Spill the beans... self-catering on holiday tips

tavimama

We alway self-cater and I have a bag I fill from the same list every year. EG: tea, coffee, sugar (enough for cereals etc), powdered milk, individual cereals for the kids, a roll of kitchen towel roll, a tea towel, a loo roll, some cleaning wipes (because I am super fussy about where I sit!!), some squash for the kids, some bin bags, sandwich bags and a tin opener. Those are the basics we take.

I also take along a cool box with a frozen loaf, a frozen block of cheese and a frozen tub of marge - because we drive across Europe (usually to Italy), these keep other bits and pieces (drinks/sarnies, etc) cool until we get there - then they are ready to use.

We know where all the cheap supermarkets are and we stop at my Mums on the way home to make sure we have bread and milk for when we get home. Sorted!

I know people say pack light - but eating out in Italy/France can be horrendously expensive so it makes sense to have some basics with you.:)

richie3846

We often holiday in the UK, and I love to prepare a one-pot meal the day before we travel - that way we can eat a cheap tasty meal after a long drive, without having to faff around cooking! If you are on a very long journey, you could even freeze the meal and allow it to defrost on the journey.

Penny-Pincher!!

When we go away in the UK SC I always pack stuff to take as it makes its easier for us once we get there. We usually go to the same place which is about 2.5hrs away and due to my disabilities I just don't have the energy to shop when we get there and OH has been driving and looking after me.

We generally take beans, cereal mini boxes (buy on special and keep in the holiday box), sugar, coffee, tea, sachets of couscous and savoury rice (Approved food 10p each), tinned sweetcorn, tuna, bread, wraps, bananas, apples, crackers, biscuits, crisps, soup, custard sachets (value 7p), gravy, potatoes, few carrots, tinned peas. Then we take a cool box with yogurts, ham, salad bag, cucumber, cheese, milk, eggs, butter, gammon joint and a chicken. Then I collect sachets of Ketchup, HP, mini pots of jam/marmalade and take the last of the marmite in jar so we can throw it.

Sounds like a lot but we've mastered it to a cool box or cool bag and an Ikea bag which we also put in loo rolls, kitchen roll, wine, t-towels, clean spray, cloth, toiletries and anything else we can fit in.

I take the chicken frozen to keep everything cool and cook the next day. So we have enough for main meals for 3-4 days for the 3 of us.

PP
xx

blueangel1

tavimama wrote: »

I know people say pack light - but eating out in Italy/France can be horrendously expensive so it makes sense to have some basics with you.:)

I'll second that about France - we went to Brittany about 18 months ago and the restraurant prices were absolutely eye-watering, even for basic food.

luciandan

Slightly different approach but one that works extremely well for us - house swap!
We've never had a bad experience and the people we swap with always leave a meal for us when we arrive. We do the same of course and get to experience all the local foods and have the means to cook it.

belfastgirl23

Try eating local and seasonal. It's worth doing a bit of internet research ahead of time to figure out what fruits and veg are available. In many parts of italy local people go around on trucks selling seasonal produce for about 2 euro a kilo. Fantastic for luxury fruit like cherries and figs that cost a fortune in the UK. A really healthy holiday treat and you don't have to cook them Local markets are also great for fresh local products and they're often pleased to see tourists (especially if you make a bit of an effort to get away from the main tourist areas). Supermarkets and bringing your own food are fine and have their place but you want to get the benefit of being somewhere different as well.

doralei

We like self-catering for various reasons one of which is that food allergies make it quite a challenge to find something I can order on a menu.
We add a bit of fun by cooking a dish from the country we are in: mousaka in Greece, local fish etc. Even when they are a failure such as a salted fish dish which was horrendous last year, it still brings a smile when reminiscing - it is the only meal my DH has ever failed to eat!
Before we go I have a look on google maps to find local supermarkets and take a printout with us

maestro2001

luciandan wrote: »

Slightly different approach but one that works extremely well for us - house swap!
We've never had a bad experience and the people we swap with always leave a meal for us when we arrive. We do the same of course and get to experience all the local foods and have the means to cook it.

Could I ask which website you use for this? This is something we are seriously considering in the future and would appreciate a recommendation. Thanks.

lutzi1

I have had to cater for our family throughout twenty years of marriage, I and DD are both Coeliac so have to have a gluten free diet, otherwise any holiday just becomes an expensive, nasty, ill health away from home fest.

I've always run a pretty tight ship - on the principle that you take things that you don't want to buy a full packet of and waste most of it- so obvious things like tea, coffee, salt, sugar, pepper, herbs etc in plastic bags, along with a good squirt of things like Dijon mustard, garlic puree in a plastic bag. I'd have a menu planned so I knew what to take. ( then good buys including booze go back in the case on the way home).

However, after all these years I finally cracked it last summer. I do a lot of batch cooking at home, with spare meals going in the freezer . Last year we were arriving late evening, so all I wanted to do after a day's travelling to the Canaries was get to our accommodation, kick off my shoes, pour a refreshing drink and heat up a delicious meal to eat on the terrace.

Therefore I took frozen home cooked meals in foil containers placed into small lunch cool bags (Tesco value ones picked up in a sale for pennies). These were still frozen when we arrived. Some microwave rice in sachets, a bag of prepped veg to stab and stick in the microwave and a container of home made beef stroganoff and we were very quickly sitting down to a lovely meal on the terrace, I took the main compnents of the meals for the first 4 days and it really cut down on my work, Obviously you save tons against eating out, and the quality can be top notch ( and for us medically safe).

I shall definitely do this again in the future, it really was the cherry on the cake of an already tried and tested system. HTH someone.

lynnejk

Essentials where ever you go. Can opener, bottle opener and good sharp knife. Take enough of your favourite herbs and spices - use bank bags - and any particular relishes or sauces you always use - beg urine specimine screw-tops from the chemist. Take tea-bags and enough coffee to see you through first few days.

If you taking car take your slo-cooker and cool-box with some basic fridge essentials and 'google' your nearest Aldi or Lidl to where you going to stay and take print-out map with you.

If flying take essentials and ask staff in your accommodation where they go shopping. Make sure your phrase-book has extensive food list so you can shop at local supermarkets - don't use 'English' shops. Be prepared to try whatever is cheap where you are - part of the fun of a foreign holiday.