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

[NewShoesForSpring]

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?

If in the uk I take all the frozen leftovers that are in the freezer, or I will cook extras on the run up to the holiday and freeze portions. If abroad lunch out and bbq local fish and meat with lovely salads and bread.

I should have been more descriptive! We mostly only do this when we fly to the Caribbean to sail a boat around the islands, it is the most fantastic holiday, but the catering can be tricky if you dont want to anchor in a bay with a restaurant on the beach every night. The cooking space and appliances are quite limited on the boat, and the availability of food in the supermarkets can vary a lot as it depends on what shipments have come in that week. I also struggle to trust some of the food handling for the frozen and chilled foods since I have seen loads sitting on the docks for hours clearly going above food safe temps. So we take down our meat, frozen and some select ham/salami/cheddar options for sandwiches. It works really well, but you have to check the bag, there is no way TSA would let it through in hand luggage 🤣

I had visions of x ray machines picking up images of legs of lamb🤣

Sounds amazing by the way, can I come ‘

If self catering abroad we go out for evening meal. Im not cooking on holiday.

Are you actually making this every night on holidays?

As i said earlier i'm an excellent cook & we eat really nice food all the time at home but im just not prepared to spend my days / evenings in the kitchen.

We've been on some longer trips of a month in Europe / Australia & that's different. It's more similar to living there so first days we'll stock from the supermarket & i would cook simple, fresh stuff there. We'd also eat out a lot to try out new restaurants etc too

But if I'm away for a few days to a week I have zero interest in making lasagne from scratch. It's a total waste of my valuable time imo.

Also on a side note I see a lot of people saying they come home to make dinner & that's it - into pj's to watch TV for the night. Again that's an alien concept for us on holidays!

We love city breaks & we book an apartment rigbt in the heart of the city (usually in the old town if there is one)

We always have specific stuff we want to do & see & i love doing all the research & planning.

A typical day would include getting up & dh loves to go out early to get fresh bakery goods- croissants in paris, churros in Spain etc with coffee & juice & he brings it back & I'll of often have mine in bed with book or on a balcony overlooking the city if we have one

Up & ready then to head out to explore for the morning. If we're heading to a specific place like a museum or gallery I'll research nice lunch places in that location.

After lunch we'll wander, sight see, stop for coffee/ wine / beer / aperol etc watch the world go by.

Perhaps go visit something else we want to do or see particularly if it's an area of a city - we'll wander around & stop as we please.

We usually head back to accommodation around 4 /5pm & have some snacks- local crisps, olives, salami, wine / beer & a relax that usually involves a little lie down on the bed. Then a shower & get changed for the evening.

We go out for a drink & then I'll either have a booking in a restaurant or we'll have scouted one earlier in the day.

I'll look up places to eat under a range of criteria - sometimes best traditional food or best pizza or best tapas, best seafood etc

We're not really into fine dining too much but we will have a range of experiences

We absolutely love visiting the 'grand cafes' in Europe & make a point of researching of them & we go & have coffee & cake their & soak up the atmosphere

We go out every night. If we've eaten a big lunch we will have lighter smaller dishes at night or vice versa

We love a stroll around to find a gorgeous wine bar & sit for a few hours.

Often I'll book tickets to an event- music (we love jazz) & we've also gone to opera houses etc or we might be there to attend an event (exhibition opening etc) if we've friends living in that city we'll have dinner & drinks with them.

Our dc are young adults now & love coming with us. Often dc might have a friend with them & they'll be gone doing their own thing & we meet for lunch or dinner or a drink etc

When dc was a baby we brought her out with us for dinners) & when a toddler we tried to make our main meal at lunchtime as she needed to be in bed early enough

I didn't enjoy those hemmed in days as much though we always got nice food in & wine etc

Once she got big enough she came with us again. She's v adventurous with food & we all love going out

On longer trips we'd buy nice food in a deli or supermarket to just heat up. Or we'd order in & about every 3rd or 4th night we'd be out

But even if we'd eaten in we'd go out got a walk / drink after

I just could not sit around the apartment all night watching TV- i can do that at home any night. I'd hate to do it in an exciting busy new place!!!

Who said anything about watching TV?

cereal / toast / fruit etc for breakfast

lunch out

snacky bits for tea.

Maybe eat out one or two evenings, generally if we’ve had a quiet day or we’ve had a late breakfast out.

I cannot believe you do this on holiday! When do you have time to just chill and read a book or go sightseeing?!

We're on holiday right now and so far we've cooked ready-marinated pork chops so no need for seasoning, sausages over the fire (that's our most common holiday meal as we always stay somewhere we can light a fire for cooking on), fried fish that we caught, mincemeat sauce and boiled potatoes. Breakfast and lunch has been bread and cheese and cold cuts. Salad for vegetables.

Will go fishing for more dinner food this evening

Even if we fly when we SC, I bring a couple of important kitchen tools (a small sharp knife, peeler, corkscrew, 1 wooden spoon) and a couple of seasonings (paprika, salt/pepper, maybe a couple of packets of mixes or a jar of Italian seasoning, 100ml bottle of balsamic vinegar, a few ziplocs and a few icecube bags). When I get there, I do a food shop including a small bottle of olive oil. Maybe some fresh herbs.

I use ziplocs to marinade and mix things, or to store leftovers.

we do a combination of salad-y meals, BBQs (if possible), throw easy things in the oven (chicken joints either with feta/thyme leaves under the skin or marinated in lemon juice/garlic, lamb chops, both of which can be on a bed of veggies and potatoes, shop bought lasagna, pizza we make with shop-bought bases and local ingredients, etc). I might make chicken fajitas one night but using a kit for ease. Some nights we just have cured meats/salamis, cheese, olives, cherry tomatoes and crusty bread.

Basically easy cooking but nice meals. I don’t feel guilty about using kits or readymade a few days. I don’t feel guilty eating out a few days. I like to see what’s local when I do my food shop and use those.

If we are driving rather than flying, I bring more bits in the car (tools and ingredients) - I have an 11 litre tub from Ikea with all my bits for SC and camping. The car also often includes more mixes/seasonings and possibly a frozen HM made for night 1 (a good curry, spaghetti Bol, chilli etc) and nice sides. It always tends to be easy cooking (which can involve a few steps some days but in a “do something and leave it for a while, then throw it somewhere to cook that doesn’t need constant stirring” way). For us, it started as saving money, but it’s also about saving time and managing our time and getting nice food that we like - mooching in the kitchen with a glass of wine in hand and nibbling olives while dinner cooks and DD used to enjoy playing and spending time with us and having our attention.

Whats your point?
I did all of the above on our holidays, including the swanky cafes and fabulous places for our dds to be "advenurous" with food.
We still manage to cook lovely food on our SC holidays, DH does most of it in fairness, its his love language, cooking for us. Its how he spends his valuable time, caring for us. He works a lot, so cooking up a storm for us on hols is something he loves to do. Ive yet to eat better in a restaurant and its just the best time ever sitting around a table chatting all evenign after a day out and about, we dont need to go out every night
Dont think we ever watched tv.

It seems that unless we follow @NewShoesForSpring 's superior example, we are all tv-watching slobs.

We self cater in France every year. Lunch is baguette with ham, cheese pate etc and salad. If we are going out we take this as a picnic. Dinner is usually something that will go in the oven- pizza, quiche, lasagne, or something easy like fajitas. We do burgers and sausages or hot dogs. Both my DC are autistic and have their own requirements about food so self-catering works much better for us. We prefer to spend money on having nice, private accommodation than eating out as that is more important for our family.

We usually go self catering abroad but rarely actually cook. We’ll get cereal/pastries/bread and fruit in for breakfast. Get a simple lunch from snack bar or similar then out for dinner in the evenings.

See this is what I think it’s going to be like (“always berries”). In reality it’s sometimes a chippy and a bag of Haribo 😂

This feels weirdly like a “my holidays are superior to your holidays” post from the OP (though I agree @SheSpeaks’a sounds madly OTT).

We mainly holiday in the UK, self catering cottages in the middle of nowhere. So often there isn’t really much eating out choice.

But DH isn’t really into food and DD has always been quite fussy, and both are veggie (though DD not so much these days) so it’s been easier to cook in, but I keep it pretty simple - fresh pasta sauces, JPs, pizza. We eat out more at lunchtime while we’re out and about, and might hit the pub a couple of times in a week.

Just easy stuff tbh! SC in France, Italy, Greece we have done a mixture of eating out plus bread, cheeses, meats, crisps, fruit, yoghurt etc. for the other meal and then if cooking in, pizza, burgers, BBQs, sausages, roast veg, pasta dishes, salads, etc. Even SC in the UK I wouldn't bother with anything labour intensive.

On holiday and you cook, you do that 7 days a week, that is definitely not a holiday

Breakfast - cereal, croissants, fruit

Lunch - Packed lunch/pasta and pesto

Evening meal - stir fry, wraps, salads and eat out several times.

My friend takes her slow cooker. It's chilli, curry etc. for her family

It makes no difference to me. My husband cooks. Seven days a week at home and most days on self catering holidays. He likes cooking.

For me, being on holiday is exploring a different place and spending time with my family. I don't mind cooking while I'm there. I enjoy going to French supermarkets!

To be honest, I'd prefer to have a holiday from cooking when I'm home and stressed with school, work etc. On holiday I don't find it a chore.

@SheSpeaks

omg, firstly those meals you describe are not ‘basics’ and secondly do you get to do anything else on holiday other than cooking?! Holidays are for exploring not being stuck in the kitchen cooking a roast! Pare it back - throw some frozen pizza into the oven and relax, it’s your holiday too you know!

A lovely easy option is to have a selection of cooked meats, salami etc, nice breads, jars of roasted peppers and artichokes, olives, nice cheese, and sliced tomatoes with onion and balsamic. Dead easy and lovely with nice glass of red😋

Or make your own pizza with white bread mix for the base and easy toppings

Why do loads of cooking on holiday🤷‍♀️

Dh used to rarely cook - and he likes cooking so he used to plan the most complicated stuff.
Roast and 2 veg one meal
Pie from scratch
Lasagne from scratch
etc

Only thing was that he wanted me to cook half, and we'd spend half the afternoon cooking, and a certain amount of the evening washing up. We were normally missing an ingredient he'd forgotten because we'd normally have it in stock, but a holiday place wouldn't, and there were never enough/the right dishes plus the knives made cutting harder. It was stressful.

So I managed to convert him and we normally have something along the lines of:

1. Ready made lasagne
2. Pizza, possibly with garlic bread
3. Fish and chips (at least the chips bought)
4. A meal out
5. Quiche and salad
6. Stuffed potatoes (only meal with any cooking needed)

Phew!