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Is self catering really

candyfloss40
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685 posts
9 reviews
9 helpful votes
Is self catering really
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that much cheaper than eating out???

I have never done self catering...and while I think you could save some money...do you really save? The ocassional times I ventured into a publix...I figured by the time you bought the food...cooked it etc for a few $ more is it not better/cheaper to eat out?

Assuming one eats at budget places...like Golden Coral...Ponderosa...then really do you save much money by buying in and cooking etc?

I am booked into a self catering condo place early next year and just wondering about the whole self catering and saving money thing...

Thanks for opinions :0)

UK
Destination Expert
for Florida
Level Contributor
52,114 posts
20 reviews
18 helpful votes
1. Re: Is self catering really
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It is a cost issue, but also a quality one.

I for one, could not eat at cheap low quality places like Ponderosa 3 meals a day, every day, for 2 weeks. I think I might suffer digestional meltdown and also start up a few major health problems.

Even if you just ate breafast in (ie fruit, cereal, toast etc) and then ate out mid day and brought home a takeaway from wherever you would normally eat you would save, as restaurants routinely charge less for take out even if they are a full service sit down place- not tom ention what you save on tips. And getting in some chinese or Pizza, with the huge portions I find that usually feeds us twice so you get 2 meals for the price of one.

And I find that shopping, cooking properly and eating in is cheaper and healthier unless you stick to places like Steak and Shake or the pretty poor buggets like Ponderosa. For a start on the health front eating in means you won't get fries with everything.

At it's most basic, s/c means you can wake up, have a cup of tea and a piece of toast while watching the sun rise w/o having to dress, go downstairs and pay high hotel prices for a cup of tea. And it means you can bring left overs or takeouts home from a restaurant and eat them next day, heated properly and with plates and cutlery.

Wythall, United...
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1,432 posts
29 reviews
121 helpful votes
2. Re: Is self catering really
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If you are family it certainly does, my kids are fussy and we save money by buying breakfast items and snacks, and sometimes we just want something simple that does not need cooking but preparing.

My kids would eat jam sarnies everyday, if i let them and i cannot seem to get that when we go out, and they dont tend to eat everything at meals times and want something else an hour later so for us it certainly saves a few dollars.

Chris

London
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1,685 posts
16 reviews
36 helpful votes
3. Re: Is self catering really
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Its not about saving money for us - its the home from home feel we like. There are times when we have been out at the park all day (usually about midway through the holiday) and all I want to do in the evening is have a good old plain cheese sandwich, or eggs on toast, made by myself in my kitchen without haveing to worry about "doing my hair" or getting off my butt to walk to yet another restaurant, plonking myself in the lounge and watching the telly like I would at home. Then saunter out onto the balcony for a refreshing beverage in my nightie , listen to the crickets and enjoy the warm Florida climate at 11 o clock at night. Heaven!

The other plus is the mornings, crawl out of bed (mid way through the holiday again when you start getting knackered), listen to the kettle whistling away on the stove , sort out some breakfast and off to my baclony with my cup of tea and cereal.

3 weeks 3 days to go - can't wait :-)

london
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2,586 posts
4. Re: Is self catering really
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yeah we do brekkie at the villa, lunch is normally a snack where ever we r and then we either go out for dinner or get takeout depending on how tired my son is. Places like outback, olive garden do good take out menus on top of places such as pizza burgers etc. my sister was sick of all the food at one point so just got some soup from wlamarts whilst we had sandwhiches but on the most part we dont cook at home, but its nice to veg out eating ya pizza in ya pj's rather than in a restaurant lol

candyfloss40
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685 posts
9 reviews
9 helpful votes
5. Re: Is self catering really
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I hear ya about the quality thing...I could not and rarely do eat at the Ponderosa'a and budget places... It was a novelty when I first went to Orlando but after 2 or 3 visits..I got bored. I do like the breakfasts and evening meals over there...And I am afraid I kinda got stuck in my ways a little...We love Olive Garden..and would likely eat there every 3rd evening. It is my aim this time to try to eat at different places and maybe do some self catering...even just breakfast every 2nd day and maybe as pointed out the ocassional take away.

london
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2,586 posts
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yeah sounds like a plan. we have always liked the pnderosa brekkie, its good for what it is and we go a few times when we r on our hols.

Level Contributor
25,429 posts
19 reviews
20 helpful votes
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We have found that we save a great deal of money making our own meals-and this is a big reason we do not stay at Disney hotels most of the time. The quality and healthiness of the food we buy far exceeds anything we can buy at most restaurants. We like fruit as snack food;what Disney has is not very good and very expensive. We like a solid breakfast;oatmeal and yogurt and fruit and what we get in restaurants is a packet of oatmeal flakes. We eat high end and high quality foods;I can get a pound of cocktail shrimp at the Publix for under $7 and cook it which is a lot less than a restaurant charges. We also like the break from running around to go back to our suite and cook a meal and swim rather than grab something.We eat out for an evening meal once in a while and have an ice cream from Ghiradelli's daily and love the Golden Corral-but we would only eat at a buffet place once.It's mostly a matter of what you eat;if you think breakfast is a a pound of bacon,biscuits and 4 desserts(which my daughters do),then Golden Corral is a great cheap choice.But it's cheaper to cook yourself and better for you-most of the time.

UK
Destination Expert
for Florida
Level Contributor
52,114 posts
20 reviews
18 helpful votes
8. Re: Is self catering really
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I agree disnfan, when i buy stuiff in it is high end stuff like large gulf shrimp, a well marbled steak etc. Nothing too fussy. And like i said, I like the odd fry, but it is nice to just have salad or some frsh corn on the cob, w/o all the fried stuff. When we are in our villa I always have all sorts of fruit for snacking incl watermelon.

And I do like to kick back with my feet up after a long day with a glass of vino lol.

lancashire
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867 posts
9. Re: Is self catering really
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Don't you think that cooking dinner in your villa is nothing like the boring cooking dinner at home, it's almost a pleasure, copious amounts of wine and eating by the pool help as well.

UK
Destination Expert
for Florida
Level Contributor
52,114 posts
20 reviews
18 helpful votes
10. Re: Is self catering really
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It is different, but I get the enjoyment with the better ingredients than I can get there like the shrimp and the steak. But here, I get great stuff too like fresh lobster pretty cheap. So i never order lobster there lol.

Off to france next week where as usual I will fill myself with moules in Brittany. Never eat them here ;-)

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