Help me survive a travel lodge holiday, family room, holiday with toddler on a budget!

[ToddlerAdventure]

A few months ago we booked a few nights in a travel lodge type hotel, close to an attraction. Basic, with just tea and coffee facilities.

I don't want to waste money on expensive "you're a captive customer so we will rip you off" type food.
Issues:
•hotel is budget so the breakfast is a rip off.
• it's on the motorway so unlikely to be near much.
•obviously no fridge

I want to take as much supermarket food as I can but I am struggling with what to take that isn't complete crap.

There will be no fridge - solutions for storing milk etc? Run a bath of cold water? Would long life milk be ok?

No toaster- breakfast ideas? I could do pre wrapped croissants or bagels but would rather not...they don't fill me up for long enough and, quite frankly, bung me up.

Lunches- I will buy all the fruit and snack options but nowhere to store margarine...it would be ok in cold bath water wouldn't it?! I could make basic sandwiches? But, again, nowwhere to keep anything cool. Don't fancy warm, salad sandwiches.

Evening meal I accept will need to be eaten out.

Have you got any clever suggestions for food when you have limited options? And how to survive sharing a room with a 3 year old

I honestly think camping would be easier and more pleasant than most of these suggestions.

I realise it's too late but next time I would really recommend looking for an Airbnb locally to the attraction you want to visit. They're often not much more than a cheap hotel but you get a kitchen, you could have separate bedrooms and probably a living area once toddler is in bed.

For this occasion I would suggest couscous salad for lunches. Couscous can be made with just hot water and mixed with non-fridge veg like red peppers, cherry tomatoes, spring onions. Some sandwich fillings are fine warm, although not very exciting - marmite, peanut butter or jam?

Ready break/ oat so simple pots for breakfast which are just add hot water. Or cereal/granola bars and fruit.

Hi. Know not everyone likes them, but have seen tip before about putting tinned hot dogs in flask with boiling water and then just taking rolls with you - not tried it but apparently they cook in the flask and just take them out and pop in roll.

Remember that a thermos will keep things cold as well as hot. So if you pour milk in as soon as you buy it it should stay cold. You just need to make sure you wash the thermos out thoroughly everyday.

Can you put your microwave in your car ? Look on gumtree for tiny fridge and then sell it again for same price when you return.

Surely you can get an airbnb for a similar price? I've stayed in nice studios/flats and even small houses for about £30 a night.

Also see if the is a coop or Tesco Express locally where you could just pick up a meal deal for lunch.
We sometimes do thus, just buy a couple bottles of water, pack of 4 rolls, a pack of ham, multibag crisps, pack of biscuits and punnet of grapes. Lunch for 4 for about £7.50

When are you going. We took an electric cool box. About £40 in Lidl or aldi towards end of may. Worth it.

We had the premier Inn breakfasts each morning though so this was drinks and snacks. It still saved money though.

I would consider taking a microwave and toaster. Buy food daily from a supermarket. Milk a pint or 2 at a time. How about a camping stove or disposable bbq for the odd evening if weather is nice. Buy bread rolls ham and sliced cheese to make sandwiches for lunch.
Also if there's a Wetherspoons nearby it'll be cheap for breakfast and set you up for the day.

Electric coolbox, plugs into the car cigarette lighter socket on the way there and you can also get a mains adaptor for running it in your room off the plug. It doesn't need to run all the time, and if you're careful at only taking stuff out quickly and putting it back again it won't lose so much of it's cool so won't need to be run as often.

Porridge pots with fruit/jam. Cereal bars. Those individual wrapped brioches. Visit a pub with sauce sachets and steal them.

Tbh I'd probably just find a local supermarket/Gregg's and get a lunch deal - it's £3 for a sandwich, drink and snack in Tesco. Take those with you to the attraction.

Headphones for watching tablet of laptop once toddler is asleep. Bottle opener.

You can also mix porridge oats with yoghurt and judged fruit and put them in cool box fridge overnight, they are yum! I have them as I hate hot porridge. Experiment at home before you go.

Not judged fruit, squashed fruit

We are going over Easter. My parents have confirmed access to a small fridge! I've also checked reviews and most of them are negative about the shop/services nearby, saying they just aren't stocked properly. Looks like I've chosen a right shit hotel but it is only 10mins from said attractions. There really wasn't much budget accommodation nearby over Easter.

Some very imaginative ideas on here

Porridge pots? Just add hot water and you're good to go.
You can get similar for pasta/soup too

I honestly think camping would be easier and more pleasant than most of these suggestions

Probably but not everyone has a tent or the gear...I own nothing camping related.

Would avoid hearing anything in the kettle due to the scale inside. Also you get told off by the hotel if food in the kettle sets the very sensitive fire alarm off

I'm unlikely to do any of the food in kettle suggestions to be honest.

For the milk, if you can't find individual small uht cartons, either stick to coffee and buy a few yazoo vanillas or just buy 3/4 1L uhts at 50p each. You could put a splash in your porridge, make tea and make DC a milkshake/hot choc to minimise waste.

Porridge pots with banana / Cereal with milk above.

Peanut butter sandwiches for lunch with any dry snacks/fruit you like.

Precooked couscous from sainsburys just needs hot water. Tin of tuna, tin of sweetcorn and a jar of pesto. Some dry parmesan if you want.
wraps with mattesons cooked sausage for a type of hot dog thing. Doesn't require refrigerating. With a nice slice of cake.

I’m sorry if I put you off but I’ve never used hotel kettles since reading about people washing their underwear in them🤮

Also if you don’t want the room cleaned mention it to reception, don’t just presume because it’s a days inn it’s that cheap there won’t be cleaners - a touch snobby in my opinion

You're all mad! Taking toasters and fridges to a hotel? Surely you just eat cereal bars and bananas for a few days, a bread roll with sliced cheese for lunch, and Wetherspoons for dinner?

Don’t make it difficult with cooking shit up in the room!

We do hotel room camping quite a bit. We do have a cool bag and if need top up with supermarket ice (needs to be in something or it will leak water everywhere).

Easy breakfasts:
Instant porridge pots
Breakfast bars
Croissants or pan au choc or brioch purchased night before
Cereal and milk/individual yog pots purchased night before
Fruit

Milk/yog will keep well enough overnight in the sink with cold water if you want to avoid buying a cool bag.

We buy ham or cheese night before and pita or baguettes and bagged salad or cucumber and make up sandwiches. Add in a carrot, bag of crisps and a saidsage roll and an apple or something to complete the picnic.

Dinner we would always eat out - you can eat fast food cheaply. Just don’t worry about nutrition too much for the few days you’re there.

Basically what 3in4years said!

Oh and if you phone in advance you can request a larger room / ground floor or whatever. The chain hotels can reserve you a specific room on their system.

You find out all sorts of things when you actually live in these places!

You might even get an L shaped room so toddler can go round the corner!!

I would be really pissed off if the guest before me cbooked vegetables and eggs in the kettle, we always take porridge pots, cereal bars, box of cereal, fruit and biscuits and bottles of water. I stay in travelodge or premier inn where you can fill up at breakfast and take pastries, yogurt and fruit back to your room, no idea what days inn are like. I wouldn't bother with a fridge, its a fire risk, we take a cool bag.