Self Catering Holiday - How can I do it on the cheap

FZwanab

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

We're going away for a week in June and had just written a list and meal planner a few days ago. Meals are:

1 x Take-Away (treat)
Roast Chicken, roasties, carrots, cabbage, parsnips and gravy
Chicken Chauseeur-chicken, veg, stock and mash done in SC
Spag Bol & Garlic bread
Shepards Pie & Veg
Curry & Rice
Egg & Chips

For the whole week (all meals inc lunches) Im taking:

Spuds, veg/salad, fruit, beans, tomatoes, kidneybeans, soup, peas, sweetcorn, tuna, coffee, tea, sugar, squash, lemonade, cereal, bacon, sausage, chciken, mince lamb, gravy, salt, pepper, sauce sachets-knicked..LOL, cheese, ham, crisps, biscuits, jam, oil, marmalade, mayo, corned beef, dried spagetti, chilli powder, rice, noodles, bread/rolls, butter, yogurts, eggs, milk, garlic bread, loo rolls, wash liquid, cloth, scourer, tea-towel, wash powder, bleach.

Will be taking the SC with us and taking pack ups when we go out. Breakies will be toast, bacon/sausage sarnies, fruit, cereal, egg on toast etc. Have also added snack food too, so we dont get too tempted to go over the shop and pay £1 for a bag of crisps.

All meals are easy to do

HTH

PP
xx

Are you only using the sc once while you are away, if so why bring it?

super41

Great ideas from everyone! We go to CP regularly and don't spend that much at all. Actually we find the supermarket more expensive, but not excessively so - fine for bits and pieces like milk but would be expensive if used for all meals. Restaurants are very pricey and not worth it in my opinion. Also things like drinks are extortionate in the cafes and bars.

Those Welcome Packs are really expensive - we got the guidebook recently an couldn't beleive what they charge!

Hope you have a great break!

Rachie_B

dinky from what i can see she could be using the SC for the

curry
bolognese
chasseur
shepherds pie

thats more than once ; )

Smashing_Blouse

We went to Centre Parcs for christmas and found the supermarket to be on par with our local Co-op. I agree the Restaurants are quite expensive but the food was good quality.

bommer

When we go away camping/sc or abroad I usually try to collect as much brown sauce, red sauce, vinegar, salad cream, mayonaise salt and pepper as possible from the pub/asda cafe to take away with me. Saves buying and is much easier, lighter. I also take a small jar of marmite.

lindadykes

All of our main holidays are SC, and frequently in quite remote places where prices for food can be extortinate. I usually plan a weeks meals ahead making sure that the meals are quick and easy, I then take as much of hte food with me as I can. An example of the type of plan I use follows:

Breakfasts - Cereal or porridge and toast, Orange juice.

Lunches - Generally a packed lunch so I tend to plan a different filling for each day such as , tinned corned beef, cheese, tinned ham, tuna, eggs and mayo, Brie and bacon. I generally take a large multipack of crisps for lunches and some home made cakes.

Evening Meals typical meals are:

Cook pasta, bacon and onions fried together, stir all up with a jar of pesto

Curry and rice using a cook in sauce, and whatever meat can be purchased at a reasonable price.

Canned potatoes sliced, sliced onions, sliced smokie type of pork sausage - fry all together, serve with fried eggs and beans

Curry pizza's - Vacuum packed naan breads topped with a canned tikka curry sauce, some of those precooked tikka turkey/chicken pieces you can buy and grated cheese -serve with salad

Taco's or enchilladas - take one of the kits with you and just buy fresh meat and salad to go with it.

Frittata - Fry onions, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, and chopped canned potatoes, beat together 2 eggs per person, pour over and cook slowly till almost cooked through, top with grated cheese and place under a grill to cook the top. Serve cut into wedges with salad and nice crusty bread

We always plan one evening meal out - and usually one lunch from a fish and chip shop -it is a holiday after all!

Hope this is some help

fannyadams

Look up on tinternet for store locators for Tesco/ASDA/Morrisons etc
If you are going to Cumbria then I would stay out of Penrith, tourist trap or what!
get on M6 and hop up to Carlisle and go to Morrisons. PETROL is waaaay cheaper there too. look at https://www.petroprices.com for more info.
Meal Planning and stack the car to the gunwhlaes with all the food you can get in it! We went to Penrith/Cumbria CP and spent £20, I took everything else with us and even fetched some of it back!
I would definately recommend getting the little satchets of sauce, they are a life saver!
And the little complientary satchet of washing up liquid will not last a whole week, bring your own & Kitchen roll.
Don't forget your swimming things and a towel each for poolside as well as one for the bathrooms in the chalet.
HTH

tootles_2

We always go on SC holidays, I take as many meals ready prepared as I can, freeze them and pack them in a well insulated freezer box, we have travelled over 24hours with food like this and its still been frozen when we got to our destination, I seal the box with brown tape so it cannot be inadvertanly opened until we get to our destination. I look for stuff like sausages with a long sell by date, bacon will keep for at least a week in a fridge, I take enough veg for our first couple of meals and then hoof it to the local market...... we have breakfast cereal in plastic containers which pack into a crate in the car, along with tea, coffee, milk, orange juice, salt pepper etc. We use two cool boxes one which is the sealed one, and one with butter etc in. I take tins with cake and biscuits in, they slot under the seats in the car, small plastic containers can have a selection of stock cubes if you need them. Really depends on how long you are going for. I ALWAYS take loo roll...... you just never know.

pavlovs_dog

just thought i'd bump up the old thread to see how you got on, and whether you have learnt any handy hints and tips to pass on to the rest of us?