need some advice from camping cooking pros.

[kerryk]

first camping trip ever next week, we are going to france

originally we thought about eating out every night but that would take up a huge chunk of our budget so going to take a lot of things from home, only problem is because i have never done this before i have no idea if i am thinking along the right lines

we will prob still eat out twice so i need easy meals for the other 5 nights, i really dont "do" faffing iykwim so want it all to be easy peasy.

ideas are

1/ dried pasta and lloyd grossman sauce.

2/ tinned chicken curry and boil in the bag rice

3/ tinned casserole of some sort with tinned pots and veg (can be heated together?)

4/ some couscous or savory rice thing

do these all sound ok for cooking on a 1 ring gas thing?

also is tinned food ok because i have never tried it before should i go to m&s and hope i get something that tastes better or is the stuff in tesco ok.

we were going to take some of those breakfast in a tin things so we can still have our nice sunday brekkie.

also what should i be taking for cooking for 2 adults and 2 children. i thought 4 plates,4 bowls, cuttlery, tin opener, couple of large serving/wooden spoons, wash bowl and 2 pans (i medium size and 1 frying pan) anything else?

[kerryk]

i love this tip "bake a box of camembert cheese wrapped in tin foil on the bbq then dig in with french bread." from another thread

[Lilymaid]

Erm what you have suggested are things I might take as emergency rations but I would get along to the local supermarket and buy meat that can be barbecued, bags of salad and loads of bread.
You can do a very nice cooked breakfast with French chipolatas and eggs (bacon probably not available).
DH takes M&S tinned curries etc when he goes on his mountain walking trips to Scotland. He quite enjoys them as he is cooking out in the wilds, camping/bivouacing/staying in bothies but he and his walking friend both agree that their special treat is a tin of (French) cassoulet!

[milkybarsrus]

If you think about it, if you was going to eat out all the time, then you must have a sort of largish budget anyway????? so I would strongly suggest you spend what would have been some of your eating out money on a camping grill and hob which would cost about £20-£30 quid, probably less than one meal in a restaurant. It would be worth its weight in gold money wise, far better than a single gas burner!

[kerryk]

thanks for the replies, you can tell i dont have a clue about this

[MrsBadger]

far too much tinned stuff IMO

you are in Fr not the outback

go to a shop or a market
buy meat or fish, bread, salad
bbq meat, put in bread, add salad, done

we did this for 2wks in Fr recently

is there a bbq on site?

remember cups and glasses
and buy a kettle - water takes ages to boil in a pan

[vitomum]

agree with mrs b. i am just back from france - they had shops, and markets, and generally loads of gorgeous food .

take one emergency meal - the pasta and sauce.

have you a little frying pan too for sardines, sausages etc. Makes a good meal with baguettes and salad.

are you going to a reasonable sized campsite? if so it will probably have a take away on site

[uptomyeyes]

.....add corkscrew to your list of utensils.

Big French supermarkets often have chickens roasting on a spit or huge paella's cooking so you can always buy that and then just dish it out back on site with a salad on the side.

Have a good holiday

[uptomyeyes]

...camping kettle.

[kerryk]

think i may have forgot that they have shops in france

i have a barmans friend on my bunch of keys so all sorted there

we have a couple of the disposable bbq's. i forgot that i had bought them.

[Lucycat]

Take some sort of strainer for your pasta. I strain ours into the washing up bowl then tip it away when it's cold. Think I got 2 for a £ from the Poundshop.
I'd take another pan too, so that pasta/rice can go in one and the sauce in another.We also have a trivet (79p from Asda)(to put hot pans on - you'll scorch the grass otherwise!)

Take more teaspoons than you think you'll need, they are used all the time for yogurts. and some plastic mugs to use for picnics.

Oh and it being France take a bread knife and a decent veg knife too.

We are off to France next week too - Sunday actually. Where are you off to?

Reminds me i must review my 'list'!

[kerryk]

we leave on the sunday but are spending a few days at london then getting the ferry on the 31st.

we are staying at the siblu site at normandy for 3 nights then going to another site near disney for 4 nights. still not sure if we will do disney or not, dd's and i did it last year without dh and he would like to see it but i think it might be to soon to go back for me, my nerves have not recovered from all the queueing last year.

[Lucycat]

ooh lovely - yes I'd avoid Disney and play up the campsite pool! Have a lovely time.

[bigTillyMint]

Ha, ha, agree with Mrs B, but I take all the stuff you mentioned too!

Also, jars of curry sauce good with chopped fresh chicken and some rice. And my DD LOVES batchelors noodles with anything!

Do you have a bbq? Also some campsites do take-aways