If you self cater on holidays - what sort of meals do you make?

You take meat abroad on a plane ?!
Is that even allowed, I’ve had a yoghurt confiscated before now , we needed it as daughter takes her medication in it.
They do have meat abroad, part of the pleasure for me is discovering new things in markets , or even supermarkets, a huge French supermarket is a wondrous thing. !

First day I'll take a pre-prepared meal I cooked at home. Usually spag bol.

Other things tend not to need seasoning and I'll use butter instead of oil. Such as

Jacket potato, beans, cheese, tuna and salad.

Salmon, new potatoes, salad/some kind of veg

Pizza

Sausages and mash

Pesto pasta.

M&S ready meals!!! The posh ones.

Or stuff from that Cook shop.They're also really good.

We mainly go for party snack type foods that you just pop into the oven, with some veg sticks and dips and salads. Nothing that takes too much prep. If staying longer than a few days would add in easy meals like pizza and salad, pesto and veg pasta, or a nice ready meal. Or make a batch of something before we go that’s frozen and take with us. Between that and eating out a couple times we’re sorted!

We tend to go to Cornwall and have pasties for lunch and an easy grazing salad for tea. Always go for a place with a dishwasher to reduce the load on dh as he does it all now am disabled. Ds asked why we always go there and had to explain it’s a relaxing break for all.

when we go elsewhere we try to make as simple meals as possible but again dishwasher is a must have.

I pre cook and freeze the protein part. So bacon, taco sauced ground beef, marinaded chicken, shep pie, beef stew. And then just cook the potatoes/pasta/rice when I get there. I also take cheese, ham and any specific items the family like that I might not be able to find there. I tend to buy the dairy, bread and veg/fruit when I arrive. I have also been known to pack a couple of bottles of wine and some beer as it is often a lot more expensive in holiday spots. I have also packed a freezer bag with frozen meat to fly to another country as a piece of checked luggage as the hold on airplanes is nice and chilly, so it lasts for ages. You do have to buy a good quality freezer bag though and check the regulations on the country you are traveling to. I also then put the freezer bag inside a duffle, just to minimize questions and make it easier to carry

We spent a week on a boat earlier this year and ate in twice, with very limited facilities. We try to minimise clean up/dishes as well as cooking tbh.

Meal 1
Whole herby chicken in a tray...zero clean up!
Baguettes.
Bags of salad.

Meal 2
Tins of chilli.
Microwave rice pouches (I'm not a huge fan of these but when you're covering them with chilli they do the job nicely).

When we went to France I'd do a full cooked breakfast (we took everything frozen in coolboxes), chicken curry and rice (took those mayflower curry tubs), indian curry (took jars). We did eat out most nights though.

In Florida I did a roast chicken dinner (took my own gravy browning 😂) when the kids were younger, they wanted a pool day so it made sense to eat in and cook while they played.

This year we stayed in a lovely cabin for two nights which was very well kitted out with dishwasher, hot tub, pool etc but in the middle of nowhere so no supermarkets, before getting there we did a supermarket run to get meals and washing powder 😂 we had a large ready made lasagne and pizza the other night, strange not cooking from scratch but didn't expect the cabin to have so much extra stuff.

This is an inspiring thread. I always self-cater (over AI) and just eat out for every meal. But I’d quite like to do more cottage-in-the-middle-of-nowhere trips, so these are some great ideas for how to feed myself on those trips!

If I'm with my parents they will drive so will throw some oil, spices etc in the car. We tend to be by the sea so buy lots of fresg fish and seafood and cook it fairly simply with potatoes and a veg. I might make a mayonnaise.

Abroad it's harder. Hope for a decent store cupboard in the flat. Very variable! A lot of dinners of cheese, cold meat, salad. Always berries.

Oh and I also if abroad would pack some basic herbs and spices, the refill boxes are handy. I’m happy to buy some nice oil etc and good ingredients and don’t mind things not being finished. It’s not worth being frugal and then not enjoying the meals.

As others have said - when abroad, eat out at least once a day, and have that as the "main" meal and see what is available locally - lots of stuff from delis and markets, to the point where now if we're staying in a hotel we often feel disappointed we can't buy and cook some of the nice things we see!

Also - I don't shy away from buying staples, even if I know I won't use it all. A bottle of olive oil and the makings of a few favourite meals are still going to come out a lot cheaper than a single meal out, even if I leave half of it behind.

In the UK, we take staples with us.

In the UK we tend to eat out for breakfast or lunch and then eat in in the evening.

I’ll often cook and freeze and a couple of meals in advance, chilli, curry, ragu that type of thing.

if I can I’ll cook a giant roast ham on one of the first days to have as a roast dinner and then sandwiches and ham, egg and chips (take away ones if possible, if not m&s chilled or ill make my own in the same way I do roast potatoes).

steak will often feature, very low effort and feels like a bit of a treat.

we eat very similarly to how we eat at home really.

abroad it is more grilling, pasta, big salads and cold bits and charcuterie. Or Fanta lemon, paprika crisps, a baguette and some aioli.

I may take my insta pot and air fryer on holiday if space allows.

Veggie version of this. Lots of bread olives cheese salad deli things etc. Yum.

We do a brunch usually by the pool (always get an Airbnb with its own private pool)

Otherwise we eat out at night

I rarely cook at home so I am not going to start on holidays

We usually book somewhere in a good location and eat out everyday and just buy some snacks for the room

We alternate between pub meals, BBQs and things we can leave to cook all day like pulled pork in the slow cooker. And a takeaway or 2!

Simple stuff. Rotisserie chicken, pizza, pasta and sauce, tuna pasta, omelette, ham, egg and chips. If on a French campsite, takeaway frites with the above!

Chicken wraps. Breaded chicken tenders, wraps, grated cheese, salad etc

If in the UK we do a combo of M&S and Cook ready meals.

Abroad - breakfast cereals fruit bread pastries eggs yogurts

lunch - baguettes salads cold meats crisps and dips

Would eat out every evening

UK cottage break - breakfasts we would take cereal stuff for toast, sausage and bacon etc

stuff to take picnics out

again evenings probs eat out or maybe a couple of bbqs / pizza nights / fajita

In the south of France or Italy we always find some kind of a shop/cafe that sells affordable, fresh take-away regional home-cooked meals and the quality is amazing.

We usually have breakfast rolls at ‘home’ and lunch or early tea out before heading back to cottage - in the evening it would be things like a scotch egg or pork pie we had picked up during the day alongside cold cuts and salad and M&S snacky bits

If staying in the uk we take the slow cooker 😂 I prep after breakfast things like spag bol, chilli, casserole so it’s ready when we get back from a days exploring and I just need to sort pasta/ rice. Probably a jarred pasta bake too, as that’s super easy

if we’re abroad we tend to stick to things like pasta which is easy to cook and not unless to clear up

We did sc on a UK holiday. We did things like pizza and chips, pasta dishes and managed a couple of stir fry’s too.

We’re doing another SC break later this year, so starting to plan what to take in terms of seasoning etc as we hadn’t taken anything last time. We’ve been buying smaller versions of stuff when spotted on offer - I.e 250ml bottles of oil, sauce, decanted salt and pepper into a smaller pair of shakers etc - we’ll still bring back anything we don’t use, but find it easier having the smaller versions.

We've just got back from a week's self catering. We've had corned beef pues with salad and pickles etc - made and frozen in advance and defrosted on journey there. Spaghetti bolognese. Salmon and new potatoes. Sausages on the bbq. Two days we had large lunches out so just had fruit and snack bits in the evening.