Taking food from a hotel breakfast buffet- cheeky??

[Nannyogg134]

Was chatting with Brother and SIL about their upcoming holiday. They've got a long drive with 2 young DCs, so they've booked a chain hotel with free buffet breakfast part way along (to break up the drive.) DM said "Oh good, don't forget to make sandwiches for the drive later.".
This led to a whole family breakdown of what it is/isn't cheeky to do at a breakfast buffet 😂...

• DM would happily take tupperware with her and fill up because 'it's been paid for' (I don't think she does take tupperware, I think it was a figure of speech!)
• DH said he's too embarrassed to take anything more than a banana for later.
• DSIL confessed that she can't resist taking pots of jam

I just wondered what everyone thought- Is it unreasonable to take from the buffet breakfast for 'later'?

Okay, that's fair.

I saw a lad filling up his water bottle from the orange juice dispenser, which I thought was a bit cheeky.

I bow to your superiority, I didn't realise this was a life or death morals thread

I do sometimes take a sneaky banana or yoghurt but certainly wouldn't make a sandwich!

I was one at a hotel curb lounge in India and a large extended family booked in, I presume going to a family event at some point on their trip. They started filling up Tupperware from the club lounge and not just one of them, about 20 people! Most entertaining to watch!

This thread is hilarious! I don’t personally care if anyone snaffles food from the brekkky buffet. Good on them for owning it if they do. It’s the excuses for doing it that are making me laugh out loud oooh I am so small I can’t eat a whole breakfast, oooh I am vegetarian so it’s fair enough, oooh my husband only pinches their Prosecco while I am on the lav, oooh there’s no such thing as bread and cheese where we go on holiday. Also loved the PP who tried to take the Spanish pastry and was caught. Brilliant MN at its finest.

I wouldn't get worked up about it but I'm not sure how fresh the sandwiches would be by lunch time.

Not the point of the thread per se but why are most breakfasts buffets? I don't need ten plates worth of food..

So there's something for everyone I guess.

@CombatLingerie I’m not making excuses, and I’m not small, but I genuinely don’t feel hungry at breakfast time. Not hungry enough to eat an amount that’s worth anywhere close what I’ve paid for it. Hence taking some away if I want to.

I always take food for lunch from breakfast buffets if I'm out for the day or on holiday as it saves money. If I'm going home afterwards I will take some jam and Nutella packs and other similar things I don't have at home but wouldn't want to buy a full jar off.

I was going to say the same thing-also a hotel in Austria. The waiting staff were actually pressing extra food on us, lest we go hungry!

I thought it was a great idea- there were a lot of bread rolls and pastries that wouldn't have been so nice the next day. This way they were still fresh.

For other hotels though, I'd imagine there's a certain amount of 'wastage' included in the pricing for buffet breakfasts. I don't expect they'll be giving the food away for free.

Haha I was always one for making sure the guests got their moneys worth and weren't screwed over, cos hotels and Tour OPs can be sneaky little shits. Until I moved upto Head Rep, I worked problematic properties so I could quote the compensation guidelines in my sleep, the other reps used to ring me before searching the 50 page booklet 🤣 if I felt particularly sorry for a family (about 50% of the time) I'd subtly try to guide them to tell me the words I needed to hear for my report so I could compensate them 😂

My four kids would only eat a small amount at hotel breakfast buffets but Id ask the waiters if we could take some snacks for later and I never once had anyone say no. In fact, occasionally they would get boxes or bags to pack the food in. We were never too cheeky with what we took.

I’m rarely hungry at breakfast time, usually at hotels they stop serving earlier than I am ready for breakfast, I would certainly not be ready to eat a full English before 9am.. I might have a bit of toast and maybe some fruit or something with a cup of tea and coffee but I wouldn’t feel guilty to then take a couple of pastries or bread rolls etc for later because in comparison to what a lot of people will eat I’m still not consuming that much. In places where breakfast is served beyond 10am I would probably eat more and so wouldn’t take anything for later, if I’m full on breakfast I don’t really need a full lunch anyway.

We book into hotels who offer room service as we can’t face the behaviour of some people at breakfast. It turns my stomach tbh. Who wants to eat a shitty roll in the afternoon made from things on a hotel buffet? It’s just vulgar. If you’re going on a long journey there’s plenty places to stop for food.

Some airport lounges are worse, I never understand the “I’m getting my moneys worth” mentality. Half the time it’s pure greed.

Do you take the batteries out of the remote controls?

This! We don't tend to have a proper lunch on a beach holiday; mainly because breakfasts and dinners tend to be enormous and we'd just be eating all day otherwise.

But we do get peckish, so we'll often take a few mini pastries from the buffet to eat later in the day (to have with drinks we buy from the beach bar!).

As PP said, that sort of thing will go in the bin if it's left, so I don't feel bad about it.

That said, I did see someone make sandwiches at the breakfast table and put them in a tupperware pot. That wouldn't sit right with me.

Because it's expensive to just stop for food. Where a family of 4. If it means us only paying for breakfast and dinner/tea and we don't have to pay for lunch that saves loads and means we can go on holidays and for days out. Especially when the kids are young and they take 2 bites out of something before announcing their full.

I once stayed at a posh B&B in Spain where the breakfast buffet bore a small sign instructing guests not to take anything away.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach, so I ended up with a beautiful peach left on my plate. When the hosts reappeared I asked politely if they would bend the rules and let me take it out with me. They said no!!!!

Obviously I took it anyway, but it was so awkward I removed the stone and left it on my plate as if I had changed my mind and eaten it, so as not to create an atmosphere.

@dijonketchup that’s one of the most British things I have ever read😂just the sort of thing my DH would do!

If the kids didn't eat anything when they were little I'd maybe take a bit of fruit and a pastry cause guaranteed they'd be hungry ten mins after leaving. I certainly wouldn't make sandwiches 🤣 the place we were just staying at in Spain had a sign on the table saying all inclusive buffet food being taken out the restaurant is considered shop lifting 🤣

Whatever. Try budgeting to buy food for the rest of the day instead of acting like a cheapskate. Buy a loaf, some ham and fruit from a supermarket and make a packed lunch.

I wouldn’t do this in most hotels, but happily did it at a Disney hotel since 1) they’re charging an obscene amount for everything anyway and 2) everyone else was, so it didn’t feel embarrassing.

We simply don't have he budget to pay for 3 meals a day for 4 people. It's not always possible to buy sandwich stuff dependant where you are so it makes sense to take a few extra bits from a paid for breakfast that would get thrown anyway. Also if breakfast was say £50 for the 4 of us I guarantee you we didn't eat £50 worth of food even with taking extras for lunch their still making a very nice profit from us.