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.

Can this become a 'whats good to pack in a picnic & packed lunch' thread please? I also thought packed lunches are worse than theme park shitty food. I have no imagination though and i can picture making a school packed lunch. Plus lugging heavy bottles of drinks etc etc is no fun

If making sandwiches, I would use something like ciabatta or baguette, as it's more sturdy than sliced bread, so you can probably get away with just wrapping it in foil, so less bulky than lunchboxes.

Put it in a soft sided coolbag, rather than a coolbox, again for less weight and bulk. You can then put this in a rucksack if you want to.

Filling, cheese is probably a good bet, as it's perfectly safe even for a day or two unrefrigerated, so better than things like ham, egg or tuna in this respect. Also not likely to make the bread soggy. For interest add pickle, or do something like brie and cranberry sauce.

Or you could go with a pasta or cous cous salad, again with cheese in, or chopped peppers, onion, olives, whatever you fancy.

Nuts are more sturdy than crisps if you are worried about things getting squashed.

For the weight, try to give everyone their own bag if you have to carry it around rather than leave it in a car. DC from about 5 upwards are perfectly capable of wearing a small rucksack with their lunch in. Don't feel that one person has to be a packhorse on behalf of the entire family.

You'd hate us. We pack cheese sandwiches in foil every time we fly.

1. It's much cheaper than airport food. 2)unlike airport food I know what is in them (calling airport fodder food is a stretch in my eyes)

Most days out we pack a picnic, lovely salads, posh crisps and fresh dips, fruit and a big flask of coffee with proper mugs and a packet of hobnobs. Quite often get to look smug when sat in a picnic area with our feast while others are pulling apart their dry ham sandwiches that paid £10 for.

We don't have money worries at all. but still i'd rather not waste money on crap food when i've got far nicer food at home.

We are very fortunate and comfortably off. However I always bring a packed lunch! Much prefer everyone being able to eat as and when they like (the four of us are never hungry at the same time), and (particularly at theme parks) being able to eat on the go and not waste time standing in queues. Nothing about the finances of it, just prefer a packed lunch!

I can afford a day at the zoo, tickets wise. I cannot afford the over priced food and drinks on top of that. Would it be better that we missed out on going to the zoo/whatever day out and my daughter misses out too because we can't afford the food, or better to go and take a packed lunch? I hate buying food at places, it's overpriced.

Thisnamechanger I'm always disappointed with Waitrose sandwiches. And the quiches too. Lots of their other food is very nice though.

For a picnic I'd buy the Higgidy quiches. I like all of them, and the little sausage rolls with Bramley apple. They are outrageously expensive. If I see one with a yellow sticker on it, you'd better get out of my way!

I m sorry if this thread has moved on.. I m late to the table ( see what I did there 🤣🙌) .
I personally love a packed lunch .. it’s a picnic .. I love picnics so much my children and I have carpet picnics when the weather is bad. The sitting together chatting eating food that we know we like, treats , ( that is nt making me cry at the price ) picnics allow us to have more days out , as there are usually a min of 5 all the way up to 12 of us. Picnics and packed lunches are a british institution and long may they rein ( see I did it again ! 🤣)

Yes, Ribrabrob, if you're going to the expense of having a trip out as a treat then why not spend a little extra to have someone else take the (often messy) effort and donkey work out of preparing a nice nosh?

I have always view The Packed Lunch as a very sad item - maybe I've just been unlucky with the packed/squashed/soggy/inedible examples that have come my way. But even sadder are those who force their home-made stuff down and declare that it "tastes better out of doors, doesn't it?"

Nooooo.....

Even worse - if that's possible - is tea and coffee that's been fermenting in a Thermos flask for hours on end. Yuk!

Theme park food is mostly horrible and if you go on a busy day you end up queuing and fighting for a table. I'd much rather have the peace of eating a packed lunch. Went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach with a packed lunch only to be told on the gate that they don't allow food to come in... so we were that family who sat outside the gate stuffing our packed lunch down at 10.30am then we smuggled some scotch eggs in using the hood of my husbands hoody...my son still talks about that often

I'd quite happily pay 'a little extra' for cafe food, if indeed, it was 'a little extra' - it never is, or it was 'nice nosh', which it often isn't.

Show me somewhere where it isn't a tenner or more for horse burger and chips that I have to queue up with a tray for 20 minutes for and I'm there.

Maybe you should get better at making sandwiches then! I love a packed lunch on a day out rather than crap fast food.

At a theme park or zoo taking lunch is a good idea because the stuff on sale tends to be overpriced junk of poor quality. At the seaside however fish and chips is the way to go

I get where you're coming from. My parents would never buy what they saw as 'frivoulous' food items when we were out so it's always something that as a child I felt I missed out on. But as an adult I hate queuing, I hate crouded canteens and my kids have very set ideas about what they want to eat. Unless there stuff like meat skewers, chips or authentic Thai or Indian curry on the menu, whatever I buy will be wasted. So they also prefer to have a packed lunch. So for me taking a packed lunch is just 100% easier and a win win. They get drinks, ice cream, treats but we just don't tend to buy food out unless we go to a specific eatery that I know they will eat stuff at.

This is the saddest thing I've ever read on here, who on earth has time to judge someone's packed lunch?! What is wrong with you?!

If the theme park had some food you could look forward to, I would agree with you.

But if it was the usual fare, I'd prefer the sandwich.

She was being a bit presumptuous to assume you would agree. Maybe she has to be careful what she eats?

Yabvvvvu. It costs quite a bit for not very nice fast food. I'd rather do a pack up which is healthier, tastier and full of things I know my dd will eat. All the money I save goes on extra days out or annual passes.

What if somebody has life threatening allergies. Tbh I don't think many people could afford to eat out all the time and most probably take a packed lunch or maybe they go out less to afford the food. This is just a dig at the poor

I loved a picnic back in the 80's! Marmite sandwiches, apple, a penguin and some monster munch and some orange squash in a thermos flask! (lunch of champions).

We went to a wildlife park the other day and a sandwich alone was over £6! Would cost a fortune for a family of 4.

I prefer a packed lunch at a theme park, the food inside is usually shitty and really expensive

*Anything^ that comes out of a thermos flask is horrible in my experience.

I used to think like you and see your point. My DH kind of made me change my mind. We sometimes eat at the attractions but the majority offers poor quality overpriced food. So we take a lovely picnic of salads, sandwiches, fruit that is much more enjoyable, healthy and cheaper. I've been to places that their summer menu was jacket potatoes, pizza, chicken all in a buffet and served in an unbelievably hot and dirty looking buffet restaurant. Much better to find the picnic area in a lovely shade. I am convert for packed lunch now.

Can this become a 'whats good to pack in a picnic & packed lunch' thread please? I also thought packed lunches are worse than theme park shitty food. I have no imagination though and i can picture making a school packed lunch.
Summarising from posts on the thread nobody else has anything imaginative either,
some sort of bread,
cheese,
meat,
fruit,
crudités,
Salad,
Olives,
hummus,
crisps,
cake.
Maybe quiche or sausage roll.

Just bog standard boring lunch/buffet/picnic fodder.

I understand where the OP is coming from.

Sometimes it makes more sense for us to take a packed lunch with us when we go somewhere.

Sometimes taking a packed lunch is a faff and we decide to eat out as a treat.

Both options are fine. But there is a certain type of person who gets a perverse pleasure out of penny pinching for the sake of it. Miserable flasks of instant coffee poured into tiny paper cups. Sweaty sandwiches eaten on a freezing park bench. As if a bit of enjoyment and indulgence is somehow vulgar or wasteful.

I’ll always remember being on a UK holiday with PIL. We were visiting a historical city and were deciding what to buy for lunch to eat in the park. DD and I spotted an Itsu and said we were going to get sushi. MIL then produced three sandwiches (two whole pieces of bread with ham inside x 3) that she’d been lugging around in her hot handbag and announced that we should eat those instead of wasting money. There were six of us, so that would have been half a sandwich each!!

DD and I just went and got sushi.

There’s a difference between sensibly watching the pennies and just out and out meanness.

Only just came onto this thread but I can sort of see the ops pov.
We were the picnic family and my dm used to have a go at me if I asked for lunch out because it was too expensive. What really baffled me was she's so stuck up she would always comment about her having more money than my friends parents etc yet when they went to the zoo they brought lunch there.
I tend to do 50/50 so I'll buy lunch there but stop at a supermarket on way back to pic up snacks/sandwiches for home.

I always make sandwiches, snacks, yoghurts, fruit etc.. and put in a cool bag when on our travels.
I’d rather eat my own food than motorway/ fast food. It’s healthier and cheaper!
YABU

I think it's very sweet she made you lunch but she should have asked if you wanted it or not, as assuming really means you're forced to eat it and not what you choose.

I'd also rather buy on site, it's part of the fun of it, but if you can't afford it I see why folks would take a packed lunch.

However as said, she should have said, I'm making a packed lunch, would you like one. Not done it without asking so you're forced to at it out of politeness.