"no outside food allowed" policies?

[crunchy_mommy]

I can't stand when places do this -- when they say you can't bring in your own food. I'm talking about places like ball parks, movie theaters, amusement parks, etc. where they even search your bag for food when you enter. We actually only visit places like this maybe once or twice a year but still, it drives me crazy. I especially hate how they say it's 'for the safety of our guests' when it's really because they want to charge $15 for a hot dog.

ANYWAY... so these places never have anything healthy or nutritionally balanced, and forget about anything vegan! Standard fare is hot dogs, nachos smothered in fake cheese, etc.

So what do you do in places like this? Assuming you will be there long enough to require food at some point (for me, that's anywhere I spend more than 2 hours). I will admit I always smuggle food in. I stuff sandwiches in my coat pockets, carrot sticks in a disguised container at the bottom of my bag, etc. We do allow "treats" in our house but honestly, I consider amusement-park-fare more 'poison' than 'treat.'

Just wondering if I'm the only smuggler and if this policy drives anyone else insane!

[lness]

Another smuggler here! I'm like you - that blood sugar needs to be kept up, and I usually bring water too since I'm prone to dehydrate myself into a migraine otherwise. I've never had them check the bags all that thoroughly though, just a quick peek in the top and move on, so it's never been a problem to have a baggie of snacks or something plus my water bottle tucked in way down at the bottom, under everything else we've got with us.
No guard or employee or anything ever said anything when we were walking around nibbling & drinking either, so I think it must not be that rare.

[Masel]

My DD has allergies and even though everyone has been good about us bringing in food I always stress about getting that one hard ass employee who will give us trouble.

[junipermuse]

If its really important to me to get in outside food because there isn't another healthy alternative, I bring my own food in and I lie or embellish the truth by saying I'm on a very strict diet doctor's orders and I can only eat my own food or I could get sick. Or I say the snacks are for my toddler because she's really picky or she has allergies (only a half lie because she does have allergies, but she can and does eat ballpark food anyway) I've never had a problem with that reasoning. I think they would get upset if you were bringing in your own hotdogs and popcorn and obviously just trying to get around their whole charge-a-fortune-for crap-food scheme. But if it's obviously stuff you can't get inside they can't really argue. If someone got sick eating their food it would cost them a whole lot more money than losing out on a the sale of a couple of hotdogs and nachos.

That being said there are a lot of places like amusement parks and such that have picnic areas and lockers right outside the park and you can always just bring food, store it in the locker, and eat it outside. So that's another option.

Also some places do have healthier options now, even if not 100% healthy. When we were at Disneyland last Feb, they had a bunch of stands that sold a huge variety of fresh fruit and maybe some cut up veggies too. When I go to the ballgame with my parents we go down to the bbq stand and have real meat (chicken or ribs) instead of a hotdog filled with nitrates and who-knows-what. For me I like to bring in healthy snacks to supplement whatever I might buy from the amusement park/ stadium. So if I'm hungry I'm not stuck feeeding myself a constant stream of junk, but I usually don't mind a bit of junkfood either.

[catnip]

Even though Disneyland has an official "no outside food" policy, I have never had a problem bringing my own food and water through the gates (lara bars, fruit, nuts, fruit leather, even wrapped sandwiches).

For my birthday, we splurged on a lunch at the FANCY FANCY restaurant in the park, they were easily able to accommodate a vegan meal and salad, but there wasn't a vegan dessert (and c'mon? Birthday!). So I pulled out the Alternative Baking Company cookie in my backpack, and the waiter chuckled and brought me a clean plate to eat it off of.

A movie, if the popcorn isn't vegan, I usually just cope.

[kjbrown92]

I bring food in for my kids and me because of food intolerances. Have you looked at the prices of the concessions at those places? That's where they earn a ton of their money! I haven't had a problem yet with our explanation, when they search our bags either.

[Bri'sgirl]

I have no problem bringing in my own food into places. There was a news story (really, it was a sob story) from a theater owner saying that the concessions were their only source of income...movie tickets didn't make money. That may or may not be true, but my kids are very sensitive to any food colorings and additives, and I'm not going to chance most food items. I do bring in my own EVOO/CO popcorn without any guilt, since the other crap is full of transfats. There is only one theater that we eat their popcorn, since their a hometown theater and use real ingredients.

As far as other places go, most aren't that picky, as long as you're not bringing in alcohol. They may search your bags, but you can camo things.

[mommy212]

one time my grandma smuggled fried chicken into a movie theater. It was hilarious But yes, I too would and have smuggled in food. No reason not to!

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by Bri'sgirl

As far as other places go, most aren't that picky, as long as you're not bringing in alcohol. They may search your bags, but you can camo things.

My MIL *can I still call her that if I am divorcing her son?!) and I went to a skating event once. They found my 8 oz bottle of water well concealed under a ton of stuff in my bag, so they took it. She, however, got in just fine with a piece of cheesecake *yes, cheesecake* sitting right on top in her bag. Hilarious. I guess a bottle of water is more dangerous to the skaters than a slice of cheesecake

[hildare]

i don't follow the rules.

[kittywitty]

I ignore the rules most places. Some like concert venues I can't because they frisk you (but usually let you bring in water at least!). Otherwise I bring my own. I've never been in trouble for it, but especially when my little ones had severe dairy allergies, I was not going to risk it. At one all day concert fest in Indy several years ago, they let us leave to go get food and come back since she had food allergies.

[alireb]

I always bring food with me - snacks for my son and normally some snacks for me. I haven't had any issues with it. We went to a hockey game and the policy is no outside food and they searched my bag, found the snacks for my son but I told them they were for him and they were fine with it. I doubt they'd keep food from a baby/toddler.

[CookiePie]

I regularly sneak popcorn into the movie theater & no one has ever noticed. Theme parks annoy since they tend to have no good options, so I usually just keep the cooler in the car & go back to the car to eat lunch.

[ShadowMoon]

I work for a place that has a "no outside food" policy. I hate it, especially since the only food we offer is deep fried, extremely processed, or coated in sugar.

If I see people sneak food in, I let them be. Or let them know to hide it better

[AllisonR]

Americans: related question:

We are visiting the states for 3 weeks in June, and now I am wondering how many of the places we are visiting are going to have such a policy? We will be at disney, beaches, san diego zoo, sea world, phoenix, flagstaff, grand canyon, las vegas... Now I don't mind an occasional hot dog or coke or whatever, but if this is day after day I will start feeling ill, and the kids will get crazy (DS for sure will get sugar high and wild and then crash like a zombie). We had planed on buying a cooler when we arrived, and often packing it for the day with some fresh whole grain bread, sandwich toppings, fresh veggies, fruit, eco milk... Will it be possible to bring this to these places? I don't mind buying a soda or ice cream once we are there, but I don't want to buy coke and french fries and burger and cotton candy and ice cream and...

[sunnysandiegan]

I can speak for beaches, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World....

The beaches are not a problem at all. Bring what you want, except glass containers. Those are not allowed and not encouraged due to breakage issues.

The zoo actually has some decent food for decent prices. Check their website for any policies regarding outside food. We've had annual passes many years and usually brought in our own food (or someone in our playgroup would). I don't even recall any checkpoints....

Sea World is going to be a pain. Their food is crap and way over-priced and they have been very thorough in the past at the checkpoints. We stopped getting season passes and stopped going partly due to food issues. They have lockers, but they are just inside the gates (after security). They also have picnic grounds, but these are intended for corporate parties. A cooler in the car will be fine, except for the heat. Bring things that won't actually spoil or cause illness if not kept below a certain temp. Check their website, also, to see if their policies have changed. I've heard ownership changed, so maybe there is hope!

[crunchy_mommy]

AllisonR, I would definitely suggest looking into cooler options to see if there is anything that will keep your food cool enough in a locked car on a hot day. I'm on the east coast so I can't say anything about the specific places you're visiting, but many, many places have this policy so you may want to check their websites. Almost all places will allow you to leave & re-enter, so eating in your car is an option (though not a particularly enjoyable one, who wants to eat in a parking lot? plus it's a pain) but make sure you bring stuff that won't spoil if you can't get a really good cooler. The food is not horrible everywhere, some places have OK options (check their websites), but most do seem to be more along the lines of soda/hot dogs/greasy pizza/etc. so if you can't sneak in food, you're stuck...

[sunnysandiegan]

I had to jet earlier, but now I am back. I read through your list again. Of all the places you mentioned, the only ones you are likely to have a problem are Disney and SeaWorld. And there are probably at least a couple of decent places to eat in each. You'll pay dearly for the food, but those two places are pretty strict about outside food (at least in all-day quantities). The rest of the places should be fairly easy to bring your own cooler/food and/or offer healthy choices in restaurants.

[OkiMom]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

Americans: related question:

We are visiting the states for 3 weeks in June, and now I am wondering how many of the places we are visiting are going to have such a policy? We will be at disney, beaches, san diego zoo, sea world, phoenix, flagstaff, grand canyon, las vegas... Now I don't mind an occasional hot dog or coke or whatever, but if this is day after day I will start feeling ill, and the kids will get crazy (DS for sure will get sugar high and wild and then crash like a zombie). We had planed on buying a cooler when we arrived, and often packing it for the day with some fresh whole grain bread, sandwich toppings, fresh veggies, fruit, eco milk... Will it be possible to bring this to these places? I don't mind buying a soda or ice cream once we are there, but I don't want to buy coke and french fries and burger and cotton candy and ice cream and...

I can speak for most of those places, no problem bringing food in. You might get a security person who will joke with you (one told me he needed to sample my home made cookies to make sure they were safe for human consumption but as I said it was a joke, we all got a good laugh out of it). Ive brought food into the zoo, sea world, disney and there were no problems. I even brought a cooler into the zoo and Disney with no problems. Especially if you are traveing with children.

[lerlerler]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

Americans: related question:

We are visiting the states for 3 weeks in June, and now I am wondering how many of the places we are visiting are going to have such a policy? We will be at disney, beaches, san diego zoo, sea world, phoenix, flagstaff, grand canyon, las vegas... Now I don't mind an occasional hot dog or coke or whatever, but if this is day after day I will start feeling ill, and the kids will get crazy (DS for sure will get sugar high and wild and then crash like a zombie). We had planed on buying a cooler when we arrived, and often packing it for the day with some fresh whole grain bread, sandwich toppings, fresh veggies, fruit, eco milk... Will it be possible to bring this to these places? I don't mind buying a soda or ice cream once we are there, but I don't want to buy coke and french fries and burger and cotton candy and ice cream and...

we have year passes to Disneyland (I'm a local. they're fairly cheap)Disneyland checks bags as you enter security... HOWEVER, they are NOT checking for food as there is a picnic area past that point (but before the actual park). So I bring a backpack STUFFED with food and eat anywhere we wish. A cooler may get you looked at entering the actual park, but a backpack? no troubles... and I mean we eat ANYWHERE!!