If you are self-catering abroad, what do you pack by way of food?

[Lovemenorca]

Single parent two children

Usually we do all inclusive or half board. This year our big hol is in Feb so I’ve booked a simple air bnb for a week in Spain. There’s a full kitchen. I’m looking to only eat out for dinners. So planning to “cook” for breakfast and lunch.

Lovely town. No big supermarket close by. A large corner shop that does phenomenal fresh fruit salad and veg. But limited in terms of dried goods.

We are no foodies. And I’m not interested in cooking elaborate dishes or sourcing local specialties. We are very active and eat to fuel and it’s a lot of veg, fruit, salad, avocados, salmon, chicken, Greek yoghurt etc and i will get these locally.

However, I’d like to take the kefir yoghurts that I love that I know won’t be available and also some cream cheese. Can I pack these items in a cooling lunch box with an ice pack in it - and do you think ok for a total of 7/8 hours door to door (transfers flight etc)?

Planning on bringing some packets of microwaveable rice, tins of Wild salmon and also tins of tuna - so then I can mix eg rice, tin of tuna, tinned sweet corn and a splash of soy sauce (my children LOVE this!). Also I’ll bring some tortillas and then I’ll fill with cream cheese and ham that I’ll buy out there and they can have but the pool. I’ll get a load of salad from the shop and have with the tinned tuna I’ve brought from home.

Breakfast - I’ll bring porridge sachets (so then I just need to buy milk) , dried apricots and dates for topping. And we will also have lots of fruit and maybe some toast.

I drink almond milk - I’ll pack the long life version as wont be able to get there

So my question is re whether possible to bring a small amount of refrigerated food if backed in hold luggage in a cooking bag with cooking packs inside?

And then curious about what you bring by way of dried food for self catering abroad holidays?

@seatoski

Excellent post.

You do know you can't take any liquids over 100mls through airport security op? I would be really worried about food exploding all over my clothes in the hold.

I love this thread - eat to fuel is the most pretentious thing I've heard in a long while 🙄
We had a timeshare in Menorca in the 80s and 90s & my mother in law took a leg of lamb with her one year 🙈

I have been known to take my bread maker, flour, yeast, a sharp knife, tea pot, tea, bread knife, wine and beer when I'm self catering in rural Scotland (Islands).

When I self cater in Spain, France or Greece I take nothing. Nada. Not even a tea bag.

Maybe I'm missing something because I don't eat to fuel, but I make a point of selecting my accommodation so that it has a range of eating options and I can shop locally. Part of my joy of being abroad is being able to lose some of the hum drum tyranny of almond milk and kefir yogurt.

Each to their own, maybe.

In the event of no deal Brexit you won't be able to take dairy and meat products in to the EU.

Why did you take all your food to the Caribbean SeatoSki?
And does anyone else think food to fuel food to fuel sounds a little erm.. joyless? Live a little OP or at least let your kids do so while on holiday?

I don’t take anything when we self cater

I'd wait until October and see what happens with Brexit as things could be very complicated otherwise.

The only time I ever packed anything particular was a couple of packets of stuffing when I was away over Christmas once

The first time we went to Australia for Christmas, my wife took a couple of Christmas puddings, a brandy soaked Christmas cake and several jars of assorted chutneys. All home made.

They were filming Border Security at the airport when we arrived and I was convinced they were going to do a special feature on us. It was all declared and the customs and quarantine people couldn't have cared less. Just waved us through.

This reminds me years ago when I was doing my MA at Uni and lived in halls of residence with a group of Greek lads who had known each other since high school (I am also Greek btw). The lads’ mothers were taking it in turns to come stay with their sons for a month at a time and cook for their precious darlings who would wither away in the foreign land without home made food. One of the mums turned up with a huge suitcase full of raw meat in one compartment, and, whole, raw fish in the other one! It stank the halls of residence out for days and didn’t even fit in the freezer!

People take bacon and sausages???? If you don't like the stuff where you're going have something else instead! Surely you can go a week or 2 without bacon or sausage.

We self cater every holiday, I've never taken anything food or drink related with me!

I took the food to the Caribbean for a couple of reasons. Firstly because we sail, so are self catering on a boat. What you can cook successfully on a boat is quite restricted and I have 3 very hungry teens a pre teen and a DH to feed. You have to do a supermarket trip at the base before you set off and get everything as you can't guarantee on finding anything for the rest of the trip as it is smaller islands. The other reason is that the supermarkets down there are supplied by big boat deliveries, so if someone else has been in before you and bought all the bacon, you are just out of luck until the next delivery arrives. Lastly I have struggled to find meat that I am confident hasn't been left to sit on a dock side in the sunshine defrosting before being refrozen. A lot of it looks very dodgy and I don't want the family down with D and V on a boat with limited water supplies and ease of access to a doctor. But sailing down there is fantastic and with some adjustments like this it is the most relaxing holiday we have tried

This is crazy. Surely you could save on luggage costs and spring for a taxi to the supermarket instead? Or home delivery.

Sounds like you are taking tonnes. And fridge food. Yuk. Im not huge on food hygiene but even I think its dodgy.

Plus what if anything splits?!?

Don’t take the dairy. It won’t be kept cold enough whilst you travel to the airport/before it’s loaded onto the flight, then it will likely freeze in flight, then defrost whilst being transported off the plane and to wherever you’re staying and get to above well above normal fridge temperature. It’s a recipe for food poisoning. And if you’re really not foodies and just eat to fuel then surely you’ll manage a week without the bloody kefir.

Other dry stuff sounds fine but a lot of is unnecessary- a well stocked local corner shop/convenience store will have stuff like rice and tinned tuna!

Usually I'd only think about maybe taking things that you use in small quantities and are expensive (seasoning, condiments). But I did once take a whole Christmas dinner (inc potatoes, prepped fresh veg, tinned turkey and frozen nut roast) to the Canaries (long story). It survived a two-hour taxi ride, several hours in airport limbo, a four-hour flight and a hospital visit and was still chilled and edible. Ziplock bags are good for avoiding leak-related disasters. Do what you need to do, OP, and have a fab holiday.

I've always self-catered but drove to the destination. Tea bags, yes, marmite yes. First meal yes if arriving late or very early. Poss bag of rice/pasta, herbs and tuna. And always a good small sharp knife (has become a bit more difficult!) and an oyster knife if in northern France.

If they do do online orders locally and you know you'll be there for delivery then that's a result. Problem if you're flying with all that's going on. Having said that stayed with friends in the UK and because of traffic jams they almost missed a delivery for 22 people.

Don’t take the dairy. It won’t be kept cold enough whilst you travel to the airport/before it’s loaded onto the flight, then it will likely freeze in flight, then defrost whilst being transported off the plane and to wherever you’re staying and get to above well above normal fridge temperature

I’ve never had dairy freeze or go off, warm up even, and neither have my family and friends who shop abroad almost weekly for what we can’t get here. The journey home from most places is a a 7 or 8 hour flight plus travel and checking in time to the airport. Once landed it can be as little as 45 mins before we’re home or perhaps 2 hours if people have to sign off duty.

I also have smoked salmon and cheese sent from online companies in Scotland down to the south of England and it takes 24 hours to receive. It’s packed well, no different from how we pack our items we bring home from abroad, and they don’t spoil either.

Plus what if anything splits?!?

Honestly, I’ve been doing it for years and have never had a single thing spill because you don’t just open a case and shove things in. You put some thought into it and have one suitcase for the food and it’s generally packed in Tupperware type containers with frozen ice packs. I then seal the container with masking tape before putting bubble wrap around it. Last but not least I cover everything with silver foil blankets that the things have been delivered to my house in. Otherwise I’d put the containers into the freezer bags you can buy to take shopping home from the supermarket.

We have really well stocked supermarkets where I live but we’ve no speciality shops so we stock up abroad when travelling. Most of my children travel for a living and if they were going to Milan for eg they’d ask for a shopping list.

Drinking almond milk and eating kefir yoghurts doesn't sound much like eating to fuel to me.

Taking tinned fish to anywhere is Spain is like coals to Newcastle. There might be one brand of milk in a Spanish shop, but there'll be 25 different types of tuna on the shelves. Also rice is grown in Spain and cheap.

Almond milk is widely available in Spain, as is fresh milk these days. The only think I take is tea bags, if I remember, as the tea I like is really expensive there in comparison with home.

One of the best things about travel is eating and drinking local stuff. And shopping for food as the locals do.

Where is this village that thinks it's the early 1970s and Franco is still alive?

Well if OP wants to drag half of Tesco to Spain, it's up to her as she only sees food as fuel. Apart from Kefir. That's not fuel but an essential and obviously not available anywhere else in the world but for OP’s local shop.

If you're going for a week do you really need to take food from home? I've never heard of people taking any dried food (except maybe teabags) on holiday, let alone refrigerated goods.

How rural is this place? Will you have a car? It's Spain, not the middle of the Sahara. Hard to imagine there really is no decent sized shop within driving distance?

If you're not at all interested in food, why is it essential to bring a specific yogurt brand? If food is literally just fuel to you, just eat what's available in the village shops.

My MIL takes bacon and ham frozen to Greece with her, she also takes her favourite cheese (hard though not soft), and some bread rolls. So when she arrives she makes bacon butties for everyone as the bacon has usually just defrosted by the time she arrives in her villa 😂😂

She also takes tuppleware containers and when she is eating out in the evening, she packs up all the unused salad and other bits to use for their lunch the following day 😱😱😱😱 little skinflint.

Eating for fuel for meeans just that and wouldn't include nut milk,dried fruit ony porridge,tins of wild salmon,cream cheese.
This sounds like foodie territory to me.
I take tea bags ,salt,pepper,washing up liquid and coffee.
Each to their own.

Another one who thinks OP is bonkers