How much do holidays cost?

LilElvis

Pollycat wrote: »

I love aubergine.
And would really appreciate the recipe please.
Although I'm not too keen on fruit in savoury dishes. I didn't like bobotie.

I'll find the book and type out the recipe later! I'm not too keen on sweet stuff in dishes, but the sultanas are balanced by the sourness of the vinegar. Husband won't touch it though - hates aubergine and thinks "mouse droppings" (raisins or sultanas) are the food of the devil :rotfl:

I've got a bobotie recipe - think it's called something really daft like "Bobotie of Reconcilation" - which sets my teeth on edge just reading the ingredient list. Raisins, mango chutney, apricots - sweetness overload. I like the way my friend makes it - mince, onions and a bit of Mrs Balls chutney with the eggy custard on top. Other bits are served as sambals to add as you choose - chopped tomatoes and onions, avo, peanuts and other bits and bobs. Bizarrely I've eaten it since childhood as there's a recipe in my Mum's Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management she was given as a wedding present in 1963. The weirdest recipe I've spotted in there is one for kangaroo tail soup - where in hell would you have bought kangaroo tail in Britain in the 60s!

Going to be ordering brinjal bhajee later as we're on a curry takeaway tonight. Husband is off at his Mum's - she's been admitted to hospital and discharged 3 times in the last week so we've got next to no food in the fridge. I spent 2 hours driving to the hospital yesterday followed by an hour trying to find her - only to be told they had sent her home already. Then had to drive to her flat. Dinner last night was salad and a lot of wine! :rotfl:

LilElvis

Ganga wrote: »

How many beers did he have,if 5 or 6 then not too bad a price but i have a feeling that you are going to come back and say just 1:eek:

I think it was just the one The carpaccio was extremely tasty and I really wanted to try their way of serving it to see what it was like compared to the more usual recipe. It was money spent in the furtherance of culinary research :T

zagfles

Yellow_mango wrote: »

The places we went ended up costing €120 - €150 for dinner for 5 of us. That was 2 Indians and 2 steak places, in smallish towns.

Indian in France! I've found they're generally overpriced, they're more of a rarity than here so they're nowhere near as good or cheap, we did try one once but never again! Why eat Indian in France? It's like going to India and ordering frogs legs and snails :rotfl:
Yes steaks will cost a lot whereever you have them.

Typically in France you can find restaurants and even hotels doing set menus for around 12-18EUR each, 2/3 courses, sometime including wine, and these are usually excellent, local food.

In all cases that was being careful to an extent what we ordered (whilst trying not to be too scroogy!), only having 1 drink each, 2 rather than 3 courses etc. Menus at other places we looked at were at least as expensive. Maybe we could have found cheaper places if we shopped around a little more. Perhaps that’s the best way to cut the cost.

As above look for set menus and go with it, even if you don't quite know what you're getting! We've had some great meals that way and it's an experience! My son really got into snails when he was around 10. However avoid andouillettes (tripe), even I didn't like it and I eat almost anything! If the kids wanted an ice cream we tended to get one on the way home if we were in a busy place with shops/ice cream stands etc. They prefered that and it was quicker, give them something to look forwards to on the walk back.

Lunch often came to around €30 just buying sandwiches and drinks in a supermarket. So could easily top €50 in a cafe etc if we did that every day.

Baguette, cheese, make you own even if you have no facilities! But we usually have accomodation with at least basic food prep facilities so tend to have good lunches with baguettes, tuna, salad, olives, garlic cheese, all the usual stuff, sometimes mussels, beer, love self made lunches in caravans in France! Week's worth of food shopping for breakfasts, lunches, occasional meal, inc booze typically EUR100-150 so around EUR20 a day for 4. But we're not big boozers, although even if we were it's not expensive in France

Ganga

Just as a comparison, my wife and i went to Eygpt in March ,stayed at a 5 star hotel that was 24 hour AI,all the cooked food was actually cooked to order as per your requirment,ie rare,well done etc,it also had a fantastic fine dining a la carte restaraunt you could use and came in at just over £2000 for 14 nights so about £73 a head,Taxi travel to the airport in the UK was about £50 including tip and the hotel collected us and returned us to Hurgarda airport foc as we have stayed there before.

splishsplash

I think it's a no-brainer if you have teenagers and children - all inclusive every time. They can eat and drink all day and you don't have to think about it.

Most all inclusive hotels and resorts will have at least four or five restaurants to choose from, so it's really unlikely that you will get bored with the menus or be unable to find food you all enjoy.

There is also the built in value of not having to shop or cook or clean because that to me is not a holiday; not having to argue or say no; not having to plan where to go that will cater for tastes if eating out; avoids the fast food easy option; no stress about whether you are going over budget and no need to track money.

I would recommend all inclusive or at least half board for sure, OP, every time.

zagfles

Yellow_mango wrote: »

I think this is my main problem. We like to eat out a lot. However with 5 of us, a realistic budget to eat out, even just dinner every day, would be at least €200 a day. So for 2 weeks that’s nearly €3k just on food. I can’t bring myself to spend anywhere near that, so we spend the whole time trying to economise and cut back on the amount we eat out, which basically means the kids begging to eat out and me saying no we’ll make sandwiches, and everyone whining, and still spending at least €1k.

At least with all inclusive everyone could eat as much as they wanted without so much whining. Though I guess you have the risk we don’t like what’s on offer, or get bored with the menu.

Maybe try an AI in the half terms or Easter, we've had a few good AI packages for around £400pp for a week in the Canaries, which I think is good value in the school holidays. Food's usually been excellent, I was expecting all burger and chips and such boring rubbish with a few token bits of local food, but on the 3 we've been on the food choice was massive and really good, often freshly cooked in front of you, don't think I had a single chip, burger or sausage on any of them! (they were available, but so much other more interesting food).

Doshwaster

zagfles wrote: »

Indian in France! I've found they're generally overpriced, they're more of a rarity than here so they're nowhere near as good or cheap, we did try one once but never again! Why eat Indian in France? It's like going to India and ordering frogs legs and snails :rotfl:

I'm sure you don't only eat English food in England so I don't see why you should you only eat French food in France. I like to mix things up and it's always interesting to see how interpretations of cuisines vary around the world.

I love Thai food possible more than anything but if I'm in Thailand for 2 weeks I would get bored eating it 3 times a day so it's nice to have an Indian curry, burger or even a pizza once in a while

Shelldean

If you want to stay self catering, have you considered eurocamp or similar.
We did these for a few years, when the kids were teens.
Entertainment for them, in shape of a pool etc.
We always opted for a tent as that was the cheapest option, plus we camped in UK so was used to it. We just didn't want to lug all our kit over there and have the hassle or putting tent up etc. So this suited us well.

A particular favourite of the kids was Berny riverie (spelt wrong probably)
Lovely pools indoor and out door. A lake with beach you could swim in, crazy golf, and another lake you could take pedalos or kayak/canoes out on.
The boats did cost but by buying a larger amount of credits and using them over the week helped.

Well placed for a trip in to Paris for a bit of sightseeing. Park on outskirts and use metro all day. We didn't go in anywhere just saw all the major sights. Supermarket for lunch.
We also did some visiting to WW places, including Compeingne ( spelt wrong also)

It's also apparently well placed for Euro Disney, and I think have coach trips there. But we didn't bother, having done Disney previously.


Tbh can't recall exact cost but it must've been reasonable as I was debt busting at the time!!

zagfles

Doshwaster wrote: »

I'm sure you don't only eat English food in England so I don't see why you should you only eat French food in France.

That wasn't really the point - it's just when you live in a country that has excellent, good value Indian restaurants and you go somewhere like France which has a much smaller population from the subcontinent and as such far fewer restaurants, and particularly a country which has such a variety of excellent local food, having an inferior, more expensive version of what you could have at home seems bizarre to me! Particuarly on a short holiday.

Having said that, we were tempted by an Indian restaurant in Turkey of all places, people in the hotel raved about it, and it was one of the best Indians I've ever had! Really cheap too.

Not heard many people raving about French Indians though...suppose they might exist somewhere?

LilElvis

zagfles wrote: »

That wasn't really the point - it's just when you live in a country that has excellent, good value Indian restaurants and you go somewhere like France which has a much smaller population from the subcontinent and as such far fewer restaurants, and particularly a country which has such a variety of excellent local food, having an inferior, more expensive version of what you could have at home seems bizarre to me! Particuarly on a short holiday.

Having said that, we were tempted by an Indian restaurant in Turkey of all places, people in the hotel raved about it, and it was one of the best Indians I've ever had! Really cheap too.

Not heard many people raving about French Indians though...suppose they might exist somewhere?

When I lived in California I craved a "proper British" Indian curry. There were quite a few Indian restaurants but none of them were what I wanted. Then I found one owned by a guy from Bradford - curry nirvana! Poppadoms and chutney while you perused the menu - all the favourites and real flavour. Came at a cost though - a tandoori mixed grill was $30 20 years ago :eek: