Stressed about self-catering. Recipe ideas please!

[Zampa]

Going away to France and have self-catering accommodation. We normally travel to All-Inclusive hotels with amazing buffets where everyone pleases themselves so I'm getting v anxious about feeding everyone something they like in the evenings (and eating out every night seems excessive).

Please can you help me with some dinner ideas for 3 children (fairly flexible but still kids), DH (vegetarian but I can cook him a big ratatouille and he'll eat that happily, all week), my Dad (no garlic, no vinegar, but quite cosmopolitan apart from that!) and me!

Spanish omelette? Steak (with a cauli one for DH)?

TIA

If you can be bothered....it's really tasty.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/304349/recipe/ricotta-and-spinach-lasagne

Look for restaurants nearby ? Meal planning and cooking isn’t a holiday (beyond breakfast and lunch). We’ve had some truly spectacular meals at local restaurants in France.

Fajitas? Meat or Prawns and Veggies for DH

Tbh in France I’d be going to the local supermarket/shops and living off bread and cheese and meats

And YY to their excellent pre-prepared foods

Are you familiar with French supermarkets?
They have everything you didn't even know you needed. And lots of them have counters with ready prepared food that you just need to heat up (paella etc)
Breads, meats, cheeses, salads..you won't go hungry!

Make sure it's a holiday for you too?
Keep it simple, use the hopefully beautiful fresh fruit and veg? Big salads, cheese and fresh bread?

Mussels and baguette
Various salads
BBQ
meats and cheeses

Just make what you eat at home!

Most supermarkets have a good selection of ready made food and loads of pizzas if you fancy an over food night.

Where are you staying? Do you have a bbq?

Most of our guests seem to eat various breads, fruits (watermelon), and wine. Or bbq something. Or pasta and ready made sauce ( by the million empty sauce jars in the recycling).
For breakfast pop out to local bakery or supermarket bakery for Fresh pastries.

Eat out lunchtime when you’re out and about. Lunchtime meals usually cheaper also

Go out for dinner? Why is the cooking all on you? That is kitchen my pea of a holiday.

This.
Lashings of fresh fruit, cheese, cold meats, tomatoes. Intermarche and SuperU sell pizza and lasagne as well as pick your own swimming lobster!

Hopefully you will have a barbecue.

Remember to take your own shopping bags.

We always go SC in France. We just buy fruit/yogurt/pastries for breakfast (plus daily bread from the boulangerie), and simple salads or sandwiches for lunches plus snacks/drinks. We tend to eat out in the evening so I don’t have to cook. But if you have to cook stick to easy convenience foods like pizza, pasta or a chicken and ready salads. It’s your holiday too!

It's your holiday as well
Get the adults to take it in turns

Why would it be any different from what you cook at home?

Pizza from the supermarket or all do your own toppings with bases from the supermarket.

Look out for ready prepared meals you buy by the portion at traiteur counters at the supermarket or the local butcher. It will often be stew type meals, cous cous Royale, chicken supreme etc.

You could do a mixed seafood plater from the ready to eat seafood at the supermarket fish counter, your DH could have mushroom omelette that night.

Salade Niçoise would work for you all, (no tuna for DH) use good quality tinned tuna and ripe tomatoes.

Don’t mess about cooking. No need to cook from scratch - who wants to be bloody chopping onions and garlic blah blah on holiday. And the utensils/knives are always crap in rentals and the oven never works like yours at home.

French supermarkets have everything you could want. Just buy everything ready prepared- they have lots of dishes like lasagna and ratatouille available in the chiller cabinets which are really tasty. Plus fresh made pizza.

And then a couple of nights of bread, cheese, cold meat, salad etc. Plus a couple of nights eating out.

The French are not as obsessed with “home cooking” as you would expect - they often buy in ready made food - the difference is it is very good quality.

Job done!

Exactly. The supermarkets sell everything.

But in France just eat loads of baguettes.

French supermarkets are amazing. I'd live off bread, cheese, seafood, fruit, wine and pastries for the week.

Self catering is for eating out, don't be cooking on holiday. Bread and cheese maybe and cereal for breakfast

Rotisserie chicken can go with lots of stuff. Shakshuka a good veggie option we had a few times on our holiday.

Thanks guys. 🥲. These are great ideas and you're right in that there are loads of easy options. For some reason I've got it into my head that we need to be eating amazing meals each night rather than the everyday.

Food is always a big part of any holiday for me so I've built it up into a thing to worry about.

DH does the cooking and he's not remotely interested in food so we use Gousto at home (otherwise it would be beans on toast all the time). It would be the same on holiday (food is fuel for him) so trying to think ahead to eliminate the fretting.

We prefer self catering as it's more flexible. Pizza (at a price point to suit you) and salad is always good. Quick and easy pasta dishes. Sandwiches. Plus some meals out. I'm just finishing our menu plan (we move things around to suit as we go) for next week 😬

Roast chicken. Every supermarket and every market will have a rotisserie. Then lots of sides including veggie ones. If it's a MN chicken it will last days...

We holiday self-catering in villas. We have a rule that we only eat dinner in the villa on alternate evenings. However, this usually goes by the by after the first week and then we eat out every night 😄
We eat breakfast in the villa and most lunches.
’Foreign’ supermarkets are fab - better than UK ones for fruit and veg. They have great meat counters and fish counters and deli’s.

Make simple meals, grilled or bbq chicken or fish with small potatoes and salad

Pasta with veg and tomato sauce

Pastries for breakfast - are you near a town? Get them fresh each day.

Lunch - bread with cheeses, pate, cold meat etc. Get the tubs of remoulade and grater carrot from the supermarket.

Or eat out.

Dinner - rotisserie chicken and salad or takeaway pizza. My partner does all the cooking and loves it but we're not veggies so easier to have steak or merguez sausages.

Plus eat out.

What is your DH cooking?