If you self cater on holidays - what sort of meals do you make?

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Just curious about this.

When dc were small we always stayed in apartments on city breaks / holidays so we had more space in the evenings when they'd gone to bed. Plus we could use the fridge for milk / juice / water / wine / beer

We'd stock up on cereal & bread for toast for them & fruit & snacks etc but I never really did much actual cooking

We'd eat out or if dc had eaten enough one of us would go to pick up a lovely takeout when they were asleep.

As they got older we'd all go out for dinner.

I've found fully self catering hard as whikr it's easy to pick up fish or veg etc in market / supermarket there's none of the other ingredients you need to season/ make a dish & if I'm away for a week I'm def not buying olive oils / spices etc

If you self cater, what sort of things do you make?

In the UK we tend to eat out for breakfast or lunch and then eat in in the evening.

I’ll often cook and freeze and a couple of meals in advance, chilli, curry, ragu that type of thing.

if I can I’ll cook a giant roast ham on one of the first days to have as a roast dinner and then sandwiches and ham, egg and chips (take away ones if possible, if not m&s chilled or ill make my own in the same way I do roast potatoes).

steak will often feature, very low effort and feels like a bit of a treat.

we eat very similarly to how we eat at home really.

abroad it is more grilling, pasta, big salads and cold bits and charcuterie. Or Fanta lemon, paprika crisps, a baguette and some aioli.

I may take my insta pot and air fryer on holiday if space allows.

As others have said - when abroad, eat out at least once a day, and have that as the "main" meal and see what is available locally - lots of stuff from delis and markets, to the point where now if we're staying in a hotel we often feel disappointed we can't buy and cook some of the nice things we see!

Also - I don't shy away from buying staples, even if I know I won't use it all. A bottle of olive oil and the makings of a few favourite meals are still going to come out a lot cheaper than a single meal out, even if I leave half of it behind.

In the UK, we take staples with us.

Oh and I also if abroad would pack some basic herbs and spices, the refill boxes are handy. I’m happy to buy some nice oil etc and good ingredients and don’t mind things not being finished. It’s not worth being frugal and then not enjoying the meals.

If I'm with my parents they will drive so will throw some oil, spices etc in the car. We tend to be by the sea so buy lots of fresg fish and seafood and cook it fairly simply with potatoes and a veg. I might make a mayonnaise.

Abroad it's harder. Hope for a decent store cupboard in the flat. Very variable! A lot of dinners of cheese, cold meat, salad. Always berries.

This is an inspiring thread. I always self-cater (over AI) and just eat out for every meal. But I’d quite like to do more cottage-in-the-middle-of-nowhere trips, so these are some great ideas for how to feed myself on those trips!

When we went to France I'd do a full cooked breakfast (we took everything frozen in coolboxes), chicken curry and rice (took those mayflower curry tubs), indian curry (took jars). We did eat out most nights though.

In Florida I did a roast chicken dinner (took my own gravy browning 😂) when the kids were younger, they wanted a pool day so it made sense to eat in and cook while they played.

This year we stayed in a lovely cabin for two nights which was very well kitted out with dishwasher, hot tub, pool etc but in the middle of nowhere so no supermarkets, before getting there we did a supermarket run to get meals and washing powder 😂 we had a large ready made lasagne and pizza the other night, strange not cooking from scratch but didn't expect the cabin to have so much extra stuff.

We spent a week on a boat earlier this year and ate in twice, with very limited facilities. We try to minimise clean up/dishes as well as cooking tbh.

Meal 1
Whole herby chicken in a tray...zero clean up!
Baguettes.
Bags of salad.

Meal 2
Tins of chilli.
Microwave rice pouches (I'm not a huge fan of these but when you're covering them with chilli they do the job nicely).

I pre cook and freeze the protein part. So bacon, taco sauced ground beef, marinaded chicken, shep pie, beef stew. And then just cook the potatoes/pasta/rice when I get there. I also take cheese, ham and any specific items the family like that I might not be able to find there. I tend to buy the dairy, bread and veg/fruit when I arrive. I have also been known to pack a couple of bottles of wine and some beer as it is often a lot more expensive in holiday spots. I have also packed a freezer bag with frozen meat to fly to another country as a piece of checked luggage as the hold on airplanes is nice and chilly, so it lasts for ages. You do have to buy a good quality freezer bag though and check the regulations on the country you are traveling to. I also then put the freezer bag inside a duffle, just to minimize questions and make it easier to carry

We tend to go to Cornwall and have pasties for lunch and an easy grazing salad for tea. Always go for a place with a dishwasher to reduce the load on dh as he does it all now am disabled. Ds asked why we always go there and had to explain it’s a relaxing break for all.

when we go elsewhere we try to make as simple meals as possible but again dishwasher is a must have.

We mainly go for party snack type foods that you just pop into the oven, with some veg sticks and dips and salads. Nothing that takes too much prep. If staying longer than a few days would add in easy meals like pizza and salad, pesto and veg pasta, or a nice ready meal. Or make a batch of something before we go that’s frozen and take with us. Between that and eating out a couple times we’re sorted!

M&S ready meals!!! The posh ones.

Or stuff from that Cook shop.They're also really good.

First day I'll take a pre-prepared meal I cooked at home. Usually spag bol.

Other things tend not to need seasoning and I'll use butter instead of oil. Such as

Jacket potato, beans, cheese, tuna and salad.

Salmon, new potatoes, salad/some kind of veg

Pizza

Sausages and mash

Pesto pasta.

You take meat abroad on a plane ?!
Is that even allowed, I’ve had a yoghurt confiscated before now , we needed it as daughter takes her medication in it.
They do have meat abroad, part of the pleasure for me is discovering new things in markets , or even supermarkets, a huge French supermarket is a wondrous thing. !

This is a brilliant idea.
We take oil, a sharp knife, and a cafetiere and order Waitrose click and collect. Eat the same meals we do at home - bolognese, fish fillets and chips, sausages and mash, orzotto, except we get fridge not frozen for fish/chicken fillets, and make wedges instead of oven chips as we don't usually have a freezer where we are (National Trust cottages). This year we are going to France so looking out for tips, though there will be lots of eating out I imagine.

In the UK we stop over night to our actual destination so I pack cereal and long life milk thats dinner in the evening and breakfast in the morning and no one grumbles!

We normally end up supermarket shops and try and have simpler meals. Nothing that takes long. Depending on where we are (forest/town) sandwiches or food out for lunch.

Food allergies + coeliac disease is an issue.

In Italy we ate out every lunch and just pasta with shop bought sauce and salad for dinner. I died of boredom but everyone ate and it was quick!

Rotisserie Chicken, salad and bread - all the major supermarkets to these
Ready made tortilla (chiller cabinet) and microwave to heat, baked beans and fried eggs
Pasta with a jarred sauce and grated cheese
Jacket Potatoes microwaved with beans and cheese
Cold meats, cheese, ready prepared salads coleslaw, potato etc, bag of salad and bread

funny story… my Mum once took a the tin of Heinz baked beans with us as my dad was really fussy on a self-catering Cyprus holiday…the tin of beans was in her flight bag, it came to Cyprus, we then from Cyprus went on a cruise to Egypt, tin of beans came with us, tin of beans did a full guided tour of the pyramids, went on a camel ride… the guide wouldn’t give my Mum back to us until my Dad paid a tip (ransom so the story goes)… not carrying any cash my Mum offered the tin of beans. Ransom wasn’t paid, my mums camel was slapped on the bum and my Mum galloped off screaming on said camel. Eventually some tourists we were travelling with collectively emptied their pockets and paid the ransom. Tin of beans came back to Cyprus, was never eaten and made its way safely back home to the comforts of our UK cupboard.

I would always get a supermarket delivery for the first evening. Pasta, pizza, salads, fruit and veg, breakfast etc for the week. Made life easier.

When SC in this country, DM usually brings a chili con carne, spag bol etc with a side salad for the first night.

Then if we are not eating out in the evening, depending on the size of oven etc 0 we go to the supermarket nearby and buy things like quiche, pies with salad or cooked veg. Sometimes we visit the local butchers for sausages.

We SC when we go to Madeira. Breakfast - fruit juice, eggs, milk, fruit from a local supermarket. Cobs/pastries from a chain of bakery/coffee shops in Madeira called Opan. Probably have a couple of lunches SC on the room's balcony. This is usually some loaf from Opan with cooked meat, olives, crisps, tomatoes and beer. Plus different flavour pastel de nata from Opan.

This is what we do. Double up on a couple of easy freezable meals, take that in a cool bag along with some pizza and salad so that’s 3 days.
Other meals could be baked potatoes and tuna mayo, pasta with pesto, stir fry noodles and we eat out a couple of times.

We have done villa holidays for the past few years. We eat out for dinner every night. We will have lunch at the villa, but that is just nice fresh bread and cheese, ham, fruit etc.

We have talked about staying in a couple of nights, but we would take some small amounts of spices etc with us and probably have grilled meat and salad.

I can't believe people are flying with frozen meat and gravy browning 😂

I’ve always been driving there if doing self-cater so I bring a cool box stocked with frozen entrees.
I can’t be bothered to cook on holiday. The most I want to do is throw a casserole in the oven.

We pretty much always stay in a hotel if we're not going abroad.

But we often opt for an apartment when we're on city breaks.

Honestly, I'd have zero interest in lugging frozen meat/ dinners around on a plane. That seems nuts to me.

And I'm not a fan of jars of pasta sauce etc even when we're at home & would be less interested in that on holidays

Food is a HUGE part of travel for us & we love trying new dishes.

We spent a month in Paris & even then rarely cooked in - we did keep the fridge full of fresh produce- cheese / dairy / deli / salad & fruit & wine & beer we mostly had breakfast & usually lunch at home (fresh baguette with salad & deli meats & cheese etc) but we ate out or ordered in at night

I love cooking & I'm a good cook but I don't like it in limited conditions without my ingredients

It's strangely fascinating reading about how other people do things

Grill chicken, fish, meat. Bake potatoes. Lots of veg and fruit