Do people buy lunch and dinner out on holidays?

[user1471554720]

When we go on holidays in e.g. France Spain, Italy, we get our breakfast included with the hotel. We eat dinner out in a restaurant. For lunch, we go to a supermarket and get rolls and ham/cheese.

I see lots of people eating a main course at lunchtime. Do those people eat a dinner in the evening as well? Surely this would cost a lot. Any hot lunch could come to 20 euro by the time people get water, coffee after.

What do people generally do? I know people staying in apartments would get breakfast and lunch in the apartment, and eat out for dinner.

I asked people but they evaded the question irl. Dh would eat enough at breakfast to keep going until dinner but I find this uncomfortable.

Different things on different days I guess. Sometimes we’ll have lunch out then either not have dinner or just have some little bits of tapas/nibbles. Sometimes we’ll have a late breakfast/brunch then not eat again until dinner. Sometimes a small lunch out and a small dinner out. Sometimes lunch from the supermarket and dinner out. There is no set formula for us 🤷🏻‍♀️, depends what we fancy doing that day.

Yep I do.

Have to say though that I love a good rummage in a foreign supermarket though

I couldn't eat three meals a day it would usually be a snack at lunch and a meal at dinner, noone eats breakfast in our household

Yeah, always eat out for lunch, but not always a sit down lunch. Sometimes get something from a bakery. Sometimes a lighter sit down meal.

My view is that we are only there for a set period, so I want to try as many different restaurants or food items I can!

I do love a foreign supermarket for snacks to take back to the accommodation or take home with us though.

A ‘main course’ at lunch could easily be something like a chicken salad, or grilled fish etc, so in that case yes I’d still have dinner out.

Weird post.

If you can afford to go abroad you can afford to buy your lunch, surely?

And I don’t understand this idea that lunch “has” to be cold or a significantly smaller meal than dinner.

We eat out at lunch and hit the supermarket for the evening

Do you not think they’re getting dinner over with and then will snack later?!

I do the same as you OP. Lunch is supermarket or possibly light bakery/foccaceria type place. The boys are hungry but me and dd like just fruit.

Because I'm on holiday and I want to relax, not do domestic chores in a different country. I'm also not going to scrimp on holiday, eating out is part of the budget.

Sometimes we will have lunch out, some days we might order at the pool, other days it’s snacky bits like bread, cheese and fruit the ice cream and drinks mid afternoon. It depends on the agenda.

We usually stay in apartment or villa and eat out pretty much all the time. Don’t tend to have breakfast maybe a coffee on way to beach. Lunch is usually a beach bar, share something like calamari & Greek salad, then dinner would be maybe two courses. Sometimes have a bigger lunch if we’re out for the day sightseeing. We hardly ever make sandwiches for lunch and never cook in evenings on holiday. For me, a holiday is letting someone else do all the shopping, cooking, clearing up.

We usually have breakfast in the apartment/hotel then have lunch or evening meal out. Usually the evening meal. Sometimes both. Lunch is usually a light bite or we go to the local supermarket.
I love the whole experience of eating out on holiday, evening feels more special and I like dressing up abit.

No way am I making sandwiches in a hotel bedroom on holiday. We tend to have a small lunch in a cafe/bar, then dinner at a restaurant. If we are having a pool/beach day, might go to a bakery for something ready prepared, but otherwise it’s table service every time.

On holidays, maybe I'm odd but I find eating out day after day really dull. Even if it's a different restaurant, but the thought of waiting to be served, up sold, fake happy waiting staff, waiting for the bill, all very mind numbing if it's too often and the treat element is gone after the first couple of times.
I also love a good foreign supermarket, street food is probably my favourite thing to do for lunch and eat on the beach or street.

Oh yeah, if I just had a bedroom there’s no way I’d be buying any meals from the supermarket.

Depends.

Lunch is a main meal in Spain, dinner often less so. Sometimes it works with our schedule to fit in with that, sometimes it doesn't.

I often eat lunch but then just had olives/ cheese/ nice bread with wine. On the balcony or as a picnic on the beach. Much cheaper to have lunch too. Dinner is generally at least double the cost.

Mix and match here, it's whatever we feel like on the day, we all enjoy eating out as part of the holiday experience and have rarely experienced bad service or food abroad (unlike at home) so we budget for it. There will be say a filled baguette from a bakery sometimes, or supermarket snacks for a picnic but lunch out is nice because it's something we rarely do at home.

Yes, we eat at a cafe or restaurant for both, it's expensive but part of the joy of a holiday for me. You can get lighter meals & salads for either lunch or dinner.

We tend to go half board, where there’s usually a buffet evening meal in the hotel, so we enjoy sampling the local restaurants at lunch time. We might have one or two evening meals out as well for a change from the hotel.

I've literally just been plotting all this for our holiday over half term!

We'll have an elderly parent with us (us being me, DH & two teenagers) in a European capital for a full week, and we will have lunch out in a restaurant most days. This will mostly be local food in places that are max 20 euros per head - I've been carefully planning where to eat based around our itinerary - not as much room for spontaneity with octogenarians and teenagers in tow!

Then I will be hitting up the nice supermarket near the flat and cooking meals at our Airbnb in the evenings. Pasta, risotto, salads, cured meats, pan fried chicken - easy things I can cook if I only have a hob and no oven. Airbnb was chosen for having a nice living area with big dining table and well equipped kitchen.

In THEORY we could do lighter sandwichy lunches out and dinners out in restaurants in the evening, but elderly parent is getting pretty elderly and burns out a bit by late evening, and teens definely want to be able to leave the table and go do their own thing before bedtime.

DH and I plan to go out to nice wine bars etc. after the others have gone to bed in the evenings.

Yes, when on holiday we have lunch and dinner out, it could be in a restaurant or just a takeaway. We are not from the UK and are not used to cold food as a proper meal.

If we are somewhere like a city break where it’s B&B then yes we will eat out lunch and dinner, if it’s self catering then we will eat out all 3 meals. Same as on UK breaks.