Self catering evening meals (taking food shopping with us)

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Help me put together a meal plan - 5 evening meals, need to shop before we go and bring stuff with (remote location) and also will be out walking etc so needs to be fairly low effort each evening.

So far I have "pasta bake and garlic bread" and that's it

2x adults and 2x kids. One child will eat literally anything, the other won't eat anything with basically any flavour! I may just do plain pasta/wraps etc for that child.

I'm a big fan of the "it's holiday, so let's just pick up a rotisserie chicken and a baguette and wine" each day but realistically this isn't going to be possible. We have budgeted to eat out two nights (and we will be doing packed lunches).

What are your go to quick family dinners that don't need much labour and don't have to be bought fresh that day?

Tortilla melt with grilled chicken
Baked Camembert (melted cheese on toasted baguette for alt)
Chilli and jacket skins
Ribs and sweet potato chips

Nigella has a good chicken and sausage tray bake.

You basically shove everything on a sheet pan.

Serve with jacket potatoes.

www.nigella.com/recipes/one-pan-sage-and-onion-chicken-and-sausage

I love camembert, good shout. Is tortilla.melt like Quesedillas? Good idea!

Fajitas or burritos.
A quick meal we like are flavoured rice pouches (we like the Mexican one) with cooked chicken slices, a tin of sweetcorn and a chopped pepper, all stir fried together.

Super easy child friendly options :

stir fry with tofu / chicken pieces (can get stir fry meals deals)

pizzas and salad

Nice burgers, buns, salad

fajitas with peppers, onions, sweetcorn, salad, cheese, quorn/chicken

jacket potatoes with whatever filling you prefer

recommend doing a click and collect near to your location so you don’t need to worry about keeping it cold - don’t forget S&P, butter, oil etc!

if budget stretches you could also get Cook Meals - we get these and then add some simple sides when on holiday

we’ve also done a Gousto delivery to rentals before which has worked well as you have all the ingredients you need, get to try new things, and can if you want choose recipes under a certain time to prepare . Can also get kids involved in choosing options. They do some great first time offers too

Not a regular dinner, but first night on self catering with parents was always ready cooked chicken with salads. DH & I tend to have pasta with broccoli and either nuts or shrimp; both are quick and don’t require us to figure out the oven.

We’re doing the same at the moment and have done:
veggie bolognese and spaghetti
hearty bean and veg soup and bread
risotto
chilli and rice

Could you take a slow cooker with you (or 2?)
You could jacket potatoes in one and chilli in another and dinner will be ready when you get home from day out.

You could then prep veg or buy pre prepped veg bags to put in the slow cooker for soups/stee/casserole (I know they're more autumnal dishes but with the weather at the moment it might be welcome!)

Funnily enough I did consider the slow cooker but it's been so rainy where we are (Scottish borders) the slow cooker has been on almost daily! We need a break.

Have a look on Sainsbury's just cook & slow cooked ranges, all the supermarkets do similar things, you know what sides you'll want when you pick a main.

Buy chicken mini fillets, sprinkle with chilli seasoning and oil and bung in the oven.

Serve with tortillas/tacos plus toppings of choice (sour cream, cheese, guacamole, refried beans (tinned), salad).

Substitute chicken nuggets for child who doesn't like spiced food.

Oh she would just have some non spiced chicken breasts so I could split her portion onto a different dish.

This takes minutes and is delicious
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/mustard-pork-chops

Take a curry with you ( I would make it, but you could buy obviously) then just cook rice/ heat up sides ?

Big pot of soup with crusty bread and cheese.
If you eat meat and are feeling flush steak is very quick to cook with oven chips.

Meatball subs.

Chilli and Nachos (just bung some cheese on some salted tortilla chips and bung under the grill)
I’d buy some frozen fish and chips portions and a couple of runs of mushy peas if there’s a shop reasonably locally on the way to handle frozen.
can you pre-make a cottage pie or similar and then just heat up with some veg?

pasta bake you already have and the ‘something with chicken’ any of the above works well. You can also do a quick jar of curry sauce with chicken and cauliflower and a few packs of the microwave rice that’s super quick

You mention being out walking a lot so some slightly more filling/stodgy things than you might have normally are probably not terrible.

We are away and have done:

bolognese (froze and bought with us for first night)
ate out - burger & chips etc
tuna pasta bake
chicken curry & microwave rice
tonight DH drove to nearest village for bargain fish & chips
tomorrow bbq even if raining, will put DH under umbrella and eat inside
sun - roast in a pub

Charlie binghams are our go to - we normally take the chilli and get some Doritos - 2 of their curry’s with poppadoms - their meatball pasta with bake at home crusty bread - for the first night it’s normally pizza or hot dogs .

I cook bolognese and a chicken curry before hand and freeze it.
Take it with us frozen and it'll keep in the fridge for a few days. Then it's just a case of cooking spaghetti and rice.
Other meals are
Pizza and salad
Fajitas (can use any leftover bolognese or curry)
Tray bake of sliced baby potatoes, fish or chicken and veg.

It's a holiday, so whatever just go for something easy. One meal you could make beforehand, freeze and defrost while travelling. Would you be prepared to totally cheat and take a dip to add veggie sticks/something crispy to, a couple of pizzas and salad. Stir fry with chicken or prawns or topped with salmon/white fish is a quick easy meal.

Traybakes are my friend for this sort of holiday. Easy to prep and I can sit with a glass of wine relaxing with friends and family whilst dinner cooks
We had Thai salmon noodle tray bake for dinner last night. 5 minutes to prep and 35 mins in the oven

Chicken or beef casserole using the Schwartz or Colemans and packet of stew veg (prefably one with potatoes).

Bung it all in a casserole, no prep needed, and stick it in the oven and eat with crusty bread.

By using multiples of ingredients, I did this for 18 once!