Reduce the list!

[Crwban]

Trying to travel a lot lighter to camp in France this year. Any hints and tips?! We have 2 double 10" sims, pillows and duvets, 4 chairs, carpet awning, stove etc, table. I really want to scale down kitchen box. Any advice?!

[Ricekrispie22]

Sleeping bags would pack a lot lighter than duvets.
Can you hire stoves from the campsite?

[Crwban]

Didn't think of hiring stoves! Off to email now to ask. I love my duvet though - hate sleeping bags.

[profpoopsnagle]

Hamman towels- amazon sell them.

For each person - place all the clothes you want to take out and then aim to cut it back by a third.

[Milliways]

We have just returned from 2 weeks in a camper, and only wore a third of the clothes we took. You can wash your favourites and wear again.
We bought the Turkish towels whilst their (so cheap on the markets) they are amazingly small.

Didn’t need a duvet! Very hot already. We sometimes take just a brushed cotton duvet cover and use it as a thin sleeping bag or sheet.

Inflatable pillows? Or take pillow cases and stuff with clothes/towels. Although our kids used to have pillows behind them in the car who,st travelling.

Do you need the carpet if you have chairs?

[hestia2018]

Depends what’s in your kitchen box. Is everything collapsible/pack together? I have configured my kitchen box so that the bowls go inside the saucepans which are camping ones so pack together.
I got a smaller kettle as I realised we only used it to boil two mugs of tea.
The kids plastic cups all stack together.
The washing up bowl is a collapsible bucket.
Assess everything you have in the kitchen box and think - did I use it last time, could it be smaller?

[Crwban]

hestia I'm trying hard to reduce the kitchen box - not getting very far with the pans.
I'd love lightweight that store inside each other. Not getting much luck finding them.
Plates and bowls are sorted, we have collapsible stuff too (including kettle) and I'm looking at a smaller amount of cutlery, utensils etc.

[hestia2018]

It’s hard isn’t it! I’ve been trying to get ours down too. I’ve managed to ditch some stuff eg - cheese grater (we use grated cheese as less washing up!), tin opener (as most cans are ring pull).
The saucepans that fit inside each other are great. They came with a frying pan too but it was so rubbish we had to resort back to a regular one!

[Crwban]

Saucepans are a pain to sort. There's a large outwell casserole pan that I like but what I really want are 2 pans and a fry pan Largs enough for my family. The stacking ones that I've seen are just too small.

[Milliways]

If you can afford them, Tefal Ingenio Pans nest perfectly. I bought them for our camper and then got another set for the home kitchen as they are so good.

[BiddyPop]

OOOh, those tefal pans look good. I was looking recently at Magma Pans as recommended by someone for boating.

[Crwban]

Millways are the Tefal ones big enough to boil enough potatoes/pasta for a greedy family of 4?!

[Milliways]

Yes, and you can buy different sets with all sorts of sizes

[Crwban]

Are they heavy?

[ivykaty44]

Ditch the duvets
Ditch the carpets
Only take enough clothes that will fit as one wash in the washing machine - for each person
Share one wash bag

[SingingAvocado]

Our car is always so full! We hire a fridge there and I usually just have a frying pan and a medium sized pot for cooking. We have a trug for washing up and I try to pack the kitchen stuff in there. We take two burners and a mini BBQ too. As far as clothes go each of us has one of those weekender bags and you are allowed to take what fits in that. I tend to go for 7 changes and 14 sets of knickers for a fortnight …

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I know someone who gives her DC a carrier bag each and tells them to pack, but if it won’t fit in the carrier bag, it’s not going