Make-ahead/freezer meals for holiday cottage?

[roamingcat]

Hello,

We're shortly due to go on holiday in the UK to a self catering holiday cottage. Thinking of trying to make some meals ahead and take them with us in a cool box in the car to make dinners a bit easier this time. Bolognese is definitely on the list, any other suggestions?

Thanks!

If you need to for financial purposes I completely understand but if not, why oh why oh why on earth would you do something like this?

I read about this on here, in fact Ive never come across it in real life, people lugging dishes of spag bol or lasagne or curry or whatever in the back of the car (like there isnt enough stuff in the back of the car already).

Holidays are for relaxing arent they? Take a picnic, buy it in the local supermarket there, go out, have cheese and crackers

Anyway, enough of my confusion

If I HAD to do something like this, then easy ones would be to mix up the spag bol sauce or ragu sauce in a big pot, then cook the pasta once there, chuck cheese over it

You could take pots of soup and just have nice bread, cheese, olives, salami etc etc

You could cook a load of hard boiled eggs, salmon, new pots all in separate pots for a salad

Its about your storage facilities and whether you want sweaty old pots travelling round with you.

We've got a lasagna and cottage pie

We usually eat out for lunch and stay in for dinner so that my partner (who is the driver) can have a drink in the evening. Last year we bought food to cook when we were there but the selection wasn't great and we struggled with the lack of ingredients (e.g. missing all of the spices and condiments we're used to at home), so thought we may eat a bit better by making some bits ahead and taking them with us.

@bellac11 I’m guessing the stuff is being put in Tupperware dishes rather than pots? Or the oven ones with the Tupperware lids.

how long are you going for OP?

id be tempted just to get pizzas / posh ready meals tbh

Easy meals to take, Mac and Cheese, Lasagna, cottage pie/shepherds pie. You could book a shopping delivery to the cottage for when you arrive, saves room in the car! Have a lovely holiday

We're going for a week.

Pizza and a couple of posh ready meals is another good idea!

We also have a slow cooker so I'm wondering if I just take that (and decide on a few recipes in advance so I know any extra bits I need to pack) to make cooking there easier...

We have often taken a couple of meals frozen. One we tend to eat the night we arrive and one a couple of days later. It's no big deal and keeps the work down on holiday. We tend to do a curry and a Bolognese or chilli.

When our children were smaller we would have lunch out and evening meal in the cottage. But we would treat lunch as our main meal and just buy bread and stuff for sandwiches that we made at the table in the evening.

I’ve done a Hello Fresh delivery to the holiday cottage in the past. Then you get all the ingredients you need (apart from oil, salt and pepper and the like).

I totally get that if you’re SC you want to have a think in advance about what you’re cooking

Chilli is a nice easy make ahead too

Can’t you get a supermarket delivery to the cottage and just take a bag of herbs spices oil stock cubes etc?
You could still do a bit of a batch cook there if you wanted to.

Hello Fresh is a brilliant idea!

Slo cookerbodca good idea. Buy s chicken.thrrr some frozen veg and have a midweek chicken dinner. Also gammon cooked in slo cooker in cocoa cola is delicious. Have s great hol.

Get a delivery to the holiday place from Cook, or Apres Food. And while you're at it, Majestic Wine also deliver. Job done!

Yes I assumed it was tupperware type things, the point is the same.

And we're the same with the posh Cook meals, they're great, even though they are expensive, nice and simple

If we cook on self catering holidays I try to keep it simple so recipes that use minimal herbs and spices. These are some of our standards:

• hot dogs (sausages and corn on the bbq) and possibly coleslaw
• grilled fish, new potatoes and steamed veg
• find a good local butcher or farm shop and buy some ready marinated meat for the bbq, serve with a tomato salad and a green salad
• pasta (sauce varies on what’s available and what we fancy but carbonara needs few ingredients or you could make a pesto and take it with you).

If we’re by the sea, one night is always fish and chips.

I forgot one. Charcuterie, cheeses, olives etc with a couple of baguettes always features.

I'd go for Hello Fresh or Gousto and a supermarket delivery.

I only take frozen dinner for the first night so I don't have to cook the first evening. Usually a chilli. You can eat it with rice one day and have tacos or with loaded tortilla crisps the next

We did this a few weeks ago! Not just for financial reasons, with a toddler it's much less stressful having some meals in the cottage instead of keeping them entertained in a seat at a restaurant while they hungrily wait for food... It's just a bit much to be doing that for every meal...

We did a load of roasted veg, half went into cous cous for lunch and the other half went into tomato sauce some gnocchi. Also did a white sauce, again with some veg in it and had that with pasta. Freezing them and putting in a cool bag worked well - some were still part frozen when we got there a good 6 hours after leaving home!

Are there any supermarkets nearby, or are you hours from the nearest? Do you know what cooking facilities are in the place? I've been to some advertised as self catering- but there was no oven or no microwave, a single cook top etc- so do check beforehand.

You will only fit so many frozen things in a cooler box! The other issue might be a tiny undercounter fridge there with a miniscule freezer!

IF you can get to a supermarket there, I'd buy things that need some cooking- but minimal. Those bags of frozen stirfries with the sauce already in the bag, bake jacket potatoes- but buy the coleslaw/fillings etc. Take a jar of pasta sauce, a tin of tuna, tin of sweet corn- and make a pasta bake there.

Cook's veggie lasagne is exceptionally good, as is their coq au vin. I would take ready-made mash too. I like wintry food in the summer 😂

Who usually does the cooking at home, who will be doing the cooking in advance if that's what you do, and who will be cooking the meals once you get there?

We usually do this. It saves loads of money and time (no need to shop or cook). Macaroni cheese, sausages and jackets, chilli or spaghetti bol. Freeze, take in cold bag. Put in fridge when you get there.

Agree with 1st poster, I would never do this, lug food away on holiday, where is your sense of adventure. ,,,? Mealx out, takeaways etc, eat the same stuff you do at home, what's the point. ? However Cooks are great ..I could live with their frozen stuff.

On a 7 night sc holiday with young DC I would do this for 2 nights. Bolognese or lasagne. Homemade tomato & veg pasta sauce with that fresh filled pasta that takes 3 mins to cook in a pan. Curry or chilli.

Why?

1. cba to decide what to cook/eat every single day (exactly like at home) so having a couple of days planned helps me chill out
2. Saves time and money whilst there
3. means my fussy DC are guaranteed to eat at least 2 meals with hidden veg in the week (and not just chips)

I always do this. I don't want to be stuck cooking or shopping on my holiday and it is always down to me to do the actual thinking about it and I do that all the rest of the bloody year.

Chilli
Spag bol
Curry
Jar of sauce and bag of pasta
Bbq
Takeaway
Eat out.