Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I love eating out too, but my digestive system doesn't. Even if I order fruits and vegetables, eating out every meal is killer on me and at least one of my kids. Plus it's insanely expensive to have a restaurant meal 3 times a day for a family of 4 for a week. Even if we have the money it seems silly to spend it all if we can have yogurt and granola for 1/10 the price.

+1 same, I can’t do days on days of salty, heavy restaurant meals.

This is a good point. I’m about to go on a 7 day alaska cruise and already wondering how my stomach is going to handle it.

If you mix it up some you should be ok. There are a lot of food options on a cruise and since you’re on a boat there’s no time involved to drive to a restaurant, drive back, wait for a table, etc. which I always find a huge time waster when you’re eating in restaurants on vacation. You should be able to mix up bigger and heavier meals in the main dining room vs. light breakfasts in your room or in the buffet.

Anonymous wrote:In our day-to-day lives, my family eats pretty healthfully and we eat out only occasionally, but on vacation, we splurge (money and calories). Hotel breakfast at a nice resort (I'm not talking about the powdered eggs and stale donuts in the Hampton Inn lobby) feels so indulgent and really makes me feel like I'm on vacation! My kids are adventurous eaters and we all enjoy going out for local cuisine for lunches and dinners. We aren't wealthy. We budget and save for our vacations including meals out.

PP here adding that we're a busy, on-the-go family in daily life so on vacation we're happy to take a more leisurely pace rather than rush out to "start the day."

In our day-to-day lives, my family eats pretty healthfully and we eat out only occasionally, but on vacation, we splurge (money and calories). Hotel breakfast at a nice resort (I'm not talking about the powdered eggs and stale donuts in the Hampton Inn lobby) feels so indulgent and really makes me feel like I'm on vacation! My kids are adventurous eaters and we all enjoy going out for local cuisine for lunches and dinners. We aren't wealthy. We budget and save for our vacations including meals out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I do not want to spend so much of the day at restaurants. I am happy to have a quick meal in the room or outside if there is a good spot and then be ready for day. Three meals out a day is too much.

This. Its as much to save time and our health as it is to save money. Pancakes and bacon every morning is really bad for you. Plus we want to get out and enjoy the day, not roll ourselves from one big meal to the next.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 9 and 12 and they like to eat out too much for us to do any of this. But I wish I had started doing this when they were young!

Its not too late. You can explain you are trying something different. It is within your control.

We just got back from a hotel trip to an island. We ate almost every meal out (super expensive) but still went to a local grocery and enjoyed choosing local beer, unfamiliar snacks, nuts, candy, etc. to supplement (traveling with teen boys, the food bill is astronomical). I love wandering through supermarkets in other countries and they did too.

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

No not everyone does this. I love going out to breakfast on vacation (and I don’t even typically eat breakfast). Not knocking everyone else who travels this way, but no, we don’t pack food. It definitely costs us more money. But we’re not big drinkers, so we save money in that way compared to other families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I love eating out too, but my digestive system doesn't. Even if I order fruits and vegetables, eating out every meal is killer on me and at least one of my kids. Plus it's insanely expensive to have a restaurant meal 3 times a day for a family of 4 for a week. Even if we have the money it seems silly to spend it all if we can have yogurt and granola for 1/10 the price.

+1 same, I can’t do days on days of salty, heavy restaurant meals.

This is a good point. I’m about to go on a 7 day alaska cruise and already wondering how my stomach is going to handle it.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 9 and 12 and they like to eat out too much for us to do any of this. But I wish I had started doing this when they were young!

Just because you started something doesn't mean you can't change it...your kids will be okay if you don't do everything they want all the time.

If we are staying in a hotel (vs a beach condo with a kitchen), we eat lunch and dinner out. If the hotel doesn’t offer free breakfast, I bring some breakfast foods, and we always bring lots of snacks (both for the hotel room, and while we’re out and about). Things like granola bars, fruit bars, crackers, chips, cheese sticks, dried fruit, etc. I feel like food when traveling already costs so much— if we bought every snack while on the trip (in touristy type places), it would be even worse.

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I do not want to spend so much of the day at restaurants. I am happy to have a quick meal in the room or outside if there is a good spot and then be ready for day. Three meals out a day is too much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I love eating out too, but my digestive system doesn't. Even if I order fruits and vegetables, eating out every meal is killer on me and at least one of my kids. Plus it's insanely expensive to have a restaurant meal 3 times a day for a family of 4 for a week. Even if we have the money it seems silly to spend it all if we can have yogurt and granola for 1/10 the price.

+1 same, I can’t do days on days of salty, heavy restaurant meals.

My kids are 9 and 12 and they like to eat out too much for us to do any of this. But I wish I had started doing this when they were young!

I've seen people carrying in large yeti coolers to every resort that I've been to in the last few years. We do the same. I'd rather not pay $150 for every family lunch at a hotel restaurant

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone do this? I feel like this isn’t much of a vacation. I love eating fancy breakfast at a nice hotel or resort.

I love eating out too, but my digestive system doesn't. Even if I order fruits and vegetables, eating out every meal is killer on me and at least one of my kids. Plus it's insanely expensive to have a restaurant meal 3 times a day for a family of 4 for a week. Even if we have the money it seems silly to spend it all if we can have yogurt and granola for 1/10 the price.

This is us, too, not to mention how much time it takes to eat breakfast with kids (even if it's a free hotel breakfast, going through it can take forever). So we bring stuff to eat while we shower/get dressed as well as snacks to bring as we're out and about. We mostly bring what others have said:
- water
- fruit (usually apples or clementines, sometimes grapes)
- some type of bar (usually kind or zbars)
- for the first day or two we'll bring yogurt tubes and/or cheese sticks
- kid snack food (usually goldfish, pb pretzels, etc)

We need to start bringing wine/white claws and kcups. Thanks for those suggestions!