Food to take on a 'camping' holiday in France

[snowgirl1]

We're going on a Canvas holidays (erected tent with beds in, so I know it's not proper camping) holiday in France this year and we're driving. We've done a couple of this type of holiday before, but always flown - this time we'll have a bit more space to take stuff as we're driving.

We tend to have a lot of BBQs, but as a vegetarian I get a bit bored of barbequed quorn sausages (if I can find them in the French supermarket) and grilled corn on the cob, with salad. Can anyone suggest what food stuff I can take with us that will vary things up a bit?

If I was veggie and camping in France I would buy their fabulous veg in the markets and make ratatouille, to have with baguette and some cheese, make dishes from puy lentilles, boil artichokes and eat them with dressing, barbecue slices of courgette, with rosemary and grated Parmesan.

Maybe take some blocks of halloumi to BBQ?

Take a BBQ wok, brilliant for mushrooms marinated in oils and herbs.

Cheeses, olives, remoulade, fabulous things from French supermarket deli counters... what could you wish to import from Tesco? Look for felafel to BBQ.

we always take a few cans of kidney beans,chickpeas etc as we have not been able to find tinned ones in france that dont have a load to salt or sugar added. Also we used to take sliced bread as we found french sliced bread to be quite sweet.
other things we tend to take that we cant find easily over there is dilute squash for the dc as it all seems to be sugary syrup in France
I know these are not really helping sorry i cant think of much off the top of my head, we do tend to take a few packs of cous cous from the uk as they work out cheaper and are convenient and easy to make
we have found most items readily available in large supermarekts though, the reason we stock up on dried food is it tends to be cheaper to buy certain things over here

I'd be making veggy skewers. We normally have them as three veg with our meat.

Thanks for the suggestions. Halloumi for the bbq is a good idea - I'm not sure why I didn't think of that as we eat Halloumi quite a bit at home, and love the idea of grilled courgettes and veggie skewers. Cous cous is also a good idea - a side dish to ring the changes a bit.

If I'm honest, I don't really want to be making ratatouille or making dishes from puy lentils as I'm on holiday, I'd really like thing very quick and very easy! I know there are French supermarkets and lovely food markets, but sometimes on self-catering holiday I feel that we waste hours every couple of days buying food and traipsing round supermarkets - when I'd rather be going for walk, or playing on the beach with DD, or reading a book.

We take as little as possible and then head for the nearest supermarche where the food is far more exciting than over here. If we are feeling lazy, we buy frozen ready meals (paella, fish pasta, risotto) and have found them to be pretty good. Sometimes we get chips from the campsite takeaway and eat them with salad, slaw and merguez sausages/steak hashe/chicken. We love the cheese, bread, amazing cakes.... and vino!

We just take what we need for the first night and then shop every 2 to 3 days. We eat veggie or vegan at least half the time (as don't want to store meat or fish in a cold box for longer than a couple of hours).

We pack chilli sauce as that's hard to find but that's about all.

I wouldnt take any food, its all better quality in France. we just take vimto (kids are addicted). TestTubeTeen has it spot on!

You could take those pouches of ready made Puy Lentils by Merchant Gourmet. Sainsbury's have them. They are great in a bowl with veggie frankfurters.

BBQ Fake Ratatouile: lay out a big sheet of foil, folded to double thickness. Add chopped onion, garlic, courgettes, aubergine, bit of tomato, salt, pepper, plenty of herbs, sprinkle of sugar, dots of butter or drizzle of O Oil. Wrap parcel, but not tightly, leave space for veg to steam. Lay parcel on not too hot BBQ til cooked.

I wouldn't take any food to France.

Cheese
Bread
Repeat.

Only things I take are tea, gin and tonic. Never seen fever tree in France.

We've just been to France this week.
The supermarkets had lots of ready made salads - couscous, cucumber, coleslaw, etc which were nice with some cheeses, French bread and grilled meat (for meat eaters)

Stuffed peppers (ready made packet of couscous)
Large grilled garlic mushrooms

Veg kebabs (onions, mushrooms, peppers, cherry tomatoes)

Quiche

nothing - french markets and supermarkets are fabulous.

Can you bring/buy Ziploc bags (sandwich bags), olive oil and seasonings?

Buy garlic.

In the mornings, chop your veggies to the size for skewers (or smaller to cook in tin foil pockets). Pop into the bag with enough olive oil to coat and some salt and pepper. Add seasonings - things like lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary. Another night maybe balsamic vinegar, thyme, oregano. Another night, maybe some harissa; or some tikka paste or something. Some days, (I've never cooked halloumi so just guessing), could you add the halloumi as well to the seasonings? Then cook in the evening.
By veggies, I mean a nice mix of the lovely fresh summer veg like onion, mushrooms, courgette, aubergine, peppers, cherry tomatoes etc. (Any leftovers, you could mix into couscous the following night for your salad-y bit?)

Maybe one day, use a pan (or tin foil packet on bbq) and cook mushrooms in butter with garlic and thyme, add a splash of white wine and cream to finish, serve over toast or mixed into pasta.

Another day, do broad beans and again serve over toast or mixed through pasta.

slices of aubergine marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon, then barbecued to char the outside: replaces the burger in a bun but melts to garlicky heaven in your mouth.