If you take food on holiday what do you take?

[FCCRULES]

I have a friend who always takes PEK and corned beef to make sandwiches. I mocked her, then was so happy when we went away and after being by the pool all day we could have a little sandwich on the balcony before going out.

DP and I are going away in November and for some reason TUI has given us about 10 suitcases each. I’m used to trying to cram everything into an under seat bag. But this time I’ve got checked baggage, carry on luggage, and a personal item. Don’t know what to do with it all! So I’m going to check a suitcase and take snacks.

If you do this, what do you take?

If you don’t and you think it’s ridiculous that’s fine but of no interest at all.

I have got to be honest, I had never heard of PEK until one of my northern mates told me about it years ago. I from the Midlands and although it was clearly on sale locally I think we would have just referred to it as tinned ham.

Never heard of PEK.

I only take tea, my loose green or oolong tea, and an infuser.

I'm happy to buy local food, we're away currently and bought cheese, salami, olives, tomatoes, peaches, yoghurt, milk, crisps, etc at the mini market on the first day.

You must have shopped to be able to make your meat into a sandwich though?

It's important to check the import rules were you are going as many countries do not allow food to be imported, especially meat.

I like looking at different types of food available, different varieties of canned fish, different crisp flavours, fresh fish counters, are there any ready made foods good for a SC holiday.

We usually eat out once a day and then have easy food from the supermarket the rest of the time after doing a biggish shop on the first day and then a top up or two for more bread, drinks, crisps etc.

Im On holiday now, self catering.
We have gone out for breakfast every other day and for dinner every night but for the in between I brought..
Coffee
Brioche chocolate croissants
crisps
chocolate
crackers
bruschetta spice mix and this little jar of mini peppers in olive oil, mix it with the spice mix and put on the crackers with cheese for lunch. Husband thought this was mental but it’s been a big hit every lunch time.

Depends where you're going, but I always take loads of cereal bars, tea and coffee filters. I also take my homemade granola and chocolate if I've got room.

If I'm going to Barbados I take tea, coffee, UHT milk, salty snacks, biscuits, chocolate, wine and something easy to cook the first night we get there- eg tin of tuna, pasta and tin of tomatoes- so we don't have to shop immediately. This ouches of lentils are good too so you can whip up something easy.

Cereal bars tea bags and a v60 coffee maker - loving the PEK side conversation

Do you mean luncheon meat? We used to have that.

I’ve certainly heard of chopped pork and ham/Spam but not the PEK brand. It was always Wall’s. (Not the same as the ice cream people.)
However going into full student mode at uni we used to cook bits of spam in curry sauce. And not proper curry sauce either.

I'm currently in Greece, we've just bought a box of Yorkshire tea bags, and had a choice between them and PG Tips, plus the usual Lipton's and various non tea infusions.

Not a particularly touristy area either.

I’m a food packer because my mum did it. We weren’t a particularly well off family but my mum would trawl teletext for cheap deals and we managed to get abroad around 3 times a year. But we rarely ate out. Instead it was all stuff made from the contents of her suitcase. This included fresh meats which she would put in at the last minute. Any delays it would obviously go in the bin but in the main her suitcase would contain mince, chicken, ham, and endless tins.

For me, I take 4 tins of Heinz beans and 4 tins of chopped tomatoes on each holiday. Alongside that, I’ll have my daughters trusted breakfast pancakes and chocolate brioche. For eldest daughter it’s as many packets of super noodles I can cram in, along with a jar of Nutella. I did used to take bacon and sausage, but obviously rules have become incredibly tight and it’s just not worth the risk. Hand luggage will contain biscuits, chocolates, tea bags and sweets,

Alrhough we do eat out on holiday, often the kids don’t have breakfast so it’s nice to just chuck something together once I’ve secured the bacon from the local supermarket. I’ll also make a curry one evening, which reminds me, I take garlic and spices in food bags . So yes, I do take food on holiday!

Not really unless it’s a short UK break. We are going on a city break next week but won’t be taking and food stuff with us. We will buy snacks for the plane at the airport if needed.

Lots of tins of beans , half a toothbrush, my teddy and squeeze all the toothpaste out except for a pea size amount and cut my trousers into shorts

Grew up working class in the north and have never had tinned meat? Pull the other one.

I’ve never eaten meat in my entire life and even I know what PEK is!

We tend to do self catering, so I take spices, depending on where we’re going I take rice as well.

I’ll shop for a loaf of bread.

Heinz Baked Beans I can understand especially if it's a staple for picky kids but Nutella was available widely in Europe before it ever came to the UK.
(and the stuff you can buy in France is better than the English version, IME. )
You can buy teabags in just about any French supermarket. Good coffee, not so much. Also tinned tomatoes, dried pasta, bacon lardons and of course cheese to make a pasta and tomato sauce meal.

We’re staying at a hotel. We’ll have snacks and lunch around the pool. Then maybe a meal out, but last time we didn’t fancy a proper meal and just wanted a sandwich, but it was almost impossible to find a ready made one. This time I’m going to take it with me.

I usually take mini cheddars, cereal bars and a packet of Freddos.

I certainly wouldn't be taking tinned meat. 🤮

Sounds lovely! We’re not self catering, it’s just stuff I can take in a suitcase for a snack.

Very happy memories of Saturday teatime with sliced pek, boiled new potatoes drowning in butter, salad with salad cream and crusty white bread with more butter. And pickled onions. And Colman's mustard and Branston. Yum.
ETA the predictive text changed pek to pork!

In France there is often a fairly wide selection of Brit-style sandwiches available at service stations on the Autoroutes, as well as filled baguettes.

I take cereal, usually a variety pack for the novelty factor , fruit winder snacks for children , nature valley or similar bars , orange squash ( the mini squeezy one ) coffee & a jar of Marmite !
I’d take chocolate if I didn’t think it would melt into a mess

I know I can buy things but I don’t want to traipse to the shops. I want to go from the pool to the balcony and have a sandwich whilst playing cards and having wine before we go out.

Omg YES...GOTTA take t bags as a minimum !

Last year we were in Benidorm which very surprisingly does not have ready made sandwiches, and this year we’re going to Tenerife. We won’t have a car.