"We can't justify a £52 lunch" - AIBU to think you didn't need to?

[PropitiousJump]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3g11z6d8o

I found this article irritating. Middle earning families complaining they can't afford a day out, in part because of the expense of eating lunch and dinner out. A family of four in both cases.

I completely agree it's got expensive to eat out, but have they never heard of taking your own sandwiches?

And if you look at what they've eaten, they've ordered a lot of extras that have bumped up the bill.

Costa family - £52 lunch for four. If they could have done without an overpriced bag of crisps on top of their mains, and not had puddings (this was lunch, not dinner) they could have got the bill down to a more reasonable £40ish - a tenner each.

Pizza Express family - £174 dinner for four. If they cut out the starter and side orders and the adults had soft drinks instead of alcohol, they could have got the bill down to approx £109 for soft drinks, mains and a dessert each.

This isn't saying they are eating too much - it's not a diet-bashing thread - but common sense says that if you are eating in a chain place on a day out and trying to keep costs down, you don't order loads of extras and alcohol. Have a drink and a snack at home if you're still hungry. Save all the extras for an 'occasion' where eating out is the focus of the event and you're going somewhere special, not fuelling up in a chain restaurant.

AIBU?

and all the while you're squabbling over making a packet lunch, the problem of not being able to afford eating out, day trips, experiences gets ignored as people drop out of doing this stuff and only those att he top end of earnings continue

Cheese is expensive! Plain bread all the way for me. My children far prefer a plain bread sandwich to McDonalds anyway. They feel sorry for those kids. I am not a monster though because they get low fat spread in the sandwiches at Christmas.

I 100% support this!

Absolutely.

I’m so sorry you’re struggling to afford things now. I understand that it’s joyless and soul-sapping to have these choice taken away and to have little control over it.

I guess people are saying they don’t think it is normal to need to second guess buying a coffee and a piece of cake, or to never be able to afford a quick, easy lunch when they’re out for the day. It may be your normal but it hasn’t been mine for very many years.

And no, I don’t carry consumer debt, mortgage paid off and decent pension provision. I can fund my lifestyle, taking my DD out for coffee shouldn’t be a considered expense and wouldn’t have been even a couple of years ago. If the economy tanks it will take all of us down with it - that should be a concern.

This is the point of the article. Not that ordinary people should have to take a packed lunch everywhere. Prices in restaurants should reflect what most people earn

As a single mum, I can also totally relate to @MarianaMonterey 's post.
The annoying thing is they also want to dangle a carrot in front of you to make you run even faster for the "reward" that will never materialise. "Wait for your turn" ffs.

Ah that’s where I’m going wrong, maybe my kids would be more content if I’d never introduced them to cheese in the first place 😂

We were thinking about Leeds Castle the other week, I went into the website and my eyes nearly fell out my head at the prices

Needless to say we didnt go

Shame.

Most ham is grim UPF and carcinogenic with it! 😵‍💫
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/07/ham-sold-in-uk-found-to-contain-carcinogens-10-years-after-who-warning

I would have thought to that most pension funds would have fingers in the high street cafe/pub/restaurant trade, be it through property portfolios or suppliers. It is all interlinked. If PP get their gleeful way and the chains go under the economy will really take a battering.

You think people not being able to afford a panini in Costa will do that? How?

Who on earth feeds a whole family in Costa?? At the most I'd get a sandwich from Costa if I was really stuck and had no other option but their food has always been crap and overpriced. Their cakes are decent (and overpriced) but they are not a place I'd associate with savoury food. As others have said, the family clearly made the most of the fact that their food was being paid for an really went to town - most families wouldn't buy nearly as much as they did.

I moved to the UK from Ireland in 2005 and I remember being absolutely blown away by how incredibly cheap food was, both in the supermarket and in restaurants. Chain restaurants, apart from fast food places, didn't really exist in Ireland at the time - it was either McDonald's or a pricey independent place - so to be able to have dinner in a pub for around six quid seemed unbelievable. Equally when I went to Tesco and did a whole shop for £30ish I'd be worried I'd forgotten things.

I don't know why food was so cheap (economies of scale?) but it always seemed obvious to me that it couldn't last. Now I'd say Ireland and England are pretty comparable in terms of price, except that restaurant food in Ireland is generally far better (at least in the part I come from). It's worth it to eat out in Ireland and have a really good meal but I am not keen on spending 80+ quid for mediocre food for four in England.

Things have definitely changed price-wise but anyone who complains about not being able to eat out in Costa is going to come across as a whining twat.

It’s not second guessing a coffee though is it.

The op was re a full meal in Costa, then an excessive meal in Pizza Express and an overpriced attraction and the complaining that people can’t do this regularly.

If we took our kids to a cafe they had a cheap drink and shared a cake, they didn’t order multiple things off a menu then go out for lunch and to an expensive attraction every other weekend or even every month.

And you know what I’m glad they appreciated that drink and half a cake and I’m so glad that when they did go to pizza express and out for the day they enjoyed it so much more because it was not a regular occurrence. It stands them in so much better stead as an adult- not feeling hard done by because every weekend isn’t filled with expensive pointless crap.

So if we take lunch out typically I would do something like roast veg & pesto pasta or a big flask of soup and a roll each plus an Apple each and a sweet treat of some kind (usually something I baked). Last weekend we took pasta (in a food flask so it stays hot), fruit scones with butter & pink lady apples.

I checked out of curiosity and if I bought everything I needed for the picnic and added stuff on to take advantage I’d spend £22.86 total.

In terms of leftovers I would have:

Most of a 500ml bottle of olive oil
Most of a 4pt bottle of milk
Over half a bag of self raising flour
1/2 block of salted butter (125g)
most of a 200g bag of sultanas
most 1kg bag red onions
1 sweet pepper
2 medium courgettes
1/2 jar vegan pesto
500g bag of pasta (it’s cheaper to buy 2)

The value of those items would be over £12.

So my picnic really cost a little over £10 for 4 of us and we had lots of food

Panorama has NOT always been 'tabloid' TV. It has been dumbed down at the behest of governments that were not happy with the scandals it exposed.

Yeah it’s fun doing a picnic to the park sometimes, but if it’s all you can afford to do it gets old. Also if you can’t afford to travel further afield - fine I guess if you live somewhere with plenty of stuff to do in walking distance, shite for I assume the majority that do not. It would be like Covid when you weren’t allowed to travel for exercise, utterly awful.

I don’t understand why people fetishise being poor, we live in 2026 there is enough to go round if we want it to.

Eating out is a luxury. If people can't afford it or justify the costs then there are cheaper options. Costa coffee and pizza express will be the losers if their offerings are unaffordable, but It sounds like these families fell they have a responsibility to support themselves businesses. Particularly ironic given Costa's tax arrangements.

Will the next article be about the cost of confectionery at motorway services?

I really don’t expect my kids to be grateful for half a cake, that’s by no means a standard I’d aspire to.

I like workings out!!!

I think a lot of people are number blind about finances.

Agreed.

I often packed sandwiches and drinks when the children were small, but would buy them a treat of some kind when we were out. But that’s because I didn’t always have the money to spend on eating out. And if we did go to a cafe, I was realistic about what I could afford. Like others, I think you’ve missed the point OP. People who used to be able to afford these things are finding they can’t anymore because the prices have soared so much. I think everyone knows HOW to cut back, but people on good incomes shouldn’t really HAVE to. People spending their money drives the economy, keeps businesses open and people in jobs.

I said appreciate

There are a few valid points here:

1. Yes, going out, eating out, takeaway coffees etc. have become far more normalised. They were huge treats when we were small and now they’ve crept into everyday life. We can make choices here, and personally do - we’ll take a packed lunch most days out and occasionally buy an ice cream, for example, but every those are becoming ridiculous, because…
2. See photo snip from Instagram. House price and cost of goods inflation have far outstripped wage inflation. We all have less spending power. This is the crux of the matter
3. The article/programme really badly illustrates this because the families look like they’ve gone overboard. So rather than debating the salient points, we’re arguing if that number of courses is necessary in Pizza Express. For me, it’s not, but Pizza Express used to be a relatively affordable meal out. Now it’s almost £20 for an adult pizza alone.

Also what businesses have become adept to, and people have sleepwalked into it is the 'supersize' element of something simple

No longer, just a coffee, you want syrup, want a large, want the new flavour

It costs more of course than a basic espresso but very few people drink espresso here so you're sometimes looking at nearly 4 quid for a latte or cappuccino.

A cup of tea is replaced now with a whole pot so that they can charge more for this.