What are my easy teas on holiday in France?

[Rainallnight]

Holiday in France the week after next (if DS’s passport arrives and our flight doesn’t get cancelled!).

We’re self catering and I’d love your ideas for easy teas if I have a supermarché, boucherie etc at my disposal.

Two DC, 4 and 6, who are probably averagely fussy for their age. They’re not massively adventurous but will eat veg!

Merci!

Our French staples are a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket with various salad pots. And the tinned duck legs and we roast potatoes in the same tin in the duck fat. Again with salad.

Mentally walking round a French supermarket… Pasta and pesto. Baguette pizzas with cheese and serrano type ham. Spanish omelette/tortilla. Supermarche roast chicken and salad. Quiche and salad / couscous. Baked Camembert with baguette to dip and salad.

What do you eat at home?

for ease id cook one dinner for dc then once they are in bed I’d make a dinner of wine and either snacky bits of cheese/bread/ meats or dinners we fancied

All our holidays were in France when I was younger and I lived on Baguette, cheese, ham and melon for pudding.

You=dc for the first bit of my post

Oooh rotisserie chicken! Brilliant.

DD would think she’d died and gone to heaven if she had baguette and ham every day (she has digestive problems and it’s usually brown bread only!)

Tortilla, quiche, excellent.

At home DC eat fairly ordinary things @butternutsquishh. Chicken curry, spaghetti meatballs, pasta with veg sauce. All more cooking than I’m planning to do on holiday! 😀

Duck in a can!

Steak frites. Bonus points if you buy the frites ready cooked.

salad

all the cheese and bread

We lived off fresh salad, fruit, tonnes of cheese, pastry and yogurts. Every meal was picky bits with wine of course.

Are you by the coast? If so I'd buy whatever came in in the days catch and cook it simply, probably with lots of garlic! Then serve with fresh bread and salads. We had linguine with fresh crab, cherry tomatoes, garlic, black pepper and parsley. Took about 7 minutes and was delicious!

Most French butcher shops will have a traiteur section, where they have trays of prepared dishes, such as pasta and ragu, chicken in a sauce, couscous with chicken sections, etc.

They will also sell prepared meats such as meatballs, stuffed chicken breasts, breadcrumbed escalopes etc.

In the supermarket frozen section, look out for Picard brand which has things like lasagna, paella, savoury flans & tarts.
If you eat fish, most French supermarkets have fab fish departments, where you can easily put together an impressive platter of ready cooked seafood.

Have a super time, shopping for new foods to try is a big part of the fun in France. 🍷 🍷 🍷

This thread is making me want to go to France now

My favourite holiday meals when in Europe with lovely fresh ingredients are simple plates of cold cuts and bread. Nothing better than freshly baked bread with butter, sliced tomatoes and cheese or cold meat.

We eat lots of baguette, cheese, fruit and veg.

We always get a place with a bbq so can have bbq and picky veg.

The French crisps and small potatoes are somehow nicer. We eat lots of fresh salad too.

We head off to France for a fortnight in a gite in a couple of weeks. Can't wait.

Ooh yes @AdaColeman the traiteur section. Posh ready meals 😂. I’ve been to France a lot before. I’m just feeling a bit depressed and overwhelmed at the moment for various reasons and was feeling a bit down about all of the cooking and housework in a different location, so looking for some inspiration to remind me it’ll be ok!

(And I know we’re very lucky to be having a holiday at all. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for that. It’s just my MH is not in a brilliant place).

Based on my breakfast today I would say fried egg on toast is a fabulous meal and very very quick. Even better if made with thick sliced fresh baked bread with real butter and fresh eggs.

Don’t fort things like carrot rappee from the salad section.

Yes all the bread and cheese...

My kids are always happy with pasta for a quick tea - from simple tomato pasta, to a prawn linguine with cherry toms and olives. You can buy pots of heavy cream in the supermarkets.
Spanish omelette using tinned potatoes and peas with salad.
French supermarkets always have great fresh fish counters - if you can get any filleted (mackerel, sea bass etc) it takes minutes to pan fry in butter, with salt and pepper or soy sauce (too niche?) and serve with noodles, cous cous or just salad.
Bruschetta is also a lovely extra dish that we love on continental holidays also good way to use up slightly old bread - toast lightly, rub with garlic, top with chopped tomatoes and basil, drizzle with olive oil and black pepper. Yummy!

Enjoy your trip!

I think kids abroad will try new foreign stuff as it’s foreign. So nice cheese, bread, fruit etc. we ate langoustine on holiday and everyone loved it, even the beige eaters.

Rotisserie chicken for sure, and buy the potatoes cooked in the chicken fat if they are selling those as well.

Packets of charcuterie, rillettes to spread on fresh baguette, any kind of cheese, cherry tomatoes, hummous, a few tubs of things like tabbouleh and grated carrot, some olives and a bottle of wine for the adults and you've got yourselves a supermarket picnic. (Don't buy bread from the supermarket, it's a waste of calories.)

Buy all the yoghurts.

For breakfast, get yourself some nice fruit juice from the supermarket (Andros is nicer than Tropicana), some fun French cereal if your kids like it, coffee for you, Nesquik powder and milk to make chocolat in a bowl. Then go to the boulangerie and get a load of croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins etc. A lot of boulangeries will do a selection of mini viennoiseries which is always fun because you don't have to choose just one thing. Chouquettes are good at any time of day.

If your town has a market, go there to buy your fruit. Peaches and nectarines are in season at the moment and there are some nice melons around. Some vendors will also sell ready made meals on market day (not necessarily French stuff, it could be Moroccan, paella etc.) which might be a good halfway house between eating in and eating out.

Pastries, ham and cheese for breakfast

Lunch out (ice creams basically!)

Dinner - roast chicken, make a salad (Pinterest great for new salad ideas eg feta and watermelon or green bean ad halloumi), crusty bread

White wine for the grown ups

I’m with a pp - really want to go to France now!