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'?

I can’t really get worked up by someone taking a bread roll and some fruit or a pastry. I wouldn’t take a 3 course meal for a family of 6 but a small snack type lunch or just some snacks for the kids is fine.

Not cheap in the Norwegian hotel another poster mentioned earlier.

I guess it depends on the setup but I always take fruit to eat mid-morning as I wouldn't have an apple/banana during breakfast. It's there, so why not. Also balances out my ridiculously small breakfast I would consume as I'm not hungry in the mornings.

Whenever I go to an all inclusive I always take at least two piece of fruit with me for later and don't feel in the least bit guilty. They're more than covered as I don't touch the freely available alcohol, fizzy drinks and a lot of other stuff I wouldn't consume anyway.

I also think fruit or a pot of yoghurt is reasonable but I we stayed at a hotel last year where the staff brought take away containers for the kids. They had a kids breakfast corner which included treat you wouldn't really give your kids for breakfast but they urged us to help ourselves.

So I guess it depends

Hotel abroad last year. Every morning a British family sat down and ate a massive breakfast. Then the mum proceeded to fill their insulated bottles full of fresh fruit juice and filled 2 large Tupperware boxes with bread, cheese, fruit etc. in full sight. Saw them tucking into their nice lunch on the beach one day. Even if they’d gone for the all inclusive option it’s super tacky. If half board it’s just theft, isn’t it?

Hotel buffets bring out a very unattractive side of human nature. I’ve realised that one of the reasons I love self-catering is that I avoid having to be around gimlet-eyed, sharp-elbowed fellow guests in the morning. I don’t want to deal with rude strangers on my holiday. No more AI after trying it once and being jostled by people who couldn’t wait to grab food.

This is more of the same - greedy. Although I agree with posters saying if you’ve not piled your plate high, taking a small item or two to eat later is fine.

I also appreciate hotels that offer breakfasts off a menu - much more pleasant and I assume they don’t have much waste.

It’s called Tuppaware though. ^^ 😂

It's similar to taking all the shower gels and tea an coffee sachets from the room

Because it’s more honest- I’m saying that I’m a greedy person and I’m okay with that. Whereas the latter is walking around in a shifty and guilty way, which gives you the air of a thief. The former is more dignified. It gives the message that I am entitled to eat a bit extra on holiday and I’ve paid for it. No one can argue with that.

Eh no it’s Tupperware

Yup, I do this. I once had a roll of foil waiting in my room ready to wrap the sandwiches up in 🤣🤣🤣 couple of bananas too and lunch sorted

😂😂😂😂😂 are you sure about that@assumethatIcan ?

But not if you are petite

I don’t make him! We agree to it. He gets to shower, and pack for us, in peace, and gets a free breakfast! Winner winner rolls for dinner!

It’s called Tuppaware though

That might be what a ram's harness is called...
Does anyone buy actual Tupperware nowadays rather than supermarket Locknlock knock-offs?

We did it in Iceland (everyone was doing it). Lunches were really expensive so the cheese and tomato rolls were a Godsend (I took Tupperware and sandwich bags!)
In the UK with work I quite often fancy a pastry for later, and just ask if they’ve got something to put it in (I was once even given an American style box!)

I do it..

But I take what would reasonably be 'breakfast', that fits on a plate and a sideplate (cooked breakfast and a croissant or pastries and fruit) not a tupperware box + plates!

So I just calculate what I could eat for a big breakfast, in a way that means IF there are left overs, they will work for a snack/lunch.

Sooo last time, I think I had two sausages, two bacon and a tomato, mushrooms and toast, and two mini pain aux chocolate.

I ate bacon and tomato and the pain aux choc... I made a butty out of the mushrooms and sausage and had that for lunch later on.

I wouldn't have taken more than I could eat for certain, for a butty later on and if I had eaten the whole lot (feasible back then, not now), I wouldn't have gone back for more for a sneaky theify take out.

If im in a hotel and I have paid for breakfast, I am going to treat myself and have a pretty substantial breakfast. But taking MORE than you can eat, more than anyone would reasonably eat, in order to provide lunch is cheeky as.

The occasions I have done it were all when I was attending a conference at the hotel and knew the buffet lunch would not meet my needs (often all vegan and very high in carbs/pulses).

You say that with such confidence when you’re so wrong 😂😂

Think you’ve misread the comment, not sure why you’re accusing her of stealing!!

I don't see an issue at all. Better than for it to be wasted which I imagine is still a lot.

I wouldn't go crazy or anything but fruit, bread etc is fine. Especially as people also eat different amounts at breakfast anyway.

It's tacky.

I often take food from breakfast. We recently stayed in a medium budget chain hotel and breakfast was £15.50 per person. I’m not a big breakfast eater, but I wanted something , so I had to pay. Each day I had a coffee and some fruit salad. It seems unfair that people can pay the same amount and eat a full english, plus croissants, cereal, fruit, porridge etc. So I even up the score by taking a few bits away with me.

I don't know if I would sit there and make a proper packed lunch but when we went Butlins we were half board and we did take some croissants and some fruit for our children to snack on later in the day.

I’d eat loads and maybe take a banana, but that’s it.

I definitely don't see anything wrong with doing it at an all-inclusive as they're feeding you all day anyway.

If I see people doing this I will absolutely judge them for it. It's greedy, cheap and tacky.

I recently went on holiday overseas to a country in the East. The hotel buffets were incredible. So much choice and selection.

There was a family sitting at a table next to us who each had a full cooked breakfast along with coffee / tea & juice and other bits. Once they were done eating they came back with a large dinner plate piled high with pastries of all sorts. There must have been nearly 10 full sized pasties on the plate. They also had a huge plate full of freshly cut fruit, and then a waiter came and brought an omelette. He was attempting to put it down on the table when the woman at the table instructed the waiter to put the omelette back on the tray and also the plates full of pastries and fruit and asked for them to be sent up to their room.

The absolute cheek! I was gobsmacked. Never in my life have I been so shocked and disgusted by someone's behaviour like that. And before anyone suggests that maybe they couldn't afford food later in the day - this was at an expensive 5 start resort and I could tell by the way they were dressed that they were not short of money to buy lunch later on.