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?

I’m a big fattie who eats for pleasure, so I take nothing at all with me and then monster the local shops.

But my other half is obsessed with tea and can never find the same tea as the UK and therefore takes tea bags. I just ignore him.

We don't take food for the holiday but take food for the plane in the way you describe (think frubes frozen when packed, mini tubs of humous and ice packs in insulated bags. By the time we've got to our accommodation anything left is for for the bin

Hoppinggreen my thoughts too regarding possible ED.

I pack absolutely nothing. Not one single thing.
I wouldn’t say we are foodies but we do eat well. Half the fun for dp if we are self catering is going out and looking for stuff in their little local shops (wouldn’t be my idea of fun but he does all the cooking so I don’t care how he spends his time on holiday!) and cooking up a feast if we are staying in.

I took some cereal bars in case the villa welcome pack wasn’t up to much.

Beyond food for breakfast the first day I think anything more is overkill.

It’s surely possible to enjoy a week’s holiday without guaranteed access to kefir yoghurt.

I’m genuinely surprised at all the people taking teabags on holiday

Why? Teabags vary massively in taste, quality and strength. They are small and light so no problem to take a couple for each day of your holiday .

My teabag of choice is Twinings Earl Grey. If by some fluke I found them abroad I hate to think how much they'd cost!!

Probably because I don’t drink tea (can’t stand it!) so don’t ‘get it’. I drink coffee, and am quite happy to try different varieties and have no loyalty to any one brand. Obviously it also varies massively in quality and taste but I enjoy sampling different types. I suppose I assumed tea was the same.

Depends. If we are camping, loads of stuff. If not then just tea and coffee. I love buying stuff abroad and bringing it home. I have a cupboard full of food from France and Spain atm.

To answer your question OP, although I didn't, my sister and her DH will take anything anywhere. She has just gone home from Jersey with clotted cream, butter, tomatoes, courgettes, green beans and orange juice in her suitcase. Provided it is well packed you will be fine.

Her DH bought grape vines, kilos of salt, cured meat, cheese and wine back from Bulgaria in February. Folk take all sorts in their luggage

Big difference between tea and coffee is that Spain is known for good coffee, but tea the way that UK tea drinkers like it is not a thing.

Plus tea bags being small and light and people often having a big box at home means that it's very easy to just stick a few in a freezer bag and throw them in the suitcase rather than pay over the odds for a small box of Liptons, because that's what you'll usually find, that you won't enjoy and will have most of them left over.

We did this with DC -fussy&no foodies😂instant mash,baked beans,packet soups,pot noodles,cans oftuna&sweetcorn/mayo &muesli bars..that way we had snacky crap on arrival&everyone had something they could wolf down..Mine was t bags,mini caftiere&decent ground coffee&stacks of choc hobnobs

I’m genuinely surprised at all the people taking teabags on holiday

I'm not. The last time I didn't was when we did a road trip in the US. I found that, it is virtually impossible to get a good cup of tea in the US. Even if you can find some decent tea bags, not easy, motel rooms generally don't have kettles. The same can be said for many other places. Cyprus and Australia being notable exceptions.

I would not take yoghurt no.. I've taken tea, porridge, my spice kit, wine! Why risk a suitcase explosion. Do without it or buy local yoghurt..

And I shall def look up supermarket delivery next holiday, thanks Billie.

I take tea and spices because I don’t want to buy a whole lot more if we fancy a curry.

Can’t understand why you would want to take anything else

I've remembered something that I always mean to take but keep forgetting ....halloumi!

As a non-meat eater it's a great alternative to meat in a self-catered meal and, so far I've not found it in any supermarkets when we've been abroad. We did find a grilled cheese but it was no where near as delicious as halloumi.

Other than that we only take teabags, black pepper in a grinder and sometimes some herbs.

We go self catering to Spain and Greece and I always take some food with us, mainly snacks for the children.

Supermarkets in the tourist resorts can be expensive (we paid £2 for a pack of bachelor supernoodles and £2 for 10 slices of ham this year). Not everyone has endless lots of money, so it makes sense to bring some items from home if the equivalents are going to be expensive.

Some people say that they don't like cooking on holiday. To me, there is a world of difference between cooking a meal and making toast or cereal.

We take supernoodles, crossiants, Pringles, biscuits and a box of cereal for the children (basically, light items that will survive the trip). Have never tried taking items that need to be chilled and I probably wouldn't.

The only problem you may have with your plan is the weight allowance. We had 15kg each and despite packing lightly we wouldn't have been able to take multiple tins of tuna and sweetcorn, plus ice packs.

We've just been camping in Norway. Took a lot of food as Norway is very expensive. Did bring a lot back but we had it just in case. Just had BBQs in the evening and UK cereal for breakfast. Plus UK coffee and tea. And wine from the UK as well. Or was it picked up en route in Germany?

Very unhelpful comment though! Normally we just take some stuff for a first night, as well as some snacks that we like.

I love shopping in foreign supermarkets -but we have the car and can shop with the locals in the big supermarkets.

To answer your question OP, although I didn't, my sister and her DH will take anything anywhere. She has just gone home from Jersey with clotted cream, butter, tomatoes, courgettes, green beans and orange juice in her suitcase. Provided it is well packed you will be fine

Her DH bought grape vines, kilos of salt, cured meat, cheese and wine back from Bulgaria in February. Folk take all sorts in their luggage grin

I arrived home from a UK holiday recently with 6 Haggis, 12 white puddings, 12 scotch mince pies, 10 Arbroath smokies, 24 packs Warburton thins, 8 tins of laverbread, 6 boxes of oxo cubes and 12 duck breasts.

Im already thinking about what I’ll bring from Switzerland in a few weeks.

RottnestFerry I suppose I just didn’t realise so many people were so reliant on a good cup of tea! I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just because none of my family drink it I hadn’t really realised it was such a thing.

I would just take teabags and marmite, then stock up at a hypermarket once I'd got to the destination country, on the way to the holiday home.

If you want to take packets of ready rice etc, the Jamie Oliver ones are great. Expensive but they taste like home cooked food. I was impressed.

I‘m in the never take anything camp am afraid. Even as a tea drinker, my week of weak Lipton yellow is always part of the holiday experience!

Am I the only person that is rereading the op to check she didn't say she's going to Outer Mongolia! It's Spain! They have food!!

Your existence sounds miserable, no wonder you and your kids are skinny if you don't delight in food, especially different foreign food whilst on holiday.
I'm currently on hols in turkey and am loving all the very different food. I want to try different things every day. And no, I'm not fat, I know food is fuel...there is just no reason not to enjoy it also!

I take tea whether in hotels or villas. When the DC were travelling with us I always took marmite - still do sometimes.

Everything else I buy there - that is part of the fun of being somewhere new.

I only take Yorkshire Tea bags and a small jar of Marmite. Everything else we buy in when we get there.

I take teabags, dried noodles, packet sauce mixes, packet savoury rice