Self catering holiday, what we shouldn't forget...

[killthewiseone]

We're going on a self catering holiday soon with 2 young DC. We've never actually had a proper holiday together before so feeling a bit clueless. We're writing up a checklist of all the things we need to remember, but can anyone suggest the easily forgotten but completely essential items we'll need for a self catering holiday?

Possibly tea towels, washing up liquid, hand wash, something to actually wash up with like a brush or some cloths. Dishwasher tablets if there will be a dishwasher there.

I'll keep thinking

Thanks flagnogbagnog, we'd overlooked all of those things!

Are you self catering in a house or a caravan? Are you by the sea?

Your preferred sharp knife, bread knife? Something to carry sandwiches in if going out for the day. Tea if you're going abroad.

A sharp knife, tin opener and corkscrew. Amazing how often decent basics aren't actually decent.

I always take chilli and curry powder and s&p, can of tinned tomatoes, pasta, beans, some teabags and coffee just so there's something

If there is a washing machine, take tablets/liquid and wash as you go, means you can pack light and take clean laundry home. Knives are normally crap so maybe take a couple of your decent ones, we sometimes take a veg steamer too as holiday lets don't tend to have them.

Toilet roll might not be provided.

Salt, pepper, some mixed herbs.

Kitchen spray or antibacterial wipes.

Bin bags.

We go on self catering breaks a fair bit. Here is my list its a bit jumbled though!

First aid
Pillows
Kindle
bath mat
Monitor & camera
Swim stuff
Googles
Beach towels
Rug
Sand toys
Sandals
Torch
Clothes
Adaptor Plugs
Disney dresses

Car stuff
Water
Choc Milk
Crisps
Apples
Peaches
Choc
Haribo

Driving kit for France including headlight adapters
In car DVD player and dvds & leads

Camping box
Plastic cups and cutlery
Nappies and wipes
Black out blinds
Picnic plates
Camping chair
Cool bag and ice blocks
Herbs and spices
Salt and pepper
Sharp knives
Chopping board
Tea bags and coffee
Kettle
Washing up liquid
Washing powder
Pegs
Kitchen roll
Toilet roll
Plastic bags
Cling flim/foil
Tea towels
Board games/cards
Small collection of toys
Sticker colouring books and pens

Driving licence
Chargers
Adaptor plugs
Tupperware
Sun cream
Bug stuff
Buggy
EHIC cards

Big flask for hot drinks and soup, will the local supermarket deliver?

We always take a sharp knife, I thought that was just us.

Phone charger. Beach towels. Wellies. Books. Calpol and at that age I always bought something like those magic pens that you can draw with but they won't work on anything but the special paper. Didn't want to lose my deposit

For the first day we take essentials with us like tea, coffee, milk, bread something for the evening meal and breakfast stuff as we don't know whether there will be a shop nearby to tide us over until after breakfast the next day.

What flag said, plus soap for the bathroom. Are sheets and towels included? Hairdryer?

Oh, and wine

i take salt, pepper, a few herbs and spices, oil -stuff that would be a pain to buy a big jar of if you fancy cooking.

I always take a cafetiere and coffee. Handwash, washing up liquid and a tea towel. stuff for breakfast on the first day, and for snacks when you arrive. Plastic bags - for rubbish, wet clothes, whatever.

If you have any doubt about shops being open to buy stuff then take food everyone will eat - was cought out once by a bank holiday in Italy. Was so glad for the couple of tins of beans I had!

If you plan to cook rice, a sieve. Self catering kitchens always contain sieves that are - flimsy plastic; broken; actually a colander; all of the above.

For the rice, it might be worth checking if there is a microwave. We bought those microwave rice packet to take with us.

Brilliant, thankyou everyone!

Washing powder if there is a washing machine and pegs. If no washer I'd take some hand wash solution for emergencies.

I always pack my cheese grater, because I love my cheese grater.

We always used to take some blackout fabric for the DCs windows. You can pick that up at dunelm or equivalent. Nothing worse than mega early risers when you're on your holidays.

Are you going in the UK of abroad?

The things we always forget are kitchen foil, oil, straws, sandwich bags

"If you plan to cook rice, a sieve."

You don't need a sieve for rice if you cook it properly by the absorption method. Twice water to rice, lid on, cook for 15 minutes and leave the lid on for 5 minutes after turning the gas off. No water to sieve away, and rice isn't soggy.

I use that method too bun.

Tea, coffee, sugar salt pepper. Meal and snacks for first night and breakfast. Get milk at a petrol station or shop near destination.
Cold bags and picnic stuff will be in use with food and drink for the journey.
Loo and kitchen rolls.
Rest we get on our first morning.

Oven glove if you are going to cook!

Kelloggs variety packs are a great holiday treat, although the cornflakes always get left in favour of the sugary ones.

The rest it depends on where you're staying. If a cottage/holiday let, most should give you an indication of whether they provide towels/bedding etc. And if the seaside, I wouldn't take too much in the way of buckets and spades - a lot of places keep a stock of these anyway and if not there will always be somewhere to buy them.

I usually take a small quanitity of cooking ingredients it would be daft to buy just for the week, like flour, herbs, and cooking oil. A lot of places have loads of food left in cupboards, but some of it can be quite old...

Have a fab time.