Help - holiday meals!

[Hannah1972]

We are looking at booking our summer holiday - 10 days eurocamp in France. I am already not looking g forward to it because of the food situation. I eat meat but my husband and 2 boys don’t. That’s problem 1. Problem 2 is that we will not have an oven, just a microwave and hob. I struggle with what to cook at the best of times to make sure they are eating ok. We went to a similar park last year and ended up eating pasta and pizza the whole time. Husband and boys are fine with that but I’m not.

Im already searching online for possible recipes and will be for the next 8 months! Fed up already. Does anyone have any suitable recipes they can share to save my sanity? The boys don’t eat mushrooms, eggs or tomatoes although in a sauce is ok. Sigh.

Have you stayed at a eurocamp before? You are lucky to get a kettle. 🤣

Fair enough, we do have a folding kettle that might come with us sometimes to Spain and Italy, theyre not big on kettles on the continent, they dont understand the concept of boiling water for tea!

Thanks for all of the helpful comments and ideas. I might have actually started to look forward to it 😀

If they eat those curry dishes they will likely eat things like this:
https://www.ocado.com/products/tilda-tasty-sides-indian-black-dhal-pulses-and-vegetables-620031011?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21516703562&utm_content=non-brand&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4rK8BhD7ARIsAFe5LXLZF1tYcKF-rdZK_aNFpNgOIQRKVFJIc8e_-q1c6OBsFJ1lTnRAIXYaAtAJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/kohinoor-dal-tarka-300g?istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=watqittiq&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20333793068&utm_content=shopping&utm_term=%257Bsku%257D&utm_custom1=&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4rK8BhD7ARIsAFe5LXLhxVtQaGAc_d_c7E6NPv-T3u7t9CKBJWrbN_6AGvQuJ_feA38lGugaAhHSEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Both companies do a range of variations. Tilda do a veg Thai Curry, a Chinese dish.

Take some packets of flavoured cous cous too, which is great for camping situations and goes with a range of veg. E.g pan fried courgettes, peppers, whatever, stirred through cous cous, with fried or BBQ'd halloumi on top. BBQ'd eg and halloumi kebabs with cous cous or rice.

I bet big French supermarkets will have things like ready made falafel and hummus to put in pitta breads.

*@Hannah1972

Umm, sweet potato and spinach curry, black bean chilli, root vegetable stew, broccoli and cauliflower pesto pasta, pizza for them and steak for me on Friday. It’s all very wintery. I’m happy to eat veggie most of the time."*

Ok sweet potatoes, spinach, all sorts of beans, broccoli, cauliflower, pesto, all easily available in any supermarket.
You won't find parsnips (they are "fancy foreign food" and currently €3 a kilo in SuperU 😳).

For a nice quick curry- Thai red or green curry paste, onion, veg (peas, carrots, green beans all work well) plus coconut milk is one of my go-to quick summer meals. All ingredients available in my local SuperU.

Fajitas are good too- I do them for Guide camp- chicken strips for you, cheese for the veggies, choice of onions, peppers, salad with dressing of choice.

A good one pot meal is cheats biryani- make a normal veggie curry, but a bit more liquid, put the rice in 15 -20 mins before serving, with the lid on the rice will cook with little or no added heat. Stir before serving, eat with a riata . Take your own curry paste with you- the selection here can be very limited and expensive, plus the French idea of "hot" really isn't 😂.
It will be fine! Enjoy your holidays!

Don't overthink it OP.

Really utilise the bbq to your advantage.

For breakfasts, fresh croissants, fruit, yoghurt, cereal

For lunches, " make your own" baguette sandwiches. Cheeses, salad, ham, mayo ect.

Dinners,

• jacket potatoes done on the bbq and toppings (Google how to cook the potatoes on a bbq)
• halloumi and veg skewers with flatbreads
• bean chilli and rice
• quorn burgers/hotdogs and salad
• Tomato soup and cheesy garlic bread made on the bbq
• baked Mediterranean aubergine with roast veg and rice made on the bbq
• cauliflower and chickpea curry with fresh flatbreads

(I have a habit of buying a large mug in my first supermarket shop on any European holiday- as they only ever have tiny cups.)

I have a small plastic box that started as a self catering box bd evolved as I got back into camping (in a tent). As there were always things missing - and most of the contents were bought on various holidays. A corkscrew. A tin opener. A wooden spoon. A sharp knife (I actually bought 2 decent knives with covers a few years ago). A small chopping board. The remains of a box of ice-cube bags (easiest way to make ice on home). A pair of silicone oven mitts. A small container each of salt and pepper. A 100ml bottle I refill with washing up liquid, a 250ml bottle I refill with olive oil. A small rolle of tin foil. A black sack (rolled up small). A roll of kitchen towel. A few sandwich bags. A wash up scrubby. A teatowel and hand towel.

Lots are consumables - I use them up and throw them away at the end. Or refill when I get home. And there are the handful of useful tools. If I fly, I take a large sandwich bag with the important bits in my case - or the tub if we drive. And I don't feel guilty buying nice things in the supermarket when I get there - as I'll use them for the holidays and might take home anything useful leftover, or just throw out small amounts if not.

Sorry, my point was that it's YOUR holiday as much as all the boys. So you deserve to be able to enjoy cooking some easy meals if you are self catering (nothing wrong with that to save money or to enjoy the lovely food available). So if you bring sandwich bags to be able to marinade meat for the bbq, or to shake veggies with seasonings for the bbq, or to mix pancakes (yes, I've done it successfully in sambo bags!!), that's a good thing, rather than hoping there might be a glass dish and cling film or some Tupperware type bowls, and finding nothing when you get there.

Will the children eat raw veg eg sticks of carrot, peppers, cucumbers etc? We used to get this lovely yoghurt dressing in France which we used as a dip. If they graze on that you can relax a bit about pizza. You could serve pizza with coleslaw, or corn on the cob.

Stir fries as already mentioned would be quick and you can add meat if you fancy some.

A variety of veg cooked covered in cheese sauce. Obviously you can't bake it but I think it's fine without baking.

We always went in the car so I'd take the stick blender, didn't take much room and was great for smoothies. Even when it's warm we'd all happily eat soup too. And a sharp knife and a chopping board as they only used to provide glass ones which drove me insane!
Again if you're going in the car, you could make and freeze something more complicated than you can make there for the first night which will defrost en route

Pressed send before saying... google vegetarian camping meals and see what comes up. Typically they will be quick and simple as people camping often only have a couple of gas fired rings.

If you are really stressing, give them a daily multivitamin and then you can relax a bit more.

Anything you can sauté or boil and put in wraps - fajitas, bean/rice burritos, even summer rolls with tofu in rice paper wraps - with lots of salad

Curry with rice and salad

Cold salad things (go to the supermarket and find interesting things) with baguette

It will probably be hot, so things you can serve cold would be ideal

The thought of taking an airfryer or steamer to France was making me feel very tired!! Some good ideas on here. It's your holiday so lots of packs of lentils/rice etc sound good. Veggie is less easy in France.

I'd probably do 2 nights of pasta because it's easy, 2 of pizza (ditto and French supermarket pizzas can be very good), assuming you're driving take a chilli frozen so it defrosts while you travel and plenty for wraps another night. Don't like the hassle of cooking more than a steak on the bbq on holiday.

At the end of the day, having fun and not spending all your time cooking is more important than if they have pasta 6 nights in a row.

Agree with @BiddyPop re the mug!!