Self catering from your hotel room?

Sam37

I always thought I was the only one!! How naive...

I don't think you need to suffer in Italy, you can buy the most fantastic cheeses, olives, fruits there. Take carrots, tomatoes, sugar snaps, don't need any cooking, and you can keep them for a couple of days. Have an adventure trip to the (super)market, and see what is on offer with your fridge-free existence in mind. I bet you can find those lovely prepared artichoke hearts and some dips to spice up your meal for the evening. One important ingredient for me is NUTS.

I usually have a cheapish elaborate lunch during the day, and then retreat at night in my hotel room with my freshly conquered nibbles.

Have a look at the camping section in your local supermarket. You can often find some reasonable plastic knives.

McKneff

definitely get a travel kettle, (dont forget the teebags) at under a tenner it will payfor itself in one day. We go on the Hull Amsterdam ferry often and use it on there, real money saver, coffer and tea is nearly £2.00 a cup.

Sounds like youre going to have a lot of fun,

wyebird

We went to Venice a couple of years ago and managed to book a hostel room, for 2 which had a small kicthen in it (50 euro and five minutes walk from St Mark's). We had a beer by the Grand Canal which was 15 Euro :eek: , and so after that went to find where the venitian's shopped. We bought wine from the barrel, and ate pasta just dressed with porcini oil and salad for next to nothing......want to go back now!!

Have fun xx

meanmarie

I would think that you will be able to survive fairly cheaply if you have a croissant and coffee for breakfast...in a bar is usually cheapest, then either a 'menu fisso' which will consist of bread, pasta and meat or fish with either chips or salad...a 'menu turistico' should also be quite cheap and I would reckon that if you eat like this early afternoon you should be well fed on some salami, prosciutto, tomatos and bread for the evening....with water and wine from supermarket, seems little point in going to Italy and bringing your food with you. If there are tea making facilities in your room get some UHT milk and bring some tea bags. You will also find that fruit will be quite cheap...squeeze some of the lemons in your water maybe??

Dutchy....surprised that you found Sardinia expensive....were you in Alghero??

Marie

Broomstick

It may also be worth taking some sandwich boxes which can double up as plates or bowls as well as something to keep food in. We also take a tea towel, washing-up sponge and some decanted washing-up liquid with us when we do hotel room self-catering - makes the washing and drying up more civilised!
Have a lovely holiday

Austin_Allegro

I love this kind of holiday. However it's not clear from your post if there are self catering facilities where you are staying, or if it's just a room. Personally I always try to stay in hostel-type places that have private rooms but a communal kitchen, this way you can cook your own food easily but it doesn't cost as much as a self catering apt/studio. There's a website called Hostelz.com which is quite good for this kind of thing.

hollydays

No-there is only a kettle I find out now.
I am not sure OH would be keen on the hostel idea though.,he's not a very "communal" person..Thanks-I will take a look.

hollydays

oh-that is a great site-must look into that a bit more.What is the difference between the colours of the rating stars?

juliapenguin

My last holiday abroad was to Venice and I was so shocked at how expensive it was to eat out there - we had a few 'menu turistico' and 'menu fisso' meals which were still an arm and a leg and we were pretty disappointed at the quality. We tried our normal trick of looking for back street places full of Italians with Italian-only menus (cheaper and better quality usually and I can get by in Italian), but when we found them they were so packed we couldn't get a table - not good for my type-1 diabetic OH who needs to eat at regular times. In the end, we pretty much gave up and ate much better on fresh fruit and salad stuff from the wonderful market, plus fresh bread from the bakers and cheese and salami from the deli. There is amazing food to be had in restaurants, but not in our price range.... Have a wonderful time!

hollydays

MRs Bartolozzi,It's Florence we are going to.