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.

You know what sucks the joy out of a fun day out? Queuing for tasteless cold bland food for 20 minutes, trying to find a table with hunary children just for them to hate it and pay £30. You then still have hungry children. Much better to take food in that they like and still have £30 in your pocket.

Last time I went to London Zoo, entry was 2 for 1 if you showed a train ticket and the right piece of paper printed off the internet.

Which is another thing. Many of these attractions also do so many offers that makes walking up to the gate and paying full price a mug's game.

Always google for offers, they nearly always have them - 2 for 1 entry, kids go free etc etc, or if it's somewhere you would like to go regularly, annual passes sometimes only cost two or three times the one off entry.

The difference in cost between getting a deal on entry and taking a picnic vs just paying full price and eating in the restaurant can be massive and a significant amount of money to most of us.

I get it op. If I'm having a picnic on a treat day out I usually make it a bit more fancy than a sad sandwich

this might be one of the oddest threads I've ever seen on MN and that's saying something.

and a decent packed lunch beats all the awful crap you get at these places anyway, even if it's not about saving money.

You may change your mind if you have children OP, they really have little interest in wasting time on food on a day out.

I am a bit at the 'to die for' sandwiches though ...

Baguette.

Argh this thread and all the talk of meal deals just brought back a lovely memory. A few years ago waiting in the car for a delayed cross-channel ferry crossing, we broke out the meal deal sandwiches. The kids were small and sitting in the back and husband had just bought a selection of sandwiches so that everyone would be bound to find something they liked. Sandwiches were opened and the halves torn into quarters and handed back to small waiting hands. Then, one by one sandwiches were returned with a bite taken out and 'I don't like that one, can I have another?' until small people had each taken a bite out of everything and declared that they didn't like any of the 6 fillings on offer. Little buggers!

Didn’t mean to put a !!

Agree about the costs of entrance fees to things. They’re 5 of us. Just getting through the gate alone was usually over £100 for many things when we used to take the dc out.

Argh should ahhh. Although it was 'argh!' by the end of the car picnic.

I think the main point for me here is that if you are happy with, or actively prefer, a picnic lunch then great! If you like the ease or experience of lunch in the cafe then great! What is NOT great is looking down on other people for their choices whatever they might be. It’s just weird.

"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. "

Same here. What I do sometimes (single person) is take sandwiches in case, but if there's something nice to buy, I buy that instead and taking the sandwiches home to eat that evening.
I'll do that if I'm going somewhere where I don't know if there'll be food to buy.

We do packed lunches out most of the time - they don’t have to be boring .Often what’s on offer in a theme park is pretty ordinary anyway , at the end of a long noisy queue, with a struggle to find a table.

I’d much rather spend that extra money on extra experiences with the kids .

It just seems so strange to me and as though people try and suck all enjoyment out of life.

I agree. You plan a lovely day out, take a picnic lunch because then you aren't spending £££ on lunch out so you've got the cash for another day out and then some judgemental fucker comes along and criticises you on MN, thus sucking the enjoyment out of the day for you when you read the thread. Your charity is not wanted.

I get you OP.

I have started taking the odd packed lunch but if you know the food is nice then it's part of the day out.

I don't think it's sad to take a lunch out so I think YABU to think badly of people that do - however - it's annoying to have people decide that you're not allowed to buy anything. Without wanting to be outing we have a family member who does the same. I've put my foot down about it. I don't mind if there's a collective decision but we often used to go out/be on holiday and out would come our lunch 'no need for you to go out'. Part of being away is eating out for me and I hate that element of control.

in terms of childhood, I miss the days when everything wasn't a food stall of some kind!

We went on holiday a few years ago (in the UK) & decided we would buy lunch out on our day trips. Guess what my dc wanted? The 'pick your own packed lunch' at £4.95 each.

They chose a cheese sandwich, plain crisps, penguin bar, banana & carton of apple juice.

On the next day trip they were disappointed that there was only hot food options like burgers & chips & hardly ate any of it.

Next day they asked if we could take packed lunch & every holiday since we've taken packed lunch (to their delight).

We have the odd meal out & we buy treats/ice creams on day trips but packed lunch is our preferred option.

Last time we went the zoo it cost around £148 for 2 adults and 4 children entrance. Meals for the 6 of us would have cost around £50-70. We took sandwiches, crisps, cakes and drinks which saved us a lot of money.
We bought extra drinks, some ice creams and chips which cost us about £40 over the course of the day, we were there about 8 hours and eventually ran out of food.
A toy each in the gift shop cost another £50. What is hard to understand that people don't want to buy full on meals on an already expensive day out?

Yanu OP. Eating out is fun.

Also, contrary to what a lot of people say on this thread, making sandwiches doesn’t take a lot of culinary skill or time. It’s the lazy git’s version of a packed lunch / picnic. I come from an Indian background, used to travelling in groups of 10-20 or more, and we would have a three course meal. Home made parathas, a dry curry suitable for travel, home made bhajias (three types: onion, potato, and fenugreek), home made samosas, and at least 2 other home made goodies. We would still have ice-cream bought for the entire group as it was considered fun. All of my friends of Indian / African / European / Asian / American origin make a similar effort with packed lunches / picnics. It’s only the native brits who think eating soggy sandwiches is ever acceptable!!

YABVU!

Theme park food is not very nice and completely overpriced. It's also time-consuming queuing up and waiting for it to be cooked, especially with two hungry young dc. We prefer our nice picnic lunches I'll have you know!

As a family, we eat out a lot. Recently we went to a theme park where we took a packed lunch but we stopped for an amazing dinner at a lovely restaurant on the way home. It's all about preference!

"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"

I had to hunt out the 'to die for' baguettes, as I love a decent sandwich. I like every single ingredient included, but these baguettes sound digusting. (It's the combination, i actually feel sad for these sandwiches.)

Eating out is fun

Yes it is. We do loads of it as a family, probably 2x a week. Not at shitty, overpriced cafes at theme parks and zoos though. At actual restaurants.

I'm with you OP. Apart from a few places with huge queues and rubbish food eating out is part of the fun for me. If I do a picnic for the beach I make it better than a sandwich and a bag of crisps.

“as though people try and suck all enjoyment out of life.”

Hahaha, what by avoiding queuing in a hot theme park ‘food court’ for horrible over priced mass produced food?

I’d much rather have a picnic. And my picnics are fab. Where’s your joy in a picnic?

I feel sad for the tuna, beetroot and goat's cheese baguette. I like all those things individually but not together!

OP I get it too - it's growing up never being allowed the 'extravagance' of buying food on a day out that does it.