type of childhood where this was common place - packed lunch for every occasion, no need to eat out becaus there was 'food at home' or it was 'too expensive' (despite no money worries) etc so I suppose it's kind of stuck with me and I don't want that kind of life.

Aibu to think that if you can afford a day at the zoo etc, then spending a little bit extra on some food is no big deal? Aibu to think that life is too short to spend time making a sand which/salad to take on a day out, when really you can just spend a bit of extra money and have the hassle taken away? It just seems so strange to me and as though people try and suck all enjoyment out of life.

And this 100%

I would rather spend £60 on Ocado to buy nice picnic bits then £60 at a theme park for tepid nuggets and a fizzy drink to eat on a dirty table in a loud canteen.

yabu !

We take picnics because I'm tight. Less money spent on food = better holiday destinations and more days out.

Theme park food - particularly at Merlin parks - is awful. Big queues. Usually spend an age looking for the place that has one vegetarian option for me. Cheap burger, chips and fountain drink meals for 4x what they should cost... Yes, it really does add joy to the day...

I'd be delighted if someone made lunch for my lazy arse.

If you want a treat, then arrange to go out for dinner after our generously timed theme parks close at 5pm... 🙈

If think it's sadder that you find joy in being ripped off to be honest. There's no shame in eating a sandwich, pasta salad or a warm, squashed pastie 🙃

I find that the food at theme parks/zoos is overpriced and usually unhealthy junk. Then you have to buy drinks which are similarly overpriced. It costs an arm and a leg to get in in the first place.

You talk as if people can afford this stuff but maybe they can't. Lots of people are really struggling at the moment and have maybe saved up for a while to give their kids a fun day out and simply can't stretch to expensive (junk) food and drinks for everyone in the family.

These places are "tourist traps". They know that people have little choice but to buy something there unless they bring their own food. So the prices are accordingly high. It's a rip off.

If you want to buy this food and that helps you to enjoy your day that's fair enough. But I think YABU to imply that people are sucking the enjoyment out of life because they take a packed lunch. I can tell you that I have a wonderful life and enjoy all kinds of things and I take packed lunches to places like theme parks.

as though people try and suck all enjoyment out of life. What greater joy could there be than queuing with children to eat overpriced greasy shite off a plastic tray in a filthy theme park restaurant?

I always take picnics anywhere we go as my DD has severe allergies and I can never be sure they cater for them.

I wouldn't call eating at a Theme park a treat and it certainly wouldn't bring any joy to my life to pay extortionate prices for rubbish food. The food outlets in these places are usually crowded, dirty and noisy and not exactly the setting for an enjoyable lunch out. Personally a packed lunch with perhaps a take away coffee and some ice creams would be my go to.

You're obviously making shit sandwiches OP. We make several types of to die for baguettes (proper ham salad with butter leaf lettuce and real butter, tuna and beetroot with goats cheese, chicken and bacon with avocado and salad etc) and bagels, with snacks, crisps, dips, fruit and treats and drink including fresh juice, lime and soda and several cans of favoured drinks. All in a good quality freezer bag with freezer packs that last 24hrs.

You're just clearly a bit shit at picnics 🤷🏼‍♀️

I kind of get where you’re coming from but surely it depends on the picnic? Sad spam sandwiches on cheap white slice, wrapped in clingfilm, eaten on a bench in the drizzle? Depressing. Lovely roast chicken salad on crusty rolls with chilled white wine and nice accompaniments served from a wicker hamper while sitting on a picnic rug in the sun? Gorgeous.

Whilst I sort of understand your perspective, we’ve done it your way at theme parks thinking it’s part of the fun and it doesn’t usually end well.

The queues for the food are as long as the rides, meanwhile you have a child getting more and more hangry and upset. The tables around aren’t clean and you have to hover for them. When you do find one, people are hovering behind you and you can almost feel thought waves: ‘huuuurrrrrryyyyy uuuuuupppp’

There’s not much joy in that. We now take picnics, we can snack on the go, we like the food and we stop at an actual nice restaurant on the way home.

And I agree with others that takeaway food at many big attractions is overproced greasy vile rubbish.

YABU. Theme park food is disgusting and overpriced. I have fussy DCs (they won't eat at McDonald's for example). We usually pack meat, salad, bread and fruit, and buy drinks if we cannot keep ours cold long enough.

We have 4 DCs and eating theme park food can nearly double the cost of a day out.

I don’t pay for my dc to have over cooked, over priced chicken nuggets and chips because they wouldn’t touch it, the would much rather I packed them vegetable cous and a selection of fruit, crackers etc.

We can afford it but choose not to. It’s usually hideously overpriced and tasteless. DH and I are pretty good cooks (although sandwich making is not a culinary art) so rustling up a packed lunch is not a chore. Plus we’ll put in some nice things as a treat. Then when the day is done and we are home we might order pizza for the everyone instead of making dinner at home. Or go out for dinner after a long day.
My kids eat out at least once a week so eating out is not that rare. So they would not see eating the hideously overpriced and tasteless cafe food as a treat. I guess it’s a matter of perspective isnt it? Eating out is a treat as an act by itself. And to them/is going to the zoo or a museum or wherever is also a treat but the two aren’t necessarily linked.

I see what you're saying, as my DP is a pain in the arse for wanting to take a packed lunch. Even to the bloody airport!! I do think sometimes a packed lunch can be really nice and better than the food on offer though, so it really depends. It's a shame that at so many places they feel the need to inflate the food prices so much, after you've already spent a lot on tickets etc, that people are in a situation where they have to take their own food because they couldn't afford it otherwise.

It comes down to choice and availability, too. I just took DC1 to a very popular theme park last weekend. We had an amazing time. We bought ice creams from a kiosk (it was really shitty quality whippy stuff with a lurid blue syrup swirled on it and tasted of nothing). Cost £6 for 2 ice creams. We then had lunch in a cafe. I had a panini (not much taste and quite greasy) and a soft drink and DC1 had one of those kid’s lunch box things with fruit shoot, crappy ham sandwich (half a sandwich!), pombears, squeeze yoghurt and a chocolate bar (again, pretty crappy quality and little nutritional benefit). Total was £15. It seemed expensive and wasn’t an enjoyable experience either...the cafe was a big inside venue with little natural light, a lot of canteen noise and a bit of a bun fight for tables.

Next time, I’ll pack our own lunch, which will be much more tasty and a lot cheaper and enjoy eating outside.

This is a reverse because the buying lunch experience at theme parks really does suck the joy out of the day. Finding a greasy table, queuing, starving kids, inedible food, overpriced, etc makes me shudder. We don't necessarily take a packed lunch any more but tend to stop at a Tesco and get a meal deal each and maybe get an ice cream or coffee late afternoon at the theme park. Meal deal for 5 inc. drink is £15 and takes only takes 10 minutes out of the day! Win win.

• cous cous

We generally do picnics, as queues and over-priced food and hungry children don’t mix. It also means we tend to have an early lunch and then go on rides, busy stuff whilst it is a bit quieter. We have a small cool bag with ice blocks and will get an ice cream or cake, coffee for us depending on where we are. Some of theme parks have lockers where you can store things, others you can leave the picnic in the car and go back for it. Places like zoos it goes in the buggy, or in a small rucksack. Ice blocks keep it nice and fresh. My kids love a picnic - cut veggies, left over pizza, baguettes, cheese, strawberries/grapes etc. (They love it even more when we have a ‘posh’ one when I let them choose a few bits from M&S!)

It's not a cost thing with us at all. It's the food they serve is usually vile. I always make and effort and we have a really nice picnic, no soggy sandwiches here!!

MsChook I may love you. We've got a trip coming up and I was wondering how to do a cheap lunch on the second day. Meal deal would be perfect.

I kind of get you! I hate a soggy sandwich. However since there's 5 of us. We do the packed lunch thing for a day trip. We'd do that for lunch n then maybe eat out in the evening otherwise just makes for an expensive day n kids love picnics.

Actually this thread seems to be one about privilege right. If you are privileged enough that you eat out (and did as a child), and your children do now, then theme park/zoo food is not a treat.
And if you are privileged then spending 60 pounds on an Ocado picnic (I wouldn’t spend quite that much but 30-40 maybe) is also not a serious drain on finances. So not all packed lunches are equal.
So then these children then feel no sense of the shame that some posters have quite eloquently described about watching others eat while they had a packed lunch as kids.
This is all about relative privilege.

May be people can afford days out at the zoo, theme parks etc because they take a packed lunch. Buying food out at places like that can often double the cost of your day out. When DS was younger I always took a packed lunch but would compromise by buying an ice cream or cup of tea.

I think if you are meeting a friend for lunch then the food is the activity and it's probably nice food but if the focus of your day out is a theme park then I don't see the difference in sitting on a bench eating the sandwiches you've chosen to make or eating whatever is left in the cafe/ burger van.

Always worth posting the link to this review:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186419-d207144-r298217582-LEGOLANDWindsorrResort-WindsorWindsorrandMaidenheaddBerkshireEngland.html

I can see why you feel as you do (having grown up in a similar way), but if you take a packed lunch the kids can eat in the queues. No-brainer.

Then you can buy them a bright blue slushie (if the machine is working) and an over-priced pick & mix that they'll only eat a quarter of.

Heaven.